Aircraft interior lavatory

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10259558-B2
Application number	US-201615258529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2016
Priority date	Apr 20, 2010
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

A lavatory for an aircraft cabin includes a wall having a forward wall portion disposed immediately aft of and substantially conforming to an exterior aft surface of an aircraft cabin structure, such as a passenger seat, that is substantially not flat in a vertical plane. The forward wall portion includes a forward projection over an aft portion of the adjacent passenger seat. The forward wall portion can define a secondary space in the interior lavatory space, which can provide an amenity stowage space, and can include design elements providing visual space.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An aircraft lavatory unit for a cabin area of a passenger aircraft, the aircraft lavatory unit comprising:
an aft wall; and
a contoured forward wall that is substantially not flat, wherein the contoured forward wall is configured to receive a portion of an exterior aft surface of a seat back of a forward-installed passenger seat when the seat back is in an unreclined seat position;
wherein a width of a lavatory space disposed between the forward wall and the aft wall comprises
an upper width,
a lower width, and
a mid-width measured at a height above the cabin floor corresponding substantially to a head rest of the forward-installed passenger seat when the seat back is in the unreclined position, wherein
 the upper width and the lower width are both substantially wider than the mid-width; and

wherein the contoured forward wall permits a forward-installed passenger seat to be positioned in a manner that reduces a volume of unusable space in the cabin area by reducing or eliminating gaps that would exist between a substantially flat forward wall and the forward-installed passenger seat; and
wherein the contoured forward wall permits an aft-extending seat support of the forward-positioned passenger seat to be positioned closer to the contoured forward wall than a position permitted by the substantially flat forward wall.

2. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 1 , wherein the forward wall comprises:
a forward-extending upper portion;
an aft-extending mid-portion; and
a forward-extending lower portion;
wherein the forward-extending upper portion, the aft-extending mid-portion, and the forward-extending lower portion combine to define a first aft-extending recess disposed between the forward-extending upper portion and the forward-extending lower portion for receiving the portion of the exterior aft surface of the seat back.

3. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 2 , wherein the upper recess extends along substantially a full width of the contoured forward wall.

4. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 1 , wherein a bottom width of the aircraft lavatory unit is narrower than the lower width.

5. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 4 , wherein the forward wall further defines a second aft-extending recess proximate to a lower end of the forward wall, the second aft-extending recess being configured to receive at least a portion of the aft-extending seat support of the forward-positioned passenger seat therein.

6. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 5 , wherein the second aft-extending recess extends along substantially a full width of the contoured forward wall.

7. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 1 , wherein the contoured forward wall further comprises an upper projection that, upon installation, protrudes forward over a top of the seat back.

8. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 7 , wherein the upper projection is configured to abut an upper surface of the cabin area.

9. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 7 , wherein the upper projection defines a secondary space in the interior lavatory space above the passenger seat back.

10. The aircraft lavatory unit of claim 1 , wherein the contoured forward wall is configured to accept loads from the forward-positioned passenger seat.

Assignees

• Be Aerospace Inc

Inventors

• Cook Donald F
• Harrington Liberty
• Steiner Philipp
• Brauer Robert K
• Skelly Trevor

Classifications

• B64D11/02 Primary

  Toilet fittings · CPC title

• B64C1/10 Primary

  Bulkheads · CPC title

• B64D11/064

  Adjustable inclination or position of seats · CPC title

• B64D11/06

  Arrangements of seats, or adaptations or details specially adapted for aircraft seats (crew seat constructions for emergency purposes B64D25/04) · CPC title

• B64F5/00

  Designing, manufacturing, assembling, cleaning, maintaining or repairing aircraft, not otherwise provided for; Handling, transporting, testing or inspecting aircraft components, not otherwise provided for · CPC title