Seat mounting rail, particularly for a commercial aircraft
View Patent ↗A seat mounting rail for securing seats to a floor of a passenger aircraft is made of a seat securing upper section and a rail mounting lower section. Both sections are made of different metals. The upper section is made of a titanium alloy for corrosion protection. The lower rail section is made of an aluminum alloy for weight reduction. The interconnection between the two sections is made as a thermal joint for example formed as a laser weld, which is preferably a butt weld to save welding material.
1. A seat mounting rail for securing a seat to a floor of a commercial aircraft, said seat mounting rail comprising a seat securing upper rail section made of a first metal and a rail mounting lower rail section made of a second metal, wherein said first metal is a titanium alloy and wherein said second metal is an aluminum alloy, said seat mounting rail further comprising a thermal interconnection joint between said first and second metals.
2. The seat mounting rail of claim 1 , wherein said thermal interconnection joint is a laser formed weld.
3. The seat mounting rail of claim 2 , wherein said laser formed weld is a butt weld.
4. The seat mounting of claim 1 , wherein said thermal interconnection joint is a butt weld.
5. The seat mounting rail of claim 1 , wherein said seat securing upper rail section has a sectional C-configuration and lateral flanges extending in opposite directions away from said C-configuration, wherein said rail mounting lower rail section comprises an inverted T-configuration with a top edge, and wherein said thermal interconnection joint is a laser formed butt weld between said top edge of said inverted T-configuration and a facing surface of said C-configuration that faces said top edge.
6. The seat mounting rail of claim 5 , wherein said laser formed butt weld extends centrally between edges of said flanges along said C-configuration.
7. The seat mounting rail of claim 5 , wherein said rail mounting lower rail section comprises a plurality of rail portions spaced from each other along said facing surface of said C-configuration.
8. The seat mounting rail of claim 1 , further comprising a corrosion protective coating positioned for protecting said interconnection.
9. The seat mounting rail of claim 1 , wherein said upper rail section comprises a groove (G) opening downwardly, and wherein said lower rail section has a top edge ( 2 ′) welded into said groove.