Offset Screen for Herringbone Aircraft Seats
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft passenger seating arrangements in narrow-body aircraft face challenges in achieving a high herringbone angle/low pitch configuration while maintaining a usable seat width, as traditional herringbone layouts are deemed impractical due to difficulties in obtaining the desired pitch/angle combination.
Innovation Solution
A passenger seating arrangement featuring a column of seat units oriented at an acute angle to the longitudinal direction, with screens having a space-sharing region that offsets upper and lower parts to provide shoulder and arm space, allowing for a high angle/low pitch layout by sharing space between adjacent seats, thereby optimizing passenger density.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a high herringbone angle/low pitch configuration is adopted to increase passenger density, then the number of passengers per unit area increases, but the usable seat width and passenger comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The screen structure utilizes the vertical dimension by implementing an offset configuration between upper and lower parts, creating three-dimensional space utilization. The upper part extends toward one seat while the lower part extends toward the adjacent seat, effectively using vertical space to provide shoulder and arm clearance without increasing horizontal footprint, thus maintaining high passenger density while preserving comfort.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the screen structure serve different local functions: the upper part provides shoulder space for one passenger while the lower part provides arm space for the adjacent passenger. This local differentiation allows each passenger to have dedicated comfort zones without requiring additional horizontal space, resolving the contradiction between density and comfort.
2Quantity of substance
If a high herringbone angle/low pitch configuration is adopted, then passenger density increases, but the seat unit size and configuration feasibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The screen is segmented into upper and lower parts with different spatial orientations. The upper part serves one seat unit while the lower part serves the adjacent seat unit, allowing each seat unit to maintain adequate dimensions even in high-density configurations. This segmentation enables the seat units to be manufactured and configured independently while achieving high overall passenger density.
3Ease of operation
If screens are added to separate adjacent passengers, then privacy and comfort improve, but device complexity and space consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The screen structure merges multiple functions into a single integrated component: it provides visual privacy between passengers, defines personal space boundaries, and simultaneously provides structural support for shoulder and arm clearance. By combining these functions into one offset structure rather than multiple separate elements, the design improves comfort without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A passenger seating arrangement for use in an aircraft cabin, wherein the seat units are arranged in an inwardly facing herringbone layout. A screen is arranged to separate a passenger in each aft seat unit from a passenger in a fore seat unit in front of it in the column. The screen comprises an upper part and a lower part below the upper part, the upper and lower parts of the screen being offset relative to each other, for example to create an overhang on the side of the screen facing the aft seat unit, such that, the upper part provides shoulder space for a passenger seated in the fore seat unit, and the lower part provides arm space, in which there is an arm rest, for a passenger seated in the aft seat unit.