The design of a next generation Y class aircraft seat

The design of a next generation Y class aircraft seat

Le, N.T.P.

Hoftijzer, J.W. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2015-05-26

Globalization has resulted in an increase in demand for air travel, whether for business or for leisure. And this demand is expected to rise a staggering 31% between 2012 and 2017 and will continue positive growth rates up to 2030 . In tandem with the growth in the aviation section, the commercial aircraft cabin interior market is expected to grow as well. There will be an shift in airline landscape towards the emerging economies. Especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where the majority of the global middle class is accounted for, will fuel the need for increased mobility. This results in an increase demand for aircraft seats, and particularly economy class seats. This creates opportunities for numerous players in the aircraft seating industry. As so for Zodiac Aerospace. This master thesis report will present a design proposal for a new generation aircraft seats in where the focus is set on user-centric design to improve passenger comfort and simultaneously create a lightweight seat. The first chapters will describe how this project took flight in conjunction with Zodiac Seats US, LLC and a thorough internal and external analysis will be given to position the company with the commercial aircraft interiors market. Furthermore the aspects of discomfort and comfort will be elaborated to get a good understanding of what causes comfort and discomfort and how that can affect aircraft seat design and its passengers. From there the a current Y class seat will be deconstructed and analyzed to find out what the current situation is that needs to be taken into consideration for the new Y class seat design proposal Based on the literature research, and the gained knowledge from the current seat deconstruction, a design vision is set up for the future direction with respect to stakeholders. The design vision will describe the most important factors that causes discomfort and with the aid scientific research, it can be prevented or reduced. There is an abundance of data available regarding discomfort, yet few aircraft seat designers have yet to implement that to improve the comfort level of the passengers. This design vision I strive to change that. The new seat design will be designed from the ground up based on scientific data to reduce discomfort and increases the comfort experience of the passenger. A crucial aspect of this new design is that it is an user focused seat design. Ideation, conceptualization and embodiment will lead to a prototype in which user testing can be done to validate the new design, which has not been introduced before in the aviation industry. Finally the design and results will be evaluated and validated. To end this report, final conclusions have been made and recommendations for the future design and development will be given.

aircraft seat
design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f4307eb4-f448-40d9-b65a-5a0a3356904f

2016-05-26

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Le, N.T.P.