15 June 2004

The power of an idea: Utah professor could save airlines millions

By TRAVIS REED
Associated Press Writer

Logan, Utah

Personally, Warren Phillips isn't much of a money guy. But the Utah State engineering professor's ideas could be worth millions to the airline industry.

Phillips has developed a device to allow airplanes to minimize drag, or the force pulling back on an object moving through the air, by changing the wings.

He calls it a Twisteron. The device would replace the wings' flaps that move up and down with one ultra malleable panel that can twist any number of different directions.

The result is virtually creating a new set of wings mid-flight to accommodate difference in flying conditions, including speed, altitude and temperature.

Better wings mean less fuel has to be used. In some cases, a lot less.

Phillips said Twisterons can reduce drag 2.5 percent, and he estimates they could slash soaring jet fuel expenses by as much as $400 million a year.

Phillips calls the idea a simple solution to a very complicated problem. It takes pages upon pages to map out formulaically, ending in a sea of Epsilons, brackets, R's and C's.

Phillips has been working on how to apply the equation for years. One day the final idea of making it a fluid, twisting device suddenly came to him.

Phillips said the end result is creating wings that were as efficient as those in the British Spitfire planes, which used elliptical wings. However, he said Twisterons were much cheaper because its expensive to produce wings entirely without straight edges.

Phillips and the school have applied for a patent and are awaiting approval.

That almost never happened, because at first Phillips didn't want to go through the legal and bureaucratic red tape to obtain a license.

However, Steven Kubisen, vice president of the schools Office of Technology Management and Commercialization, convinced Phillips that it was practical to pursue a patent and enormous benefits were possible.

Kubisen said it was too early to tell how much the devices would cost or how much money it would take to install them on preexisting airplanes.

The two estimate the cost would be minimal, however, because it only involves replacing one part of the wing.

Phillips said the devices would work not only on any plane, but also on submarines (on the fins) or sail boats (on the sail).

He compared the potential market proliferation of the Twisteron to that of winglettes, which are straight pieces sticking up from the end of airplane wings that also help reduce drag. Twenty years ago, you didn't see those anywhere, he said. Now a lot of planes have them, and the fuel those save is much less the savings expected from Twisterons.

©2004 Associated Press