Innovative seat-bed system for wide-body passenger aircraft unveiled

A team of Mexico City-based designers and engineers have unveiled an innovative seating system, designed for wide-body passenger aircraft cabins.  The system, which has been dubbed the Airborne Hotel, dramatically optimizes the available cabin space, ensuring a fully-reclining, independent seat-bed for every passenger on board while, at the same time, maintaining current passenger capacity of commercial aircraft.

The key to the design’s success is the vertical, multiple-level configuration of its seating modules, which enables the utilization of the otherwise empty overhead space in an aircraft cabin.  The modules – set in a kind of honeycomb array – are designed to be manufactured so as to weigh about the same as a conventional airplane seat; this is because, in contrast with conventional seats, the modules’ structure has multiple points for anchoring and fastening to the aircraft’s fuselage, which, in turn, enables the use of lighter – yet strong and flexible – construction materials.  Another essential element of the design is its unique implementation of three aisles – instead of only two – throughout the passenger cabin, which permits passengers and aircraft crew 50% more access to seats, restrooms, emergency exits, etc.

Combining these exceptional characteristics, the abh system can achieve layouts that match – and even increase – passenger capacity, compared to that attained by means of conventional seating.  In fact, the system’s designers affirm that, having taken into account the precise dimensions of an actual Airbus A380 cabin, several abh layouts for three-class arrangements have been attained already that can accommodate as many as 580 passengers – hat’s 25 more seats than the standard 555 seat configuration for a three-class arrangement in an A380.

This is refreshing news for air travelers around the world and great news for the aerospace industry as a whole.  Airlines have the possibility of increasing seat count in their aircraft while drastically enhancing passenger comfort; this, in turn, translates to passengers getting a far more comfortable flight, without their airfares skyrocketing.

This design is currently participating in the annual Create the Future Design Contest, co-sponsored by NASA Tech Briefs magazine and SolidWorks Corp.

To visit the contest page, go to www.createthefuturecontest.com

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