Monument for a cabin of a vehicle, and fastening arrangement

A monument for a cabin of a vehicle, in particular of an aircraft or spacecraft, having an outer housing side and a fastening rail for fastening connection elements in a longitudinal direction of the fastening rail in order to fix the monument in position inside the cabin, wherein the fastening rail has a receiving space extending in the longitudinal direction of the fastening rail, which space is designed to receive and fasten mounting feet of the connection elements to the fastening rail, and wherein the fastening rail is integrated in the outer housing side.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to German Patent Application No. 102015206707.6, filed Apr. 15, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The embodiments described herein relate to a monument for a cabin of a vehicle and to a fastening arrangement for fastening such a monument inside a cabin. In particular, the present embodiments relates to a monument and to a fastening arrangement for an aircraft cabin, for example of a passenger aircraft.

BACKGROUND

In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Although the present cabin monument and the associated fastening arrangement can be used in various types of vehicles, these and the problem addressed thereby are described in greater detail in relation to an aircraft cabin. In principle, however, the present embodiments can also be used in spacecraft, watercraft, rail vehicles or the like.

In addition to the passenger seats, aircraft cabins of passenger aircraft also comprise fixtures that are provided for use by the crew or the passengers of the aircraft. Such fixtures in an aircraft passenger cabin comprise for example storage lockers, toilets, galleys, bar fixtures etc. and are also referred to as monuments. Due to the naturally restricted space available in aircraft cabins, such monuments have a very integrated and compact structure and are additionally frequently provided as integral modules.

Such monuments are typically anchored in a fixed position on the housing thereof in a corresponding installation position inside the aircraft cabin. For example, a metal perforated rail can be mounted on a housing upper surface of a monument by means of screws, which upper surface in turn can be fastened to a primary structure of the aircraft by means of additional metal components, such as mounting brackets, connecting rods or the like. In order to allow as flexible attachment as possible, such perforated rails can be provided with regularly spaced holes, in which the additional connection elements can be fixed in a longitudinal direction of the rail at regular intervals.

Conventionally, such components for fastening monuments are produced from aluminium or a corresponding metal or metal alloy, for example by means of an extrusion process. However, for the purpose of weight reduction, the cabin components of modern passenger aircraft are increasingly constructed from fibre composite materials. For example, the housing walls of monuments are sometimes structured in sandwich constructions, a core made of polymeric honeycomb structures or foams being surrounded in each case by two panels made of glass-fibre-reinforced or carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics material. In contrast to the light composite components used in this case, the metal components of a monument fastening have a relatively high weight.

DE 10 2005 054 890 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,528,859 B2 describe for example systems for fixing monuments in position in aircraft cabins, in which a plurality of individual metal components are used for fastening. The system from DE 10 2005 054 890 A1 thus provides a system carrier for fixing interior fitting components at the heads thereof, which is fastened to a fuselage by means of a plurality of formers and is equipped with a plurality of fastening means for connecting the interior fitting components. Furthermore, said system provides at least one fastening rail which is located in a cabin floor, which extends in parallel with the system carrier and along which are located corresponding fastening means for fixing the interior fitting components at the feet thereof.

SUMMARY

In view of the above, it is an object to provide a lightweight, multi-functional fastening of monuments that is particularly simple to assemble and that ensures a stable and secure positioning by means of as few individual components as possible.

A monument for a cabin of a vehicle has an outer housing side and a fastening rail for fastening connection elements in a longitudinal direction of the fastening rail in order to fix the monument in position inside the cabin. The fastening rail has a receiving space extending in the longitudinal direction of the fastening rail, which space is designed to receive and fasten mounting feet of the connection elements to the fastening rail. The fastening rail is integrated in the outer housing side.

Furthermore, a fastening arrangement for fixing such a monument in position inside a cabin of a vehicle is provided. The fastening arrangement comprises a monument according to the embodiments. The fastening arrangement further comprises a connection element having at least two mounting feet that are mounted at a distance from one another in the fastening rail of the monument. Furthermore, the fastening arrangement comprises a tension rod, which is mounted on the connection element, is connected to a structure of the aircraft or spacecraft, and fixes the monument in a position inside the cabin by means of the connection element.

A present embodiment is based on the concept of providing a fastening system for cabin monuments, in which a fastening rail is integrated in an outer side of the monument in question. Monuments according to the embodiments consequently provide a connection possibility, which can be positioned and optimally designed in accordance with each monument.

A particular advantage of the solution according to the embodiments is that integrating a fastening rail in a monument makes it possible to save weight. At the same time, a fastening rail of this type reinforces the structure of the corresponding housing side of the monument and thus the monument per se. The housing of a monument according to the embodiments is used in this case both as a fastening interface of the monument and as reinforcement for the monument structure. As a result, the entire fastening arrangement is also simplified since fewer individual parts are required. This saves not only weight and therefore fuel, but also, in general, costs and installation expenditure due to the simplified assembly.

It would be clear to a person skilled in the art that a monument according to the present embodiments can likewise be designed to have a plurality of fastening rails of this type. The fastening rails can be integrated in various housing sides, e.g. a lower surface and an upper surface, or next to one another on the same housing side, e.g. two parallel fastening rails in an upper surface of a monument.

Advantageous embodiments and developments are set out in the further dependent claims and in the description with reference to the drawings.

The fastening rail can be designed as a notch in a wall of the outer housing side. In this embodiment, the notch forms the fastening rail to some extent, for example said rail can be incorporated in the wall as a groove or slot. The notch can be produced integrally with the wall, e.g. as a carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics component in a pultrusion process. The notch can be structured specifically to reinforce the wall in an optimum manner.

According to alternative developments of the monument, a notch can be provided in a wall of the outer housing side, into which the fastening rail is inserted. In contrast with the above-mentioned embodiment, the fastening rail can be fastened in this case only retroactively in the notch, e.g. the notch can be milled into a sandwich panel and can subsequently be adhered in a metal rail. In another possible embodiment, however, a plastic rail is already inserted into the notch during the process of producing the wall.

In this development of the monument, the fastening rail can be inserted into the notch such that the fastening rail and the wall are flush with the outer housing side. In this advantageous development, the fastening interface of the monument is space-saving and is incorporated in the monument in an unobtrusive manner.

In this case, the fastening rail can be adhered in the notch. For example, the wall of the housing can be a sandwich panel made of fibre-reinforced plastics material, in which a plastics rail or metal rail is adhered. Adhesively bonding components allows simplified assembly. In addition, by means of adhesive bonds, in many applications weight can be saved by comparison with purely mechanical connections by means of screws, rivets, studs or the like.

According to some developments of the monument, the fastening rail can be formed having a plurality of regularly spaced holes in the receiving space. The holes can be designed to receive and fasten mounting feet of connection elements to the fastening rail. Both the holes and the mounting feet can be standardised in this case. In this development, connection elements can consequently be attached to the monument in a particularly flexible and variable manner. The monument can thus be attached in an aircraft cabin differently according to the respective needs or conditions.

According to some developments of the monument, the fastening rail can have a C profile. For example, the notch can be designed as a simple slot in the wall of the monument housing, in which slot the fastening rail can simply be slid in, during installation, from one end of the housing side of the monument and adhered in said slot. In one advantageous embodiment, the fastening rail can be flush with the wall of the housing side. The receiving space of the fastening rail can moreover be open towards one end of the housing side so that mounting feet of connection elements of a corresponding design can simply be slid into the C-shaped opening. This could then be fixed in a desired position, e.g. by means of screws, studs, adhesive connections, twist locks etc. In principle, the conventional mounting methods which are known to a person skilled in the art can be used for fixing the mounting feet, as are also used in the case of other fields of application of fastening rails, for example seat rails.

According to some developments of the monument, the fastening rail can be in the form of a seat rail. In contrast to the perforated rails conventionally used for fixing monuments in position, seat rails are designed to be considerably lighter and more space-efficient. In particular, standardised seat rails can be used so that no specific cost-intensive solutions are required for each fastening. For example, the notch can be designed as a simple slot in the wall of the monument housing, in which slot a seat rail made of metal can simply be slid in from one side of the monument and adhered. The seat rail advantageously further provides prefabricated and standardised holes, via which corresponding mounting feet can be attached to the fastening rail. For example, the “fittings” made of plastics material or metal which are conventionally used to fasten seats can be used.

According to some developments of the monument, the fastening rail can be produced substantially from fibre-reinforced plastics material. This has the considerable advantage that the fastening rail can already be incorporated in the wall of the housing side during the production thereof or can even be produced integrally with the wall, e.g. in a continuous production process such as pultrusion or the like. In this development, the monument can be produced to be particularly lightweight and economical.

According to some developments of the fastening device, a pivot bearing can be provided in the connection element, on which bearing the tension rod is pivotally mounted. In this case, the tension rods can be fastened to the pivot bearing for example by one end simply by means of a screw or a stud. The other end can be pivoted for mounting in the desired position and likewise be connected there for example to a primary structure of the vehicle by means of studs or screws or the like.

According to some developments of the fastening device, rod-shaped connecting struts can be provided in the connection element, which struts each connect one of the mounting feet respectively of the connection element to the pivot bearing. Due to the integration of the fastening rails in the housing side of the monument, the connection element has to be longer when the monument has a predetermined installation space in the cabin. In order to avoid an increase in weight, the connection element can be formed having thin and/or hollow rod-shaped or tubular connecting struts. Said struts can moreover comprise reinforcing structures, such as longitudinal ribs or the like. The present embodiment is not restricted in this case to connecting struts having a circular profile, but rather also provides rectangular or more complex profiles.

Two connecting struts of the connection element can form an isosceles triangle together with the outer housing side. In one advantageous embodiment, the connection element can consist of two connecting struts, which are mounted on a pivot bearing and are each mounted on the fastening rail by means of a fitting. This development is simple, flexible and strong. In principle, a differently designed arrangement of connecting struts can, however, also be used, e.g. having 3, 4 or more connecting struts.

According to some developments of the fastening device, the connecting struts can be produced from fibre-reinforced plastics material. For example, the connecting struts can be pultruded, hollow or solid carbon profiles, i.e. can consist of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics material (CFRP). Such connecting struts can be produced in a particularly economical manner and can have a high level of strength and rigidity at a low weight. Alternatively, embodiments made of metal, such as aluminium or titanium, are, however, also provided. The connecting struts can, for example, be bonded to a pivot bearing and to mounting feet and/or fastened thereto by means of interference fits, screw-in connections or the like.

The embodiments and developments above can be combined with one another as desired where appropriate. Further possible embodiments, developments and implementations of the embodiments also do not comprise explicitly mentioned combinations of features of the embodiments described previously or in the following with respect to the embodiments. In particular in this case, a person skilled in the art will also add individual aspects as improvements or supplements to each basic form of the present embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the disclosed embodiments or the application and uses thereof. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background detailed description.

The accompanying drawings are intended to provide further understanding of possible embodiments. They illustrate embodiments and are used, in conjunction with the description, to explain principles and concepts of the embodiments. Other embodiments and many of the above-mentioned advantages emerge from the drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily shown to scale with respect to one another. In the figures of the drawings, elements, features and components which are like, functionally like or have the same effect, unless otherwise specified, are each provided with the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1is a schematic perspective view of a fastening arrangement, according to one embodiment.

InFIG. 1, reference numeral10denotes a fastening arrangement. The fastening arrangement10comprises three basic components: a monument1having a fastening rail2integrated therein, a connection element3and a tension rod4. As shown in the centre ofFIG. 1, the monument1is fastened to a structure inside an aircraft100, for example a passenger aircraft, by means of the connection element3and the tension rod4mounted thereon. For reasons of clarity, the structure and the cabin14have been omitted fromFIG. 1. By way of example, such an aircraft100is shown inFIG. 2, in which the position of a cabin14is indicated (in this case, the cabin is a passenger cabin). The structure can be a primary structure of the aircraft100, for example an attachment point of an aircraft former which fixes the monument1in a position in the aircraft cabin14. The three components are each shown again separately inFIG. 1(the fastening rail2at the bottom, the connection element3on the left and the tension rod4at the top), arrows indicating position of the fastening arrangement10in which they are found.

In the embodiment shown inFIG. 1, the monument1is a box-shaped fixture for an aircraft cabin14. In this case, the monument can be for example a storage locker or a galley or the like. In principle, the solution according to the embodiments can be applied to various monuments which are to be positioned in an aircraft cabin14in a stationary manner. The monument1has, inter alia, an outer housing side5(upper surface of the monument1), which comprises a wall12having a fastening rail2integrated therein. In this case, the fastening rail2is inserted into a notch8, provided therefor, in the wall12of the housing side5, and is flush with the wall12of the housing side5.

The wall12can for example be a sandwich panel in a composite construction, for example a sandwich panel having a core structure made of a foam, and having plane-parallel cover layers applied to both sides. The cover layers can be formed for example by a fibre-reinforced plastics material, such as a glass-fibre-reinforced phenol resin or a carbon-fibre-reinforced epoxy resin. Alternatively or additionally, the core structure can in this case also comprise synthetic polymer paper arranged in the manner of honeycomb, e.g. an aramid paper or the like. Such designs of the walls of monument housings are characterised inter alia by a low weight, high stability and optimum heat- and/or sound-insulation properties.

The fastening rail2is designed for fastening the connection element3. For this purpose, the fastening rail2has a receiving space11extending in a longitudinal direction of the fastening rail2. Holes13lead into the receiving space11, which holes are designed in such a way that associated mounting feet7of the connection element3can be mounted. For example, the fastening rail2can be designed in the manner of a seat rail or can correspond to such a rail. The fastening rail2can thus for example be a component which is produced from aluminium or an aluminium alloy by means of an extrusion process and in which a plurality of holes13and slots (not shown) have been milled at regular intervals and so as to be interconnected. In this case, the fastening rail2can for example be adhered in the notch or fastened thereto using screws, studs etc.

Alternatively, however, this can also be a fastening rail2made of a plastics material. The rail can be produced for example in an injection moulding process. Furthermore, the fastening rail2can also be reinforced with fibres (e.g. glass or carbon fibres), which have been integrally bonded with a plastics material (e.g. a synthetic resin) in a pultrusion process or the like. In this embodiment, the fastening rail2can for example already be inserted as a semi-finished product into the walls12during the production thereof and integrally incorporated into the walls in a curing process or the like. Alternatively, however, the fastening rail2can also be adhered in the notch or it can have been fastened using other known methods.

If the fastening rail2is made of metal, said rail can be coated, at least in portions, with a protective layer made of polytetrafluoroethylene (e.g. Teflon) for protection against wear or damage. If the fastening rail2is made of plastics material, a protective layer made of a polyamide or a polyurethane etc. can be provided. Accordingly, the mounting feet7can also be covered, in portions or completely, with corresponding protective layers.

As shown inFIG. 1, both the notch8and the fastening rail2can be open at both ends of the housing side5. For example, they can be flush with the corresponding side walls of the monument1. It can furthermore be provided for the openings that thus remain to be covered with a cover, a lid made of plastics material or the like so that liquids or impurities cannot penetrate into the openings. This embodiment has the advantage that the fastening rail2can be easily mounted in the notch8by simply being slid into the notch8for example. Alternatively, however, it can also be provided for the fastening rail2to be completely embedded laterally in the housing side5without said side remaining laterally visible for inspection.

The embodiment of the connection element3shown by way of example inFIG. 1is forked. The connection element comprises a pivot bearing6, on which two connecting struts9are mounted, which are in turn each attached to the fastening rail2by means of one mounting foot7respectively.

The mounting feet7are shaped so as to correspond to the holes13in the fastening rail2. In the case where the fastening rail2is designed in the manner of a seat rail, the mounting feet7can be fittings made of plastics material or metal, for example in the form of a slide such as is also used for fastening aircraft seats or similar components. Such fittings can be attached in a slidably displaceable manner for mounting on a rail. For example, there are fittings, the lower surface of which is shaped so as to precisely fit a portion consisting of holes and slots of the seat rail so that the fitting can be introduced into the receiving space11of the seat rail in a desired position. By means of light subsequent shifting, the fitting can be brought into a locked position, in which, due to the shape of the lower surface thereof, it cannot be lifted upwards out of the receiving space of the seat rail again (without shifting once more). In such a position, the fitting can be secured for example by means of a setting screw or a lever device and thus rigidly connected to the seat rail.

The connecting struts9can be produced from fibre-reinforced plastics material. For example, the connecting struts9can be pultruded, hollow or solid carbon profiles, i.e. can consist of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics material (CFRP). Alternatively, embodiments made of metal, such as aluminium or titanium, are provided in any case. The connecting struts9can be bonded for example to the pivot bearing6and to the mounting feet7and/or fastened by means of interference fits, screw-in connections or the like. The connecting struts9can comprise reinforcing structures, such as longitudinal ribs or the like.

The pivot bearing6can be a simple metal component, such as is known to a person skilled in the art from various other applications. The tension rod4, for example an extruded aluminium part, can be pivotally mounted in a hole in the pivot bearing in this case by means of a pin or the like. Furthermore, the tension rod4can have a symmetrical design, wherein a corresponding connection on the other side of the tension rod4is closed by the primary structure of the aircraft100.