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US 12,173,550 B2Granted
Lavatory doors using touchless actuation and de-actuation mechanism
AssigneeB/E Aerospace, Inc.
InventorsSanith Kurumpilavu Subramanian, Dharamveer Surya Prakash Bathla, Vishwanand Vishwannathan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system comprises a door including a latch assembly configured to latch the door to a doorframe in a closed position of the door. An latch actuator is operatively connected to the latch assembly to drive the latch assembly to latch and unlatch the door. A exterior touchless sensor operatively connected to the actuator to cause the actuator to unlatch the latch assembly upon receipt of touchless input from a user.
Claims13
A lavatory door actuation system comprising:
- a controller;
- a door including a latch assembly configured to latch the door to a doorframe in a closed position of the door;
- a latch actuator operatively connected to the latch assembly to drive the latch assembly to latched and unlatched positions;
- an exterior touchless sensor disposed on an exterior of a lavatory and operatively connected to the latch actuator to cause the latch actuator to unlatch the latch assembly upon receipt of touchless input from a user;
- at least one doorframe position sensor disposed on the doorframe and operatively connected to the controller configured to sense an obstruction in the doorframe;
- at least one interior presence sensor disposed on an interior of the lavatory;
- and
- an interior speaker disposed on the interior of the lavatory, wherein the controller includes machine readable instructions configured to cause the controller to perform a method, the method including:
- actuating, by the controller, the latch actuator to unlatch the door and actuating an extendible door actuator moving the door to an open position;
- holding, by the controller, the door in the open position for a threshold amount of time;
- sensing, by the doorframe position sensor, after the threshold amount of time, whether an obstruction is present in the door frame;
- in response to sensing no obstruction is present in the door frame, releasing the door from the open position and actuating the extendible door actuator moving the door to the closed position;
- or
- in response to sensing the obstruction is present in the door frame, maintaining the door in the open position until the obstruction is no longer present,
- determining, by the controller, whether the door is in an unlatched position or a latched position;
- sensing, by the interior presence sensor, whether an occupant is present in the interior while at least one of the door is in an open position or the door is in the closed position and in the unlatched position;
- and
- alerting, by the interior speaker, the occupant to latch the door.
15 more elements
An aircraft lavatory system comprising:
- an aircraft lavatory;
- a door including a latch assembly configured to latch the door to a doorframe of the aircraft lavatory in a closed position of the door;
- a latch actuator operatively connected to the latch assembly to drive the latch assembly to latched and unlatched positions;
- an exterior touchless sensor operatively connected to the latch actuator to cause the latch actuator to unlatch the latch assembly upon receipt of touchless input from a user;
- and at least one of an interior microphone or an interior speaker disposed on an interior of the aircraft lavatory and at least one of an exterior microphone or an exterior speaker disposed on an exterior of the aircraft lavatory for communication through the door when the door is in a closed position, wherein the at least one of the interior microphone or the interior speaker are operatively connected to a controller, wherein the controller is configured to actuate the latch actuator upon receipt of user input through the interior microphone or the interior speaker.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.