As part of its continuing focus on lightweight innovations for the aviation industry, Swiss-based Bucher has released its ultralight Bionic Partition for the A320.
The multifunctional Partitions have passed the strict qualification and approval programme and are now being installed in new aircraft as well as in a retrofit in the rear door 4 area in the A320.
Speaking on the first installation at Airbus, Beat Burlet, CEO of the Bucher Group, commented: “We are very proud that our lightweight Partition is now part of the safety architecture within the aircraft cabin and is being used for the first time in daily flight operations. The enormous weight savings, that we have achieved with this product, are the result of several years of development. The first delivery to an aircraft manufacturer and finally to an airline fills us with immense pride.”
Through its position, the Partition separates the passenger area of the cabin from the crew’s working area towards the rear galley and the toilets. As a final element, the Partition can be integrated holistically into the cabin design by using decorative foils or paintwork with airline-typical colouring or logo.
The Partition also holds a wall-mounted cabin attendant seat and various holders for emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers, smoke masks, oxygen supply or life jackets.
Driven by the idea of innovation, the bionic structural concept of the Partition had to withstand varying static and dynamic loads as well as load changes. To obtain approval, the structure was not allowed to fail under dynamic accelerations of more than 16 g in the direction of flight.
In addition, flexible positioning of add-on parts in zones to be defined had to be taken into account.
The lightweight structure was to allow a low structure weight with the highest possible payload. To meet all these requirements, a modern fibre composite sandwich panel was created after two years development, with a honeycomb core and carbon fibres (CFRP). Radically rethought and unconventionally constructed, it offers a multi-layer composite of various different fibre orientations. These are used over the entire surface or locally, with the wall thickness of the sandwich remaining the same.
Bucher claims this new type of construction offers weight savings of more than 30% than conventional products on the market.
