Singapore Polytechnic students’ inventions patented by Boeing

SINGAPORE – What started off as a couple of ideas developed by several polytechnic students for a school programme could soon be making their way into Boeing jets.

Six students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) — with a range of engineering, business and design diplomas — have not only three inventions patented by the United States’ aerospace giant, but are also recognised as co-inventors of the patents.

Picked by Boeing from 10 other shortlisted patents, the three ideas are a new larder system with interlocking larder cases, removable sink covers, and integrated locks with visual indicators. The six SP students received their Boeing Patent Awards at the opening of Singapore Polytechnic’s new aerospace training facility, known as the Aerohub, today (Jan 5).

The students’ ideas came while they were taking part in a five-week programme during their holidays in 2013, where they worked with Boeing to find solutions to common problems faced by cabin crew during flights.

Through interviews with Singapore Airlines’ cabin crew, observation of their operations through a four-hour flight to Hong Kong on board a Boeing aircraft, and gathering feedback from the Boeing R&D team, the students came up with three novel inflight solutions to suit Boeing’s needs.

SP graduate Hisham Bary, 22, who worked on the larder systems patent, noted that the existing larder cases — used to store miscellaneous objects such as food for catering — can weigh as much as 20kg when filled, making them difficult to operate.

The SP design locks both larders together with a simple locking mechanism, allowing cabin crew to pull both larders out together, reducing the workload. The students also drew inspiration from their surroundings. The concept of using removable sink covers with holes to allow water to slip through, for example, was inspired by the mesh countertops used at Ya Kun coffee chain branches.

Developed in response to feedback that sink areas take up too much space in the aircraft while counters in the galley are too small, the removable sink covers extend the current counter space and reduces the possibility of cabin crew bumping into each other.

Mr Elston Cheah, 21, another one of the six students, said: “It was very eye opening because there were a lot of resources that we could access. We could make use of their (Boeing’s) agents, who came down to work with us.”

The executive director for SP Live Well Collaborative Singapore, Mr Goh Siak Koon, who coordinated the programme, said he was impressed by “the students’ naive ideas”. “Adults looking at these ideas would think: Are you sure? But Boeing picked up and said, ‘Hey, these ideas helped us, and nobody has filed these ideas’.”

The patented designs will be part of a suite of fittings for new Boeing plane models in the future.