Are you sitting comfortably

Aerospace interior designers are constantly looking for fresh ways to create the most interesting designs. This is often against a backdrop of spiralling taxes, fuel prices and environmental levies, which mean designers need to be creative not just in design, but also in weight and efficiency.

They're coming up with smarter processes that speed up manufacturing and reduce materials. Lectra, one of the leaders in integrated technology solutions that automate, streamline and accelerate product design, development and manufacturing processes for industries using soft materials, says it is meeting these demands by accelerating development cycles through the reduction of the number of physical prototypes necessary before production.

“Our customers are asking for more flexibility, more agility, in their design and in their fabrics,” explains Lectra's product manager, Charlotte Lageyre. “They want to be able to manage more designs and be able to take into account more characteristics.”

Lectra's design-production system allows the manufacturer to accurately see how much the seat will cost to develop, what it will look like, how it will move – all digitally. “Customers really take care of controlling all the savings and margins by reducing the waste of fabric and having the most suitable scenario of production.”

The whole process is being streamlined, ensuring interiors are created in the most efficient way, while still achieving quality comfort and aesthetics.

DesignConcept, Lectra's design-to-manufacture software, helps interior manufacturers create, develop and industrialise seats through rapid simulations of several design alternatives.

“We see that there is more diversity in materials because they're more complex,” states Lageyre. Lageyre adds that the main fabrics of the moment are foam-backed, vinyls and microfibre, as well as plush textiles or leather.

“It's very much about creating lightweight seats. Increasingly, they are working on composite structures. They have an R&D department to develop composites. Before, to have a resistant fabric they used to have more fabric, more thickness, now they have more fabric available, but it's actually really thin. They're working on fabric, on structure, on the design. They take care to have comfort, but with a simpler design.

“It's also important to give the customer the simulation of fabric behaviours – so it's really important to have the 3D digitalisation of the final design to reduce the number of prototypes, because the prototyping phase is really expensive. Reducing the development cycle allows manufacturers to be more agile.”

The tools used in aerospace interiors are becoming increasingly digital. Lageyre says Lectra's clients want to reduce all the wastage time, and digital design software is the future.

“We are really Lean-orientated when we are talking about our solutions, reducing all the wasted fabric and time.”
Lectra's software marketing manager, Christophe Dupiol adds: “It's amazing that despite the fact that aeroplanes are now designed with 3D CAD and lots of computer engineering, much of the seat development is still done in the traditional way; by hand.

“More and more companies are now focusing on comfort. There are two markets in aeroplane seating: mass transportation, where there's no real focus on the design and style, more on weight and passenger security; and luxury planes, which includes first class. In this particular segment there is more focus on comfort and functionality. The seat can be changed to a bed in some cases. There is a particular cushion to the quality of the cover. Our solutions are more dedicated to the second segment.”

He says the market is moving towards computerised systems as it finds a way to increase the number of airplanes most efficiently. For the first segment, this will mean more focus on weight reduction and streamlining processes; but “for luxury, it will be as it is today, well designed interiors providing the best comfort.”

Curves and lines

Aerotech is another company to focus more on the plush end of the spectrum. Director, Andy Harvey reckons the design trend is all about the soft edges.

“I think they're looking for an ever improving finish standard, more exotic shapes, much more ergonomic shapes, round and soft and smooth, more touchy feely rather than functional. Aeroplanes used to be straight edged, but if you look at the aircraft like the Dreamliner, they're all sculpted and shaped.”

On a recent A350 project, Aerotech crafted metallic barstools for the first class area.

“We took 250kg of aluminium and machined the seat from that. It would be cheaper if it had been made from fabricated plates welded together, but if it's welded, you can't guarantee the strength. It's much easier to control the structural analysis from a solid compared to fabricated.” The 250kg chunk was shaved down to 11kg.

“From the manufacturer's point of view, the main challenges are that programming is no longer conventional – it's all done via computer. Programmes are much bigger, longer, with much more complex shapes and lots of angles. Everything wants a finish. There's no room for error. The client wants everything to be perfect.”

Because of the “as strong as you can, as light as you can” rule, they mainly use aluminium and industrial plastics. But this rule is different when it comes to the more high-end airlines.

“We made something for one airline with a waterfall in the first part and granite. It's all about decadence for some airlines – it depends on the airline, really.”

As computers get smarter and more powerful, interiors are changing, pushing the machines to capacity; seeing how big and how new designs can be.

“Computers are getting more powerful, so they can be ever more creative with the shapes they come up with,” Harvey concludes. “More shapes require more complex programmes for the machines to follow. I expect things to become much more complex and bigger as well. The products we are making for the A380 are growing already.”
Staying connected

Remember when the cabin crew would tell everyone to turn off their phones for fear of some ghastly disaster? Nowadays, they don't even check. In fact, many flights actually have the option to get online, helping passengers share their aeroplane selfies from the air.

Inflight connectivity lets users connect to the aeroplane network and works much the same as data roaming abroad. AeroMobile was the first mobile service to operate on a commercial flight in 2008.

“Many people don't know that they can use their phones to send texts, make calls and connect to the internet inflight,” says AeroMobile's CEO, Kevin Rogers. “Inflight mobile usage is becoming more and more popular.” He adds that they have seen a huge rise in the number of passengers using the service lately, and it's expected to rise.

Airlines using inflight connectivity include BA, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Emirates, Lufthansa and Etihad.

www.lectra.com

http://aero-tech.co.uk

www.aeromobile.net