Overhead Multi-Panel Privacy Screen Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional deployable partitions in aircraft business class seating lack flexibility and require floor tracks, limiting customizable privacy options and accommodating varying seat configurations.
Innovation Solution
A multi-panel privacy screen assembly with overhead tracks and a drive mechanism that allows panels to be deployed in a predetermined sequence, eliminating the need for floor tracks and providing enhanced privacy and adaptability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional deployable partitions use floor tracks for panel movement, then the partition structure is stable and reliable, but the device complexity increases and adaptability to different seat configurations decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions the partition panel support from the horizontal floor plane to the vertical overhead space. Panels are suspended from overhead beams rather than sliding on floor tracks, fundamentally changing the dimensional arrangement. This eliminates the need for floor track installation while providing adaptability to different seat configurations through adjustable panel positions and removable mounting options.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of supporting partitions from below via floor tracks, the invention inverts the support structure to hang partitions from above using overhead beams. This inversion simplifies installation by eliminating floor modifications while maintaining structural stability through the overhead support system.
2Ease of operation
If fixed partitions are used between longitudinally adjacent seats, then privacy is consistently maintained, but the ability to change privacy levels during flight is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamically adjustable partition panels that can be positioned at various heights and configurations along overhead beams. This allows passengers to change privacy levels during flight by adjusting panel positions, while the system maintains reliability through controlled movement mechanisms and stable mounting options for both deployed and stowed positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The partition system is divided into multiple independent panels that can be individually positioned and adjusted. Each panel can be independently controlled to create different privacy configurations, allowing flexible adjustment while maintaining overall system stability through coordinated panel arrangements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate door panels are used instead of a single panel, then customizable deployment sequences are enabled, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The partition system uses multiple separate panels that can be independently controlled and deployed in different sequences. Each panel is a distinct unit with its own mounting and control mechanisms, enabling customizable deployment patterns while maintaining manageable complexity through standardized panel designs and modular control architecture.
Data Source
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AI summary
A multi-panel privacy screen assembly adapted to be deployed between laterally-adjacent passenger seats. The assembly includes an overhead beam having a plurality of tracks, a plurality of hanging panels, a plurality of coupling members suspending each of the plurality of hanging panels from the overhead beam, each coupling member coupled to one of the plurality of hanging panels, to one of a plurality of driven cables, and having rollers rollable along at least one of the plurality of tracks, and a drive mechanism including an intermittent gear assembly operable for driving the plurality of driven cables to move the plurality of hanging panels along at least one of the plurality of tracks according to predetermined deployment sequence.