The non-touch innovation
On board many Airbus passenger aircraft, you’ll find the lightest washstand the market has to offer. It achieves its lightness thanks to a bionic honeycomb design from Schüschke. The latest innovation from the company, which employs 50 members of staff and is managed by Uwe Schüschke, and its partner EME – Elektro-Metall Export, is a non-touch waste flap.
The lavatory facilities of a plane are very special. Passengers complain about the narrow cabin, the dim lighting and – after a few hours of flying – the hygienic conditions. Indeed, most passengers try all sorts of tricks so they don’t have to touch the artistic fittings, including the flusher, taps and door lock. According to Uwe Schüschke, managing director of the company which shares his name, there is now a more elegant way for passengers to dispose of the paper towels they use to dry their hands. At this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, the trade fair for aircraft interior design, the washstand specialist presented a solution to assist all hygiene-conscious passengers: a non-touch waste flap.
The flap opens automatically
You really don’t have to touch the flap at all. Thanks to sophisticated mechatronics, the waste flap above the rubbish container opens automatically. At the heart of the system is a sensor, which measures the capacitive field built up around the flap. When a hand approaches the flap, the voltage of the electric field drops and the flap swings downwards. It sounds simple, but it’s certainly not trivial from a designer’s point of view.
For aesthetic and particularly safety-relevant reasons, the 10 x 15 cm waste flap is essential. An international aviation regulation states that if it is defective, the entire lavatory must be closed. “That’s why it’s so important that the flap can be opened if the electronics in the lavatory area fail,” explains Uwe Schüschke. What’s more, the flap has to work reliably even if the user has wet or cold hands. “Previous attempts with infrared failed because infrared sensors are, among other things, very reflection- and temperature-sensitive,” says Schüschke, who further developed the electronics of the flap with the company’s partner EME. The “non-touch waste flap”, which won first prize in the Crystal Cabin Award 2011, is used by Lufthansa. The airline has spent a year service testing it in an A340.
Schüschke doesn’t have to worry about new ideas and innovations. One of the projects currently running in the Swabian company’s design department is an automatic trash compactor. The new waste container is designed to compress rubbish and therefore to hold up to four times more than its predecessor model.
But the main business of the company, which Uwe Schüschke from Ostwestfalen founded 25 years ago, is the customised manufacture of washstands from the solid surface Varicor. This material, which is a mixture of bauxite and synthetic resins, can be machined like wood. Thanks to its pore-free surface, it is anti-bacterial, can be cleaned with ease and machined without joints, making it ideal for sanitary applications. In what started as a classic joinery company, Schüschke initially built his washstands for schools and nurseries. He then moved on to hotels and railway companies for example in Bahrain and Spain.
The lightest washstand on the market
The idea of supplying Airbus with a Varicor washing solution came to the entrepreneur on a return flight from Japan. From there, the company grew and Schüschke has just collected his new five-axis milling machine from Hamamatsu. He considered the stainless steel basin installed previously as not very attractive. “My first thought was ‘We can improve on this’.” There was a problem, though.
His washstand was too heavy to satisfy Airbus specifications. But the inventor didn’t give up. He eventually developed a structure, based on a lightweight and highly stable honeycomb, to which he applied a layer of the solid surface. The result was a solution which, weighing just 3 kg, is the lightest on the market. This innovation opened the door to Airbus for the company. Schüschke’s technical expertise, which a delegation of the aircraft manufacturer saw first-hand on a visit to the company, was key to him winning his first job. Schüschke programs his milling machine in-house – a task which some companies, depending on their size, normally outsource to an external engineering company.
Airbus ordered 800 washstands in the first year of the agreement. For Schüschke, this meant preparing operational processes for volume production by training staff, optimising processes and aligning documentation standards. “We have always taken on board suggestions from Hamburg. It helped us enormously to become an industrial company,” explains Schüschke, whose company is certified according to EASA 21G and EASA 145.
Today, the company has more than 300 customers and employs 50 members of staff. In addition to orders from the public sector, the hotel industry and shopfitting, it manufactures washstands for all Airbus ranges, including the A380. Nearly every second item is unique. “Out of our annual production of 3000 washstands, around 50% are custom-made,” adds Schüschke, who is looking to expand his company further and has a couple of patents up his sleeve for all situations. “There are no limits to our ideas.”
The “non-touch waste flap”, which won first prize in the Crystal Cabin Award 2011, is used by Lufthansa. The airline has spent a year service testing it in an A340.
German Summary
An Bord vieler Airbus-Passagierflugzeuge fliegt der leichteste Waschtisch mit, der auf dem Markt zu haben ist. Möglich macht es eine bionische Wabenkonstruktion des Cabin-Interiors-Ausrüsters Schüschke. Die neueste Innovation, die die 50-Mann-Firma von Uwe Schüschke zusammen mit dem Partner EME – Elektro-Metall Export entwickelt hat: Eine berührungslose Abfallklappe. Der deutsch-sprachige Beitrag ist nachzulesen auf: www.aerotec-online.com/aero0111flap
Weitere Beiträge
→ Path of Innovation→ Crystal Cabin Award 2011: Happy winners
→ Setting high standards: the CCA 2011 finalists
→ TITAL manufactures stiffening elements for Airbus A350XWB
→ Sensor technology ensures perfection
