In aviation, competition is tough: Airlines striving for passengers’ business are always looking for ways to further improve the efficiency of an aircraft and the passengers’ experience. Amenities such as automatic seat adjustments, window shade operation or table height movement are no longer exclusive to first class seats. Especially in business class, where most frequent flyers book their seats, these functions are now expected. If they fail, the airline will lose valuable customers. Therefore, reliability is a must. FAULHABER drive systems are perfect for those and other applications as they are highly reliable at lowest weight and space requirements and work with great power density and extreme long maintenance intervals.
The passengers’ experience is a very important factor for any airline. Next to reliability, ease of operation and tunability to meet the individual needs of each passenger are mandatory. Especially on long distance flights, noise from drives must not create a nuisance. When a seat is turned into a bed in first or business class, through the means of several fully motorized adjustments of backrest, seat pan, leg and footrest, other passengers should not be disturbed. Not being able to comfortably sleep will annoy customers and they might choose a different carrier for their next flight. FAULHABER coreless, graphite/precious metal brushed and brushless DC motors, combined with high quality planetary gearheads, guarantee smooth adjustment speeds at very low noise levels and high reliability. A brushless motor from the BX4 family, for example, is a great choice for operating the window blind, eliminating outside glare or completely shut the window for better sleep.
For those passengers interested in entertainment rather then sleep, FAULHABER offers drive systems that perfectly match the desired requirements of inflight entertainment devices (IFE). From flip-down screen drives for the economy class up to pop-up and retrieval of private tablet holders in business and first. Our drive systems offer high reliability and very low EMI and noise emission levels, ensuring that the drives do not interfere with cabin and passenger IFE devices.
Safety first! FAULHABER drive systems are also used in critical applications, such as locking mechanisms for cabin doors or emergency exits and adjusting the valves that regulate the pressure in the air-conditioning system – also called Environmental Control Systems (ECS) - or always provide the best internet connections by automatically re-orienting the airborne antenna systems. In the cockpit, they keep the pilots’ seats for take-off and landing in a certain fixed position, as per strict aircraft operation safety regulations, and provide haptic feedback in the sidestick of the pilot.
