Composite Aircraft Seat Leg Structure for Weight and Cabin Space
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional aircraft passenger seats are heavy due to metal components, consuming cabin space and limiting legroom and personal space, while requiring bulky materials for structural support and cushioning, which hinders weight reduction and increased passenger capacity.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight composite construction for aircraft passenger seats, including a composite support leg structure with minimal metal parts, a composite seat pan assembly, and a composite seat back structure, utilizing extruded composite frame elements, core materials, and composite skins to achieve weight savings and compact size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional metal components and bulky materials are used in aircraft passenger seats, then structural support and passenger comfort are ensured, but the overall weight of the seat increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by replacing conventional metal components with a composite support leg structure consisting of a structural box with extruded composite frame elements, composite skins, and core material. This composite construction provides the necessary structural support while significantly reducing the weight of the seat assembly, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
2Strength
If bulky materials and thick padding are used in conventional aircraft passenger seats, then structural support and cushioning are sufficient, but the fore-aft dimension increases consuming cabin space
Solution Approach 1:
The composite support leg structure with its optimized composite frame elements and core material provides high structural support with reduced material thickness compared to conventional bulky materials. This enables the seat to maintain necessary strength while reducing the fore-aft dimension, thereby increasing cabin space availability.
3Reliability
If conventional metal components are used in aircraft passenger seats, then structural integrity is maintained, but the number of parts and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple metal components into an integrated composite support leg structure. The structural box with extruded composite frame elements, composite skins, and core material functions as a unified assembly, reducing the number of separate metal parts while maintaining structural integrity through the composite construction.
4Weight of moving object
If composite materials are used to reduce seat weight, then weight savings are achieved, but manufacturing process complexity may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The composite support leg structure is segmented into distinct components including extruded composite frame elements, composite skins, and core material. This segmentation allows for specialized manufacturing processes for each component while maintaining overall ease of assembly and production efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The use of composite materials in the support leg structure enables weight reduction while the modular design with extruded frame elements and separate core material allows for efficient manufacturing processes tailored to each component type.
Data Source
AI summary
An aircraft passenger seat configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention utilizes composite materials to achieve significant weight savings relative to conventional seat designs. The seat includes one or more lightweight composite support legs, a lightweight composite seat pan, and a lightweight composite seat back structure. The support legs are coupled to the seat pan, which is in turn coupled to the seat back structure. The support legs utilize composite frame elements that are formed as continuous compression molded composite extrusions. The seat pan includes composite fore and aft cross beams that are also formed as continuous compression molded composite extrusions. The aft cross beam includes a rear flange that serves as a flexible “hinge” for the seat back structure. The seat can leverage producible and relatively inexpensive composite manufacturing techniques such that the seat can be economically produced for use as an economy class seat.