Abstract:
Adaptive, self-adjusting decorative trim assemblies are especially adapted for use in aircraft cabin interiors where the fuselage undergoes deformation and/or distortion due to pressurization during flight. The self-adjusting features of the decorative trim assemblies according to the embodiments described herein thus allow for relative movement between mutually intersecting interior cabin panels without jeopardizing the cabin interior aesthetics (e.g., since the relative positioning of the panels is not disrupted by virtue of such fuselage deformations).

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is based on and claims domestic priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/823,527 filed on May 15, 2013, the entire content of such prior filed application being expressly incorporated hereinto by reference 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to adaptive decorative trim assemblies for vehicle cabin interiors, especially decorative trim assemblies for aircraft interiors. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The integration between panels, monuments and divisors along a cabin interior of a transport vehicle, e.g., an aircraft cabin, presents quality problems since major gaps and elevational steps can become visible which in turn create the need for numerous adjustments. These gaps are not however necessarily visible when the interior cabin panels are initially installed during aircraft fabrication while on the ground as all of the panel components and parts will be installed together in a perfectly trimmed relationship. Gaps can and normally do become visible however between installed panels as a consequence of fuselage deformation during normal during flight conditions, e.g., when the fuselage is pressurized. 
     One traditional well known concept that is widely used to hide or minimize these problems involves adjusting and trimming the finished panels while the aircraft is on the ground, and then to re-adjust the panels again during flight conditions. This re-adjustment of the finished panels helps to achieve the best fit performance for fuselage variation and interior components. However, even this conventional practice still allows for the possibility of non consistent gaps to be visible which are not aesthetically pleasant, while also wasting numerous assembly hours. 
     Another common alternative is to simply cover the integration region between adjacent interior panels with an overlap finished panel to thereby hide the gap variations. These gap filler panels, however, do not provide perfect matching between surfaces and typically experience serious bonding and/or adhesion issues which require frequent replacement. 
     What has been needed in this art, therefore, is an assembly of interior passenger cabin panels that is adaptive to different operational environments of the vehicle. It is towards providing such a need that the embodiments of the present invention are directed. 
     SUMMARY 
     In general, the embodiments disclosed herein are directed toward adaptive assembly which transitions between interior cabin panels located longitudinally relative to the cabin&#39;s longitudinal axis (e.g., cabin interior liner panels such as sidewalls, valances, side ledges, dado panels and ceiling panels) and interior cabin panels located transversally (e.g., cabin partitions, bulkheads and cabinetry monuments positioned generally transverse relative to the cabin&#39;s longitudinal axis) and which are relatively easy to install and do not necessarily need adjustment (i.e., are self-adjusting). The embodiments described herein therefore allow interior panels to naturally move during flight in response to fuselage deformation (e.g., which may occur with aircraft pressurization) without jeopardizing the cabin interior aesthetics. 
     An adaptive, self-adjusting decorative trim assembly for vehicle interiors includes first and second panels positioned relative to one another such that an end of the first panel overlaps an adjacent end of the second panel by a first dimension to establish a visibly perceptible gap therebetween of a second dimension, and a general cross-sectionally L-shaped connector having mutually orthogonal first and second connection legs connected to respective back faces of the first and second panels. At least one panel of the first and second panels is connected to a respective one of the first and second connection legs of the connector to allow for axial movements of the connector in a direction substantially parallel to the at least one panel. 
     According to some embodiments, the first panel is connected to the first connection leg to allow for axial movements of the connector in a first direction substantially parallel to the first panel. The second panel may thus be connected to the second connection leg such that the second panel is moveable with the connector in the first direction. According to such embodiments, the first panel will include a two-way locator joint comprised of an elongate slot formed in the first connection leg, and a connection pin will be fixed to the first panel and received within the slot. 
     According to other embodiments, each of the first and second panels is connected to the first and second connection legs to allow for axial movements of the connector in first and second directions substantially parallel to the first and second panels, respectively. Such embodiments will thus include a connector which further comprises an extension leg which is fixed to supporting structure of the vehicle. According to such embodiments, each of the first and second panels comprise respective two-way locator joints comprised of elongate slots formed in the first and second connection legs, and connection pins fixed to the first and second panels and received within a respective one of the slots. 
     The adaptive, self-adjusting decorative trim assemblies of the embodiments disclosed herein are especially adapted for use in aircraft cabin interiors where the fuselage undergoes deformation and/or distortion due to pressurization during flight. The self-adjusting features of the decorative trim assemblies according to the embodiments described herein thus allow for relative movement between mutually intersecting interior cabin panels without jeopardizing the cabin interior aesthetics (e.g., since the relative positioning of the panels is not disrupted by virtue of such fuselage deformations). 
     These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS 
       The disclosed embodiments of the present invention will be better and more completely understood by referring to the following detailed description of exemplary non-limiting illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an aircraft cabin interior which includes an adaptive trim assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a detailed view in cross-section of one embodiment of an adaptive trim assembly as taken along lines  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a detailed view in cross-section of another embodiment of an adaptive trim assembly similar to the embodiment depicted in  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a detailed view in cross-section of another embodiment of an adaptive trim assembly similar to the embodiment depicted in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the embodiments disclosed herein provide an adaptive trim assembly  10  which transitions between interior cabin panels  12  located longitudinally (linings in general, such as: sidewall, valance, side ledge, dado panel and ceiling) and interior cabin panels  14  located transversally (e.g., cabin partitions, bulkheads and cabinetry monuments positioned generally transverse (arrow T in  FIG. 1 ) relative to the cabin&#39;s longitudinal axis (allow L in  FIG. 1 ) which are relatively easy to install without the need for adjustment. The assembly  10  thus allows interior panels  12 ,  14  to naturally move during flight in response to along with fuselage deformation (e.g., due to aircraft cabin pressurization) without jeopardizing aesthetics. As such, the assembly  10  provides for self-adjustment of the panels  12 ,  14 . 
     As is perhaps more clearly depicted in  FIG. 2 , the assembly  10  includes a general cross-sectionally L-shaped connector  16  having mutually orthogonal connection legs  16 - 1 ,  16 - 2  connected to the back faces  12   a ,  14   a  of the mutually orthogonally intersecting transverse and longitudinal panels  12 ,  14  by means of connection pins  18 ,  20 , respectively. As is shown, the edge  12 - 1  of panel  12  overlaps the adjacent edge  14 - 1  of panel  14  by a dimension D 1  so to provide a controlled or substantially constant gap having a dimension D 2  therebetween. The edge  12 - 1  of panel  12  will thus form a less visible gap of dimension D 3  with leg  16 - 2  of the L-shaped connector  16 . 
     A plurality of the pins  20  are locally distributed along the interior cross-section of the cabin contours of the cabin interior and are joined to the transverse panel  12  to form a four-way locator joint  22  by virtue of the cooperation between the upper part of pin  22  and the leg  16 - 2 . As such, the panel  14  is positionally fixed to the leg  16 - 2  of the connector  16 . In contrast, a plurality of the pins  18  are locally distributed along the interior cross section of the cabin contour and form a two-way locator joint  24  which allows for movement of the L-shaped connector  16  (and hence the longitudinal panel  14 ) along an axis A 1  that is substantially parallel to the panel  12  by virtue of the cooperation of pins  18  within elongated slot  26  formed within the leg  16 - 1  of the connector  16 . In such a manner therefore, the panel  14  and the connector  16  may move in a direction of axis A 1  thereby absorbing fuselage deformations that may occur in use (e.g., due to fuselage pressurization during flight conditions) with no impacts on the visible aesthetics to individuals inside the aircraft cabin. That is, by virtue of the two-way connector  24 , the visibly perceptible gap of dimension D 2  will remain substantially constant since the non-visibly perceptible gap of D 3  will be allowed to vary in response to fuselage deformations (i.e., since the overlap of dimension D 1  is allowed to vary). 
     The embodiment of the adaptive trim assembly  10  as depicted in  FIG. 3  is similar to the embodiment discussed above in relation to  FIG. 2  except that the pin  20  cooperates in an elongate slot  28  formed in leg  16 - 1  of connector  16  so as to provide for a two-way locator joint  30 . A two-way locator joint  32  is thereby established between an extension flange  16 - 3  extending oppositely to leg  16 - 2  of the L-shaped connector  16  and fuselage structure  34  by virtue of mounting pin  36 . As in the embodiment discussed above in relation to  FIG. 2 , the pins  18  and  20  are locally distributed along the interior cross-section of the cabin contours of the cabin interior creating a reference datum for the installation process. The two-way locator joints  24  and  30 , however, allow for movements of the L-shaped connector  16  along axes A 1  and A 2  substantially parallel to the panels  12  and  14 , respectively, upon deformation of the fuselage (which may be transmitted to the fuselage structure  34  and to the extension flange  16 - 3  by virtue of the four-way locator joint  32  established therebetween). 
     In such a manner, therefore, loads due to such fuselage deformation will substantially not be transmitted to the panels  12 ,  14  which could in turn cause deformation and misalignment to occur. Thus, in accordance with the embodiment of  FIG. 3 , the dimension D 2  of the visibly perceptible gap between the overhang of end  12 - 1  and end  14 - 1  will remain substantially constant within a predetermined tolerance value due to the movements permitted by the L-shaped connector  16  that are permitted to occur along axes A 1  and A 2 . 
     A further embodiment of an adaptive trim assembly  10  is shown in  FIG. 4  which is similar to the embodiment discussed above in relation to  FIG. 3  except that the panels  12  and  14  are unconnected to the legs  16 - 1 ,  16 - 2  of the connector  16 . Thus, the extension leg  16 - 3  of the connector  16  is connected to the fuselage structure  34  by virtue of the mounting pin  36  so as to provide for a four-way locator joint  34 . Since the panels  12 ,  14  are unconnected to the connector  16 , loads due to fuselage deformation will not be transmitted to the panels  12 ,  14  which in turn could cause deformation and misalignment to occur. Moreover, the four-way locating joint  34  allows the L-shaped connector  16  to be moveable in the directions of arrows A 1  and/or A 2  relative to the panels  12 ,  14  in response to fuselage deformation (i.e., since such fuselage deformation may be transmitted to the fuselage structure  34  and the extension flange  16 - 3  of the connector  16  by virtue of the connector  36 ). In such a manner, therefore, the dimensions D 1 , D 2  and/or D 3  may vary within predetermined values which do not affect the visual aesthetics. 
     It will be understood that the description provided herein is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope thereof.