In the
first part of this blog post I mentioned what the various features and design goals we had for the new rear seat. Once those design goals were set, we then began the design process in earnest. We had design engineers determining the various features and locations working closely with the structural analysis engineers who were sizing the seats, structure and other components. The tooling design engineers were also actively involved to ensure that the design we created was actually buildable.
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| CAD and FEM models |
With an initial design complete, it was time to test our prototype to see how we did. We built a few prototype seats. 1 set was installed in a fuselage so that we could get actual feedback on comfort, recline, seatbelt placement, ease of use, child seat installation etc. The other sets were off to a sled test facility for structural and occupant protection testing.
Based on the first fuselage installation we learned several things. We wanted more recline, we needed to slightly adjust the belt placement but overall everyone we put in that airplane (and we put a lot of people in there of all different sizes) thought it was a massive improvement in comfort.
The sled tests are the biggest concern for seat development. These dynamic tests are incredibly violent (23g's in a very short period of time for the rear seat) and we learn a lot by doing them. We use a facility in southeastern Wisconsin for these tests so we packed up a truck with our floors and seats and headed south.
Although the tests passed, they showed several areas that could be improved, and they weren't without their humor moments as the leg on one of the test dummy's wasn't bolted on and came off during the test.
So with the successful prototype sled tests and fuselage mockup tests completed, we took all the information gathered and began a second round of design to incorporate all the changes needed with our eye set on certification and production. Stay tuned for part 3.
