The world's biggest aircraft maker, Boeing of Seattle, aims to cut costs by making a single size wall panel which can be flexed to fit a range of aircraft of different shapes and sizes (European patent application 437 870).
The panels, each with a window in the middle, are made of flexible honeycomb material. They pop into slots in the aircraft frame. The same panel can fit frame slots with different curvatures: the panels bulge more in small aircraft than they do large ones.
But, instead of making each flexible panel straight and then forcing it into a curve, the Boeing panels are made already curved, and are unbent by force for installation. The straighter the opening which has to be filled, the more the panel needs to be unbent.
So, says Boeing, the panel is left 'wanting' to return to its 'relaxed', more bent state. This provides a much ...
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