Patent ID: 8028957

Claim:
A system for reducing the manual force required to move a lowerable shell of a luggage compartment in an aircraft, the lowerable shell being movably coupled to a luggage compartment housing, the system comprising: a load determination device for determining a load acting on the lowerable shell of the luggage compartment of the aircraft; a state detection device for detecting whether the lowerable shell of the aircraft is in a closed position or an open position; a force assisting device having a first inactive operating state and a second active operating state wherein the force assisting device applies a constant assistance force which opposes the load acting on the lowerable shell of the aircraft, the force assisting device including a telescoping member having a first end pivotally coupled to the luggage compartment housing and a second end pivotally coupled to the lowerable shell; and an actuating device operatively coupled to the load determination device and the state detection device, the actuating device adapted to move the force assisting device from the first inactive operating state to the second active operating state when both the lowerable shell of the aircraft is detected to be in the open position by the state detection device and the load acting on the lowerable shell of the aircraft is determined to exceed a predetermined threshold value by the load determination device, the actuating device further including an electric motor operatively connected to the second end of the force assisting device, wherein the constant assistance force is less than the predetermined threshold value.