Designing Cabin Features to Meet Passenger Technology Needs
Continuing global airline competition means that improving the passenger experience – and thus brand support and loyalty – is crucial. This translates into design challenges for the airline interior – new technologies to improve ergonomic seating and headrests are being introduced, as well as improvements in overhead bin latching mechanisms.
A major trend is causing manufacturers to shift away from installing screens into the back of passenger seats for viewing in-flight information and entertainment: Bring your own device (BYOD). Seatbacks are being redesigned to incorporate interfaces for powering electronic devices, making it easier to support personal tablet and laptop use during flight.
As cabin interior fixtures are modified and improved to enhance the passenger experience, there are hinging and latching technologies that can help address these challenges. Design engineers can enhance the passenger experience and maximize the functionality of seating applications by incorporating lightweight seating technology into the areas of the seat that the passenger interacts with, such as headrests, food trays and fixtures that support BYOD applications. Focusing on these smaller “touch points” can create a larger impact by improving in-flight usability and perception of airline quality.
Changing Preferences Modify Seating Design
Major aircraft builders have full order books as global air traffic increases. As they build new aircraft, and as airlines invest in improving and upgrading their existing aircraft interiors, OEMs are also responding to changing passenger preferences.
Until recently, one of the most common elements of aircraft seating was the in-flight entertainment (IFE) monitor incorporated into the seatback. With the advent of powerful, lightweight smartphones, tablets and laptops, passengers now prefer to bring and use their own devices.
Aircraft OEMs and carriers are working with aircraft seating manufacturers to adapt their products to these new passenger preferences. The rise of 5G wireless networks will make it even easier for passengers to multitask by bringing multiple devices onto planes, since 5G will help reduce bandwidth and speed issues currently associated with in-flight WiFi.
As a result, for shorter, regional flights, IFE is already being removed entirely, making the seat lighter, while the airline offers WiFi for customers to connect to the Internet. For longer-haul and international flights, the IFE monitor is still retained on most aircraft while passengers are also offered the WiFi option. Since a typical regional flight is categorized as a two hour trip, many aircraft interiors are removing features from the seats such as IFE and reducing padding, making them both lighter and thinner.
These changes help airlines reduce weight, increase fuel efficiency and potentially fit more seats into existing cabins. If redesigned seats can save one inch per row, it is possible to add an entire row to the aircraft. It comes down to fitting the maximum number of passengers into a plane, while still accommodating their needs to retain a positive impression of the carrier’s brand.
Balancing Lightweight Designs With Passenger Comfort
For aircraft seating designers, reducing the size and weight of seats while preserving a quality experience for the passenger requires careful balance of engineering and component selections.
For passengers, their perception of how a seat feels during flight could also affect how they perceive the quality of materials used in an aircraft. For example, if a food tray falls into a passenger’s lap during takeoff, the seat squeaks and rattles or if any feature is perceived as insubstantial, that perception may extend to the quality of the aircraft and the airline itself.
Position control hinges designed with engineered friction technology provide continuous resistance against the range of motion, making a lightweight plastic table or tray feel heavier and more substantial for the end-user. Adding torque hinging solutions into seating applications not only helps to control motion and vibration, but it also creates a quality experience for the passenger, whether seated in economy or first class.
To ensure that quality and end-user comfort are not sacrificed as seatbacks are reengineered, there are advantages to incorporating technologies that improve passenger “touch points” in seating design. For example, seat designers are now replacing the seatback screens with pockets to conveniently hold laptops or tablets when passengers aren’t using them.
To accommodate these pockets, some seat designers are creating tray tables that fold in half, rather than the common tables that simply fold down. A table of this design could be a potential trouble point: Routine airline turbulence could eventually cause the hinges on these tables to loosen and vibrate. Seat designers are working with hinge suppliers to find lightweight, well-engineered hinges that can withstand thousands of flight hours and folding/unfolding cycles without wearing out and causing noisy irritations for passengers.
Constant torque hinges provide resistance throughout the entire range of motion, allowing the user to easily adjust the angle of a tray or table or keep it from falling once it has been restored to its original upright position. To further improve the way passengers view tray tables, some designers are incorporating paddle-style latches into these tables, similar to the latches used in automotive glove boxes. This solution provides a much cleaner, modern look, and doesn’t protrude the way the current, barn door-style latches do.
Headrests
Another area where positioning technology can be used to provide a quality end-user experience is in headrest design. Headrest solutions that contain integrated positioning technology in the wing design provide reliable and flexible constant torque capabilities that can be seamlessly integrated into OEM seating designs.
Asymmetric torque allows the design engineer to specify various operating efforts in different directions of motion, allowing end-users to easily pull the wings forward for adjustment, yet be fully supported when resting their head against it when sleeping, for example.
Lightweight headrest solutions can be integrated into reduced weight seat designs, mounted to the back of a seat body or existing structure. Rather than bolting on additional hardware, incorporating both vertical slide and wing tilt elements directly into the headrest solution can save valuable design space. These integrated solutions result in additional weight savings that can be achieved over traditional headrest designs.
Overhead Compartments
The drive to make planes more lightweight and accommodating to passenger needs has led to new developments and the use of new materials for overhead compartments. Compartment manufacturers are developing thinner-walled compartments with lightweight materials that allow for additional storage space to lighten the aircraft’s load, without compromising structural strength.
A key challenge with lighter-weight materials is that they tend to flex more during general use and the normal vibration that occurs during flight. It is a critical safety requirement that the compartment doors remain securely closed and do not open whenever an aircraft encounters significant turbulence or vibration during landing.
FAA regulations require all overhead compartment doors to be securely latched before takeoff; to ensure this, overhead compartment manufacturers are working with suppliers to select latching systems that are compatible with newer, lighter door designs.
Double rotor-style rotary latches are being used to provide a closure that, in the closed position, fully envelopes the striker bolt for secure grip and protection. The double-latching design provides redundancy so that even if one of the rotaries fails in operation, the panel remains secure until maintenance can repair it later at an appropriate time.
This feature is especially useful for suppliers considering improvements to existing overhead compartments. Traditional overhead compartments can hold three pieces of luggage; however, airlines are doing all they can to accommodate passenger preferences for more carry-on luggage. Double-rotor latches offers good mating tolerance that accommodates misalignment and flexing of longer door panels or hoods.
Conclusion
Passenger comfort, convenience and perception are critical concerns for airlines that are competing to fill every seat on every flight. Anyone who has taken a flight recently can point to a basic change in passenger behavior: Once the cabin attendants give the OK, laptops, tablets and smartphones are brought out and used by most passengers for the duration of the trip.
Accommodating this shift has led to a change in seating design and engineering. Combined with the continued push from airlines to keep fuel consumption costs down, changes in seating design and the use of lighter-weight materials in seats, tray tables and overhead compartment construction will continue.
When choosing lightweight materials for next-generation seating designs, even the smallest touch point can make all the difference to the passenger experience. By integrating well-engineered, lightweight access hardware and positioning technology into seating and overhead cabinets, OEMs and interior integrators can improve usability, safety and reliability for passengers and airlines alike, while sustaining and enhancing the passenger’s travel experience and supporting the high-quality brand impressions each carrier seeks to deliver.
