Abstract:
An aircraft monument mounting system is disclosed having a rail adapted to support a monument panel thereon, the rail including a recess for receiving an attachment device from below. The attachment device comprises a threaded fastener such as a poppet, a lock nut, an eccentric washer, and a thumbwheel. Rotation of the thumbwheel causes the eccentric washer to move the panel laterally, and the lock nut can raise or lower the panel, providing flexibility as to the positioning of the panel without disrupting the attachment point to the aircraft structure.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/614,742, filed Mar. 23, 2012, incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Aircraft interior space is made up of various compartments, such as galleys, crew cabins, stowages, closets, lavatories, crew rest quarters, and other facility and storage monuments. These compartments of typically formed by partitions or structural units that separate one compartment from another. To meet airworthiness requirements on commercial passenger-carrying aircraft for the retention of compartments such as galleys attachment or connection devices must be used to secure them to the aircraft&#39;s airframe structure. Commonly, these take two forms: type one securing the lower section of the monument to the floor; and type two securing the upper section to the ceiling. Common practice is to manufacture these parts from a combination of aluminum, stainless steel and titanium. These attachments ultimately secure the monuments to the fuselage (or airframe), which may be by means of seat tracks, cross braces, floor beams and other subsidiary parts of the structure. 
         [0003]    Floor attachments normally connect to fixed locations, or “hard points,” within the cabin. These fittings do not allow relocation of the monuments to a new location, unless seat track mountings are used that allow either fore and aft movement, or lateral movement, along the track depending upon the orientation of the track. However, a full range of motion is typically unavailable for monument attachments in an aircraft. Floor attachments, or flutter points for low load bearing floor attachments, are typically bonded with glue and/or bolted to the monument as a secondary process, following manufacture of the monument&#39;s structural composite panel. Such an assembly typically uses a viscous liquid adhesive, and forms part of the basic monument structure. Due to the fact that only limited projection beyond the outer envelope of the monument is allowed, the floor fittings are commonly offset to the inside of the monument, and mounted on the composite panel&#39;s surface or through the panel to a greater or lesser degree, dependent upon design. Where variations exist in the position of the monument, or the position of the hard point attachments or seat tracks, the floor fitting has to be installed in that specific location during manufacture, and relocation or repositioning is limited and every orientation, change in monument location or change in foot print size requires a new location for the floor attachments as part of the structure. 
         [0004]    The existing monument attachment design leads to a bias stress loading to one skin of the composite panel, which often fails to optimize the load path into the structure and can lead to a requirement for additional reinforcement in the form of a metallic plate or “doubler” to help spread the stress more effectively throughout the monument and avoid stress concentrations. Unfortunately, this not only adds weight to the aircraft, but is an inefficient means to distribute the load. More recent floor attachment designs have required adjustment in the Z direction as well as the X and Y planes for purposes of alignment during the installation onto the aircraft, which increases the inward projection. 
         [0005]    On monuments such as galleys, this has led to a variation in the width of compartments in order that the wheels of the service carts or trolleys avoid contact with the inward projection of the floor fittings. This, in turn, does not allow standardization of cart bay doors, except for the widest possible dimension. This also impacts the efficiency of air circulation around carts in chilled compartments, and produces variations in the widths of standard guide or protection parts such as rub/bump strips in order to compensate for the different offsets. 
         [0006]    Additionally, with chilled or refrigerated galleys the presence of a sizable metallic component projecting through the cart bay wall produces significant undesirable cold bridges that can compromise the integrity of the chilled compartment, from a thermal resistance point of view, and the result is a failure to maintain the specified compartment temperature for maintaining perishable food stuffs during normal aircraft operations. 
         [0007]    Another common issue with floor attachments, especially in older aircraft, is corrosion of metallic parts due to the galvanic action of dissimilar metals and contact with moisture, cleaning chemicals, spilt beverages such as fruit juices, teas, coffee, soda and alcoholic beverages served routinely during catering service on the aircraft. The environment is conducive to corrosion due to the presence of moisture and the opportunity for beverages to spill during turbulence and the amount of cleaning that occurs in the aircraft between flights. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present invention is an improved floor attachment system that can be integrated into the base of a monument&#39;s structural wall panels during the primary manufacturing process or added to an existing system to improve flexibility and maneuverability. The improved floor attachment maintains the airworthiness requirements of floor attachments while eliminating some of the problems of the prior art. The improved floor attachment uses a rail along the bottom surface of a panel that is supported by a poppet or fastener. The rail is seated on an eccentric washer and actuator such as a thumbwheel, which in turn is seated on a lock nut or two-way locking ratchet. Using the eccentricity of the washer, the rail can be moved laterally through rotation of the washer via the thumbwheel, and raised using the lock nut or locking ratchet. In this manner, the monument can be raised or lowered and moved laterally without disruption of the attachment points. 
         [0009]    Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the operation of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a side view of an aircraft monument panel mounted using a first embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view of a mounting rail of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a view from below the mounting rail of  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is an alternate embodiment of a rail suited for flutter points; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5A  is a side view of an attachment device including an eccentric thumb wheel and locking nut; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5B  is a side view of the eccentric thumb wheel of  FIG. 5A ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5C  is a top view of the eccentric thumb wheel of  FIG. 5A ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5D  is a side view of the locking nut of  FIG. 5A ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5E  is a top view of the locking nut of  FIG. 5A ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is an alternate embodiment of an aircraft monument mounting rail; 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of the rail of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view of an alternate rail; 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view of yet another alternate rail; 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  is a cross sectional view of still another alternate rail; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a locking ratchet element for use with the attachment component. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0025]    The present invention is a mounting system for securing compartment dividers, partitions, and walls of an aircraft that overcome the shortcomings of the prior systems. In a first embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , a pre-cured composite rail  20  is embedded into a panel  30  structure that forms the partition for the monument, where the rail  20  is preferably incorporated into the panel  30  during the manufacturing process. The rail  20  forms the anchor that supports the panel  30 , and includes a spine  35  that extends into the panel&#39;s interior, which may be filled with carbon layers  40 . The spine  35  terminates at a base  45  that includes a plurality of elongate slots  50  along the bottom surface that receive the attachment elements. As will be discussed below, the slots allow adjustment in a first linear direction, while the attachment elements allow further adjustment in the other two orthogonal directions. 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  illustrates a cross section of the panel  30  and carbon fiber continuous rail  20  along with a first preferred floor attachment system for a CFRC panel. The rail  20  in a first preferred embodiment is integrated into the base of a monument&#39;s structural wall panels  30  during the primary manufacturing process. The rail  20  with the floor attachment  60  may be bonded into the panel  30  during manufacture, and has a carbon fiber rail spine  35  that is Co cured within the panel  30 . The carbon fiber rail spine  35  is surrounded by additional UD carbon layers  40 , with the CFRC structural panel  30  formed over the UD carbon layers  40 . The rail  20  is mounted on an attachment component  60  that allows for adjustment of the position of the panel  30 , shown in detail in  FIG. 4 . The attachment component  60  comprises a threaded poppet  62  using a locking nut  64  at the floor seal mounting point  70 . The panel  30  may be positioned using an eccentric thumb wheel  66  and floating eccentric washer  68 , which when rotated can drive the panel  30  via the rail  20  closer to or further away from the axis of the poppet  62  (see  FIG. 5 ). The thumb wheel  66  projects through a slot  75  in the lowermost portion of the rail  20 , allowing the panel  30  to be moved in and out of the pathway defined by the galley wall. The floating eccentric washer  68  includes a hexagonal projection  69  that engages the inner walls of the base of the rail  20  within slot  50 , so that the washer  68  is captured within the slot  50  and accordingly, radial movement of the washer  68  due to its eccentricity displaces the panel  20  by the same distance. In this manner, the panel  30  can be moved laterally without disrupting the attachment of the monument to the aircraft structure. Moreover, the panel  30  can be lifted or lowered by selective positioning of the lock nut  64 , which determines the height of the panel  30 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  illustrates the range of lateral adjustment that can be achieved by the attachment component  60  as the thumb wheel  66  is rotated from one extreme to another. The eccentric thumb wheel  66  and washer  68  confine the projection of the attachment component  60  beyond the inner rail edge to as little as three millimeters (3 mm). The thumb wheel  66  is protected or covered by a plastic cover  78  or clip that mounts on the panel  20  over the slot  75  where the thumb wheel  66  projects as shown in  FIG. 2 . The base of the panel and attachment components  60  can be covered and protected for aesthetic and protective measures by a bellows-type floor seal  82 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  illustrates an attachment fitting for a flutter point, i.e., a supporting location that does not fix the monument in place but limits the degree of freedom that it can exhibit. The panel  30  is fitted with a attachment rail  90  having an upper recess for receiving the panel  30  therein, and a slot  94  similar to slot  50  of the rail  20  for receiving an attachment component  60  as discussed above. This configuration allows the panel to be shifted or lifted/lowered without relocation of the attachment components, and also does not require that the panel be manufactured with the composite rail  20 . Rather, the panel  30  is formed on the attachment rail  90  that includes a pair of sides  91  that sandwich the panel  30  therebetween. The attachment rail  90  is mounted on a poppet  62  as before, using the eccentric thumb wheel  66  and eccentric washer  68 , and operates in a similar manner as described above with respect to the panel formed on the carbon fiber rail of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0029]      FIGS. 6 and 7  illustrate an alternative design for mounting and installing the standard and thermoplastic panels  30   a  utilizing both adhesive bonding and mechanical fixing to attach the rail to a pre-fabricated panel  30   a.  As shown in  FIG. 7 , a thermoplastic panel  30   a  includes a melded thermoplastic doubler  110  along its lower surface. The doubler  110  includes two substantially parallel plates  112   a,b,  where the first plate  112   a  converges with the second plate  112   b  along the bottom portion to form a wedge shaped structure  114 . The wedge shaped structure  114  is inserted into an asymmetric carbon fiber rail  116  such that the first plate  112   a  is flush above the convergence with a vertical portion  120  of the rail as shown. The carbon fiber rail  116  includes a slot  122  that receives the poppet  62  with the locking nut  64 , the eccentric thumb wheel  66  and eccentric floating washer  68  as described above, so that the rail  116  and the panel can be positioned away from the poppet  62  by rotating the thumb wheel  66 . The carbon rail  116  has a generally rectangular base  126  with a pair of projections  130  that form a gap that receives the wedge shaped portion  114  of the panel. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the panel  30   a  is mounted on the rail  116 , which in turn is mounted on the poppet  62  using the locking nut  64 . Slots  140  on the rail  116  allow for other types of control adjustments in addition to the thumb wheel described herein, such as cams, levers, and other mechanical devices which can shift the position of the panel in a desired direction. 
         [0030]    In  FIG. 8 , the rail is shown as open on one side (the second projection  130  is removed) and the panel&#39;s two plates  112   a,b  are parallel down to the bottom edge instead of converging to a wedge. In this embodiment, the panel  130   a  sits on an edge  148  of the rail, secured by a fastener  152  at the boss fixing point  154 . The rail  30   a  is mounted on the poppet  62  as before, such that the position of the panel  30   a  can be altered by rotating the eccentric thumb wheel  66  to shift the panel  30   a  away from or toward the axis of the poppet  62 . 
         [0031]      FIGS. 9 and 10  illustrate yet other alternate embodiments of the rail. In  FIG. 9 , an asymmetric rail  160  receives a bonded panel  30   a  is seated in the gap formed by the respective projections. In  FIG. 10 , a symmetric rail  170  receives the bonded panel  30   a.    
         [0032]    These aforementioned attachment systems offer several advantages over current conventional floor fittings. For example, the carbon fiber rail can be incorporated as a continuous section simultaneously cured with the monument&#39;s structural walls for floor fitting purposes, as shown in  FIGS. 1-2 . Alternatively, the panel may be bonded into the rail for attachments carrying lighter loads such as flutter points as seen in  FIG. 4 . In addition, the floor fittings can be placed in multiple locations or a specific location with an increased span of X/Y adjustment depending upon the number and frequency of slots incorporated into the rail. 
         [0033]    Another example of a benefit of the present invention is that the attachment component  60  may be completely integrated in to the monument structure during the primary manufacturing process. Moreover, the inward projection, i.e., that portion of the rail inside of the plane of the monument is significantly reduced, allowing standardization of cart compartment doors and standard guide/protection parts. The fittings described herein also serve to transfers load stresses directly into of the composite panel, improving the effectiveness of the load path. Where additional localized stiffening is required, extra plies of UD (uni-directional) carbon fiber can be added to the composite sandwich as an integral part of the panel itself. 
         [0034]    The rail itself can be carbon fiber and either be laminated or press molded depending on the calculated strength requirements and/or advances in material capabilities. The rail is preferably designed to carry a bellows floor seal  82  for wet fitting. This bellows seal  82  would adjust for varying heights of the panel and keep moisture away from the fitting, extending the life expectancy of the fitting by reducing moisture and corrosive liquids from reaching the fitting. 
         [0035]    The fittings described above allows X, Y and Z adjustment at monument installation without significantly increasing the inward floor fitting projection, which in some aircraft is limited to 12 mm maximum. Moreover, there is no exterior projection outside the galley envelope, which is favorable to prevent carts or passengers from catching on projections and the like. The rub strips are replaceable and their presence also act as covers for the rail slots and as wheel guides for the carts. 
         [0036]    Another benefit of the present invention is that all the mounting and adjustment components can be standardized. The fittings further allow adjustment of the X/Y/Z position without additional tools and preferably provide a safety locking device, which is shown in  FIG. 11 .  FIG. 11  illustrates a reversible ratchet lock  200  to replace a conventional lock nut  64 . The reversible ratchet lock allows installation and adjustment without tools. It comprises an annular element that includes a ratchet structure working in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions, depending upon the position of a direction selector. A threaded lock nut  205  is positioned on the inner diameter, and the ratchet body  210  is enclosed by a cylindrical outer case  215 . The reversible ratchet lock  200  includes a direction selector  220  and a thumb bar  225  to move the ratchet lock in either direction. The construction of the ratchet lock  200  eliminates the need for wrenches or other tools that would be needed to tighten the conventional locking nut. 
         [0037]    In use, the invention allows aircraft monuments such as galley walls and the like to be installed and provide a greater degree of misalignment with aircraft hard points or seat tracks, and provides greater strength and load bearing capability. The adjustment features allow for fine tuning of the X/Y/Z position of a panel or monument at the fitting itself and removes the requirement for tools while reduces the intrusion into monument compartments of the floor attachment. This latter point allows for standardization of compartment doors, rub and bump strips, etc., and allows galley chilled carts to be installed without being offset to avoid wheel contact with conventional fittings. In addition, the adjustment fitting also removes a significant cold bridge in the case of chilled galleys, and long term problems caused corrosion of the metallic attachment are virtually eliminated. The present invention can be incorporated into all types of narrow or wide bodied commercial aircraft monuments both for new and existing airplane types or variants. 
         [0038]    The foregoing descriptions and accompanying drawings are intended to be illustrative, and not limiting as to the scope of the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize and appreciate modifications and substitutions of the various components that do not depart from the spirit of the invention, and the scope of the invention is intended to incorporate all such modifications and substitutions. Therefore, the scope of the invention is properly limited only by the words of the appended claims, using those words ordinary and customary meaning in view of this disclosure.