Airbus Group’s electric aircraft cockpit concept is being shown for the first time during this week’s Paris Air Show, with the full-scale mockup exhibited in the corporation’s pavilion at Le Bourget Airport.
Conceived by its Corporate Technical Office, the full-scale cockpit mockup unveiled at this week’s Paris Air Show will serve as important tool for the Airbus Group’s electric aircraft development, generating feedback from across the aviation community.
Bruno Saint-Jalmes, the Airbus Group’s corporate-level Head of Creative Design and Concepts, said cost, weight, integration and simplification were among the most important factors taken into account while evolving the new e-aircraft cockpit design.
Saint-Jalmes said a good example of the cost and weight considerations – as well as the attention to integration in the cockpit mockup – is its side-by-side seating arrangement, which uses a carbon fiber composite shell with two fixed seats. This single-piece shell serves as a primary structural element of the aircraft cockpit, while also eliminating the heavier, more complicated and expensive track-mounted seating typically found on earlier-generation general aviation airplanes.
The e-aircraft’s side-by-side seating arrangement uses a single-piece carbon fiber composite shell, which was conceived with cost and weight considerations in mind. With each seat angled inward toward centreline at 3 degrees it provides a conical form for the fuselage – contributing to the aircraft’s aerodynamic shape.
The two seats also contribute to the e-aircraft’s aerodynamic shape, as they are angled inward toward the airplane’s centreline at 3 degrees, allowing the fuselage to have a conical shape. Adjustment for pilots’ height is achieved with a moveable bar for the rudder pedals – one of the few moving parts incorporated anywhere in the cockpit, he added.
The design-to-cost emphasis is evident in the cockpit interior’s assembly strategy, with overlapping joints used whenever possible in the interior. These joints can be secured with adhesive, as well as Velcro®-type hook and loop fasteners, and even magnets, according to Saint-Jalmes.
“This eliminates the need for complex and costly tooling when assembling the cockpit’s major elements, while still providing a very high level of perceived quality,” he stated. “Overlapping joints already are used in the production of boats and motorcycles, but it will be something new for aviation – and is particularly innovative for a composite aircraft.”
The design-to-cost attention, as well as the focus on integration, also is evident in such details as providing outside air for the cockpit. With the use of a short-length NACA scoop, the need for tubing or other ducting hardware that would add to aircraft weight and complexity is eliminated.
Another key design feature is the mockup’s instrument panel, which benefits from the “Connected Cockpit” concept developed by the Airbus Group’s Corporate Technical Office for e-aircraft applications. Its connectivity and integration bring together advances in glass cockpit technology with new methods of displaying processed, easily-interpreted information for pilots, including a plug-in computer tablet as the instrument panel’s right-hand Navigation and Training Display (NTD).
The NTD supplements the aircraft’s fixed left-hand Primary Flight Display (PFD), and when removed from the cockpit, the computer tablet serves as a highly interactive training device that enables a pilot to plan the upcoming flight with an instructor. Afterwards, it is utilized as a debriefing tool, and its flight data subsequently can be saved by uploading the information to a computer. “In applying the ‘Connected Cockpit’ strategy, we have created a very wide instrument panel that uses modern technology for how flights are planned and performed,” Saint-Jalmes said. “It also represents the way-of-life for the pilots of tomorrow, who use computer tables or smart phones at home and work.”
Leading the electric aircraft’s cockpit concept effort is Bruno Saint-Jalmes, the Airbus Group’s corporate-level Head of Creative Design and Concepts, who is shown in the full-scale mockup displayed at the Paris Air Show. The e-aircraft cockpit mockup has significant attention to detail that usually is found in high-end automobiles and sports cars. This includes the “piano black” lacquered look applied to the carbon-fibre console located between the two pilots, which incorporates the e-aircraft’s power lever for control of the electric motors, along with the flap actuator.
Stitching adds a level of sophistication for the cockpit’s leather and Alcantara® covering material, while eco-friendly water-based foam padding is used in the seats and sidewalls. The covering material can be easily installed and removed, allowing the interior to be customized based for customer requirements – as well as renewed if the aircraft is resold. Water-based paint also is applied in the cockpit.
Another aspect where design and functionality come together in the mockup is the glare shield, which is important in preventing reflection on the electronic instruments. The visor-type glare shield spans the entire instrument panel, and continues with a stylish curve to extend along the left and right sidewalls – providing protection from glare in almost all lighting conditions.
Saint-Jalmes said the electric aircraft cockpit concept incorporates know-how from across the Airbus Group, with the consultation continuing as the design evolves. “By working in the Corporate Technical Office, we have the advantage of bringing in the Airbus Group’s expertise – while also befitting from best practices that provide the most cost-effective solutions,” he concluded. “The e-aircraft concept’s unveiling at the Paris Air Show is just the beginning, and we are looking forward to the feedback and input that will enable us to take the next steps.”
http://www.airbusgroup.com/int/en/innovation-environment/latest-news/Transforming-cockpit-design-with-a-revolutionary-strategy-for-the-Airbus-Group-s-electric-aircraft.html
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