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EP-4737315-A1 - MANUFACTURING METHOD OF INTEGRALLY FORMED AIRCRAFT SEAT LEG, STRUCTURE THEREOF AND AIRCRAFT SEAT

EP4737315A1EP 4737315 A1EP4737315 A1EP 4737315A1EP-4737315-A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of an integrally formed aircraft seat leg, which includes taking a plurality of carbon fiber prepregs, and performing a folding process, a cutting process, a lay-up process, a preforming process and a thermal curing process in order. After the finished product cools down, remove the mold to obtain an aircraft seat leg (20). The aircraft seat leg (20) manufactured by this manufacturing method has no joint in structure, which is an integrally formed and structurally hollow design. Compared with the structure requiring multiple elements for assembly, the present invention has advantages of high structural strength and light weight.

Inventors

  • LU, FENG-CHANG
  • HUANG, CHUNG-LI
  • HONG, JIN-SAN

Assignees

  • Surewin Worldwide Limited

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20250120

Claims (15)

  1. A manufacturing method of an integrally formed aircraft seat leg, the manufacturing method being characterized in comprising the steps of: A) taking a plurality of carbon fiber prepregs which have long fiber structure, a folding process being performed to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs to make the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs preformed with stacking angles according to bends of an external shape of an aircraft seat leg (20); B) performing a cutting process to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs that have gone through the folding process; C) performing a lay-up process by stacking the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs in a jig according to stacking design of the aircraft seat leg (20); D) performing a preforming process, in a mold, to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs that have gone through the lay-up process; E) performing a thermal curing process by preheating and pre-pressurizing the mold with the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs, wherein the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs comprise thermoplastic material or thermosetting material, and then molding the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs by heating and pressurizing; and F) cooling down at room temperature and then removing the mold, thereby obtaining the aircraft seat leg (20), the aircraft seat leg (20) being formed integrally and hollow in structure.
  2. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, which is characterized in that the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs have the structure with unidirectional long fibers or woven long fibers.
  3. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, which is characterized in that in the cutting process in the step B, the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs are cut according to size of the stacking design of the aircraft seat leg (20), then numbered and marked with the stacking angles.
  4. The manufacturing method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-3, which is characterized in that in the thermal curing process in the step E, a heating and pressurizing machine is preheated to 130°C-220°C, and then the mold with the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs is placed into the heating and pressurizing machine to be preheated and pre-pressurized.
  5. The manufacturing method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-4, which is characterized in that in the thermal curing process in the step E, the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs in the mold is pressurized by inflation with a pressure of 7-14 kg/cm 2 , and heated by a temperature of 130°C-220°C.
  6. The manufacturing method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-5, which is characterized in that in the step F, the mold and the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs are waited for cooling down at room temperature to a temperature of 60°C-80°C.
  7. An aircraft seat leg (20) manufactured by the manufacturing method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-6, the aircraft seat leg (20) being characterized in comprising: a primary support frame (21) having a support point (211) and a plurality of support bars (212), an end of the plurality of support bars (212) being connected to the support point (211); a secondary support frame (22) connected to another end of a plurality of said support bars (212) of the primary support frame (21); and two seat tube connectors (23) formed at the primary support frame's (21) a plurality of said support bars' (212) said end connected with the secondary support frame (22), every said seat tube connector (23) having a connecting hole (231) penetrating through the seat tube connector (23).
  8. The aircraft seat leg (20) as claimed in claim 7, which is characterized in that the two seat tube connectors (23) further have a plurality of fastening holes (233); the plurality of fastening holes (233) communicate with the connecting hole (231).
  9. The aircraft seat leg (20) as claimed in claim 8, which is characterized in that the two seat tube connectors (23) are further formed with fastening planes (234) around every said fastening hole (233).
  10. An aircraft seat (10), the aircraft seat (10) being characterized in comprising: an aircraft seat leg (20) manufactured by the manufacturing method as claimed in anyone of claims 1-6, the aircraft seat leg (20) having a primary support frame (21), a secondary support frame (22) and two seat tube connectors (23), the primary support frame (21) comprising a support point (211) and a plurality of support bars (212), an end of the plurality of support bars (212) being connected to the support point (211), the secondary support frame (22) being connected to another end of a plurality of said support bars (212) of the primary support frame (21), the two seat tube connectors (23) being formed at the primary support frame's (21) a plurality of said support bars' (212) said end connected with the secondary support frame (22), every said seat tube connector (23) having a connecting hole (231) penetrating through the seat tube connector (23); two seat tubes (30) inserted in the connecting holes (231) of the two seat tube connectors (23) of the aircraft seat leg (20) respectively, the two seat tubes (30) being fastened to the two seat tube connectors (23) respectively; an armrest frame (40) having an armrest portion (41) and two assembling holes (42) formed at a bottom side of the armrest portion (41), the armrest frame (40) being sleeved onto the two seat tubes (30) through the two assembling holes (42) respectively; and a seat member (50) having a seat bottom (51), a seat back (52) connected with the seat bottom (51) and a headrest (53) connected with the seat back (52), two ends of the seat bottom (51) being connected to the two seat tubes (30) respectively.
  11. The aircraft seat (10) as claimed in claim 10, which is characterized in that outer surfaces of the two seat tubes (30) are adhered to inner surfaces of the two seat tube connectors (23).
  12. The aircraft seat (10) as claimed in claim 11, which is characterized in that a plurality of positionally limiting loops (232) are disposed on two sides of the two seat tube connectors (23); the plurality of positionally limiting loops (232) are sleeved onto the two seat tubes (30) and tightly abutted against said two sides of the two seat tube connectors (23).
  13. The aircraft seat (10) as claimed in claim 10, which is characterized in that the two seat tube connectors (23) of the aircraft seat leg (20) further has a plurality of fastening holes (233); the plurality of fastening holes (233) communicate with the connecting hole (231) so that the two seat tubes (30) are connected with the two seat tube connectors (23) by fasteners (60) inserted in the plurality of fastening holes (233).
  14. The aircraft seat (10) as claimed in claim 13, which is characterized in that the two seat tube connectors (23) of the aircraft seat leg (20) are further formed with fastening planes (234) around every said fastening hole (233).
  15. The aircraft seat (10) as claimed in anyone of claims 10-14, which is characterized in that material of the two seat tubes (30) is glass fiber, aluminum alloy or carbon fiber.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to aircraft seat legs and more particularly, to a manufacturing method of an integrally formed aircraft seat leg, which uses folding, cutting and lay-up steps to enable carbon fiber prepregs having long fiber structure to be manufactured into a one-piece aircraft seat leg which has high strength and low weight and applicable to an aircraft seat. 2. Description of the Related Art In response to business and travel needs, many people choose to take flights when traveling to and from countries around the world. Aviation safety is an issue that all airlines and aircraft manufacturers attach great importance to. Therefore, safety consideration is required for all equipment before it is used on the aircraft. The main considerations for the materials of the equipment in the cabins are usually fire resistance, light weight and high strength. At present, composites of glass fiber, metal or carbon fiber are mostly used as the materials for the main structure. The composites of glass fiber or carbon fiber are added with fire-retardant materials, and can be reduced in weight and increased in strength through structural arrangement, thereby quite suitable for use in aircraft interiors. Wherein, carbon fiber is advantageous in weight and strength when compared with glass fiber, so applying carbon fiber to the seat frame in the aircraft cabin can improve the safety of the aircraft. Due to the complex shape of the seat frame, when it is made of carbon fiber, it is usually made of thermoplastic or thermosetting carbon fiber composites. US Patent No. 10112720 B2 disclosed an aircraft seat leg using thermoplastic carbon fiber composite. At first, a support element is formed through the thermoplastic curing process. Then, a reinforcing element is formed of thermoplastic plastic material on the support element. The reinforcing element serves as a connecting structure to assemble a first reinforcement loop and a second reinforcement loop. US Patent No. 11584274 B1 disclosed a modular aircraft seat leg, which is composed of a first seat leg member, a second seat leg member, a size coupling member, and a seat tube receptor. The components can be made of metallic or nonmetallic materials. The first seat leg member and the second seat leg member are combined to each other through the size coupling member, and then the second seat leg member is fixed with the seat tube receptor, so that the aircraft seat leg is formed. Thermoplastic materials have the property of being convenient for shaping and manufacturing. But in terms of structural strength, thermosetting materials can perform better than thermoplastic materials. However, thermosetting materials are not easy for shaping. A plurality of components should be formed and then combined. Besides, it can be known from the above two patents that the current aircraft seat legs are mainly multi-piece assemblies. However, such multi-piece assembled structure has lower structural strength when compared with one-piece integral structure. Besides, the multi-piece structure is prone to assembly defects during the manufacturing process, which affect the quality of the finished product. If multiple inspections are performed, the manufacturing cost will increase significantly. Therefore, the inventor made effort to think about how to provide a method which can use thermosetting materials to manufacture the aircraft seat leg, and the finished product is an integrally formed configuration, so that the whole seat leg has increased structural strength, thereby advantageous to the improvement of the aircraft cabin safety. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above description that the existing aircraft seat legs still have many shortcomings in actual implementation and use, it is one of the objectives of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method of an integrally formed aircraft seat leg, and through this method one-piece aircraft seat leg is manufactured, which can have the advantages of high strength and light weight. To attain the above objective, the present invention provides a manufacturing method of an integrally formed aircraft seat leg, which includes the steps of: A) taking a plurality of carbon fiber prepregs which have long fiber structure, a folding process being performed to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs to make the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs preformed with stacking angles according to the bends of the external shape of an aircraft seat leg; B) performing a cutting process to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs that have gone through the folding process; C) performing a lay-up process by stacking the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs in a jig according to the stacking design of the aircraft seat leg; D) performing a preforming process, in a mold, to the plurality of carbon fiber prepregs that have gone through the lay-up process; E) performing a thermal curing process