Overview
CASHA constitutes a project for technology development, realised by Tricon Design AG and B&W Engineering GmBH&Co. KG.
On board aircrafts during flight, galleys are only utilised partially. Only flight crews have the permission to use their facilities while passengers, even if they would like to serve themselves, need to wait for service by the cabin crew. For several reasons the projects seeks for ways to make the galleys accessible for both, the flight crew and the passengers.
The advantages of letting passengers use the galleys are manifold. Physical and mental activity can improve the in-flight comfort and help to avoid health damages like thrombosis or similar.
the RTD work in the project at the creation of “health, social and selfservice areas” which are compatible with existing galleys; remodeling with real and virtual effects should have a positive influence on the passengers “temporary residence” for more comfort during flights.
The CAHSSA project is a pure technology development task. The objective of more passenger comfort during the flight shall be achieved in a first step by technical and economic assessment of concepts addressing the key issues:
- physical and mental comfort of the passenger
- autonomously working and separated exhalation areas
- ensurance of product quality in the self-service area
These concepts shall provide a basis for re-designing the galleys on board of aircrafts in the short and medium term future.
Funding
Results
Findings of the study are published by a final report (German only), which is available online via the Technical Information Library (TIB) of the Hannover University:
http://edok01.tib.uni-hannover.de/edoks/e01fb11/66556323X.pdf
The technical objective of the CAHSSA projects have been met and partly progress was even achieved beyond expectations. The consortium built a demonstrator of a self-sufficient galley for self-service and presented this at the International Aviation Fair (ILA) in 2008.
Initial interest by the market, however, declined after the world economic crises set in. Nevertheless, the consortium envisaged a follow-up development adapted to the new market requirements of the airlines.
Innovation aspects
Potentially the project has kick-started to re-think aircraft designs in many aspects. In particular the relationship between passengers, crews and on-board technology could be more open to debate.
Technical Implications
New ways of desining aircraft cabins require to leave traditional design approaches and to re-think the degree of freedom of passengers during the flight.
Policy implications
Safety standards and working conditions of aircraft crews could get under review. However, the CAHSSA project did not reflect deeper on this issue as it constitutes a sole technology development task.
Readiness
A demonstrator was built and presented at the international Air Fair in 2008. However, economic feasibility and some technical issues still need to be addressed in later developments.