Method and system for operation of safety features of aircraft galley containers
AssigneeB/E Aerospace, Inc.
InventorsFrederik Adrian Stephan Panjer, Arnau Castillo Gonzalez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is provided herein an aircraft including at least one aircraft galley container and a controller. Each one of the at least one aircraft galley container includes a safety feature having a first mode and a second mode, and a controller for automatically selecting one of the first mode and second mode of the safety feature and placing the safety feature in the selected mode. The automatic selection of the mode is dependent on a condition of the aircraft satisfying or failing to satisfy a predetermined condition. There is also provided a method of operating a safety feature of an aircraft galley container.
Claims14
An aircraft comprising:
- at least one aircraft galley container, each one of the at least one aircraft galley container including a safety feature having a first mode and a second mode;
- and
- a controller for automatically selecting one of the first mode or the second mode of the safety feature and placing the safety feature in a selected mode,
- wherein the automatic selection of the first mode or the second mode is dependent on a condition of the aircraft satisfying or failing to satisfy a predetermined condition, wherein each of the at least one aircraft galley container comprises:
- a door;
- a latch mechanism, wherein the latch mechanism is positionable in a latched position preventing opening of the door and an unlatched position permitting opening of the door, wherein the latch mechanism includes:
- a handle;
- a pair of rods;
- and
- a rotatable plate coupled to the handle and configured to be rotated by the handle and to convert rotational movement of the handle to linear movement of the pair of rods to place the latch mechanism in the latched and unlatched positions;
- and
- a lock configured to selectively prevent the rotatable plate from rotation to maintain the latch mechanism in the latched position,
- wherein the lock comprises a locking member,
- wherein the rotatable plate comprises a recess shaped to conform to the locking member,
- wherein, in a locked position, the lock prevents the rotatable plate from rotation by the locking member engaging with the recess, and
- wherein, in an open position, the lock permits the rotatable plate to rotate by the locking member disengaging with the recess.
A method of operating at least one safety feature associated with a respective at least one aircraft galley container, the method comprising:
- determining whether an aircraft satisfies a predetermined condition;
- responsive to aircraft satisfying the predetermined condition, placing a safety feature of at least one aircraft galley container in a first mode, wherein in the first mode, a lock prevents a rotatable plate from rotation by a locking member engaging with a recess in the rotatable plate;
- and
- responsive to aircraft failing to satisfy the predetermined condition, placing the at least one safety feature of the at least one aircraft galley container in a second mode, wherein, in the second mode, the lock permits the rotatable plate to rotate by the locking member disengaging with the recess in the rotatable plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.