LOGAN -- A few days before his 50th birthday, aerospace engineering professor Warren Phillips had his first close encounter with flight. He jumped off a mountain on a hang glider.

"When you're hang gliding, you're a bird. And to get up in the air and fly like a bird -- it gives you a real feeling for flight," Phillips says.

Based on Phillips' novel solution to a century-old aeronautical equation, Utah State University this week applied for a patent for "Twisterons," a technology to combat an aircraft's greatest nemesis -- drag.

"Drag is what you pay for in flight," Phillips says. "When I'm hang gliding, drag is what eventually drags me back to earth."

Phillips, 61, who has engineered over his long career in pollution control, solar energy and robotics, acknowledges he came late to aeronautics.

"But that allowed me to take a fresh look," he says. "I looked at everything in aeronautics with a different set of eyes."

One of the things Phillips scrutinized was an early mathematical attempt to explain what makes an airplane go up and, equally important, come down. In the first years after the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk, mathematician Ludwig Prandtl took a leap forward in aeronautic theory with his "lifting line equation."

"I looked for some new solutions to Prandtl's equation," Phillips says. "I came up with a very special formula."

The mathematics involved in flight is mind-numbing, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you can reduce drag -- the force you feel when you stick a hand out your car window -- you can keep airplanes in the air longer.

And here's what really matters: Less drag means less fuel consumption. Fuel cost has recently stepped to the fore as the biggest drag on the airline industry.

Exactly how the Phillips technology will be applied is yet to be seen. One of the more creative possibilities would be by fabricating high-tech "smart" materials, to allow a wing to be in a state of constant transformation to fight drag.

Phillips, working with USU doctorate candidate Nick Alley, built a radio-controlled airplane "Zephyr" to test the formula. Alley and other students crafted a modified aileron, the hinged flap at the trailing edge of an airplane's wing that allows it to bank for turns.

Phillips' aileron, however, constantly flexes or twists -- hence "Twisteron" -- which changes the airflow over the wings. And, for complex reasons of physics, that reduces drag.

This subtle twisting would be computer controlled, based on the aircraft's ever-changing circumstances and environment.

"The flight computer would measure temperature, air speed and density, weight of the aircraft, then compute the optimum amount of twist at any time," Phillips explains. "All this would be totally transparent to the pilot."

The gains would be small, he says. "But because these jets burn so much fuel, a small fraction is worth a great deal of money."

The radio-controlled racer on which Alley tested the theory gets a 12 percent to 20 percent reduction in drag. The advantage would be less on commercial aircraft, Phillips says, about 2.5 percent.

Phillips and Steve Kubisen, vice president of technology commercialization at USU, say it will be some time before Twisteron technology appears on commercial aircraft. Such changes would require rigorous Federal Aviation Administration safety testing. But the theories could turn up in third-party aircraft modifications, the growing field of unmanned aircraft and, of all things, sailboats. "The keel on a sailboat is nothing but a wing," Phillips says.

USU is in the earliest stages of talking to aviation manufacturers, Kubisen says. "We haven't yet thought of all the potential applications for the technology."

But the hardest work is done. "The foundation is the mathematical solution," Phillips says. "You have to know exactly how to twist the wing."



		16 June 2004 USU seeks to patent flight technology By Glen Warchol The Salt Lake Tribune LOGAN -- A few days before his 50th birthday, aerospace engineering professor Warren Phillips had his first close encounter with flight. He jumped off a mountain on a hang glider. "When you're hang gliding, you're a bird. And to get up in the air and fly like a bird -- it gives you a real feeling for flight," Phillips says. Based on Phillips' novel solution to a century-old aeronautical equation, Utah State University this week applied for a patent for "Twisterons," a technology to combat an aircraft's greatest nemesis -- drag. "Drag is what you pay for in flight," Phillips says. "When I'm hang gliding, drag is what eventually drags me back to earth." Phillips, 61, who has engineered over his long career in pollution control, solar energy and robotics, acknowledges he came late to aeronautics. "But that allowed me to take a fresh look," he says. "I looked at everything in aeronautics with a different set of eyes." One of the things Phillips scrutinized was an early mathematical attempt to explain what makes an airplane go up and, equally important, come down. In the first years after the Wrights flew at Kitty Hawk, mathematician Ludwig Prandtl took a leap forward in aeronautic theory with his "lifting line equation." "I looked for some new solutions to Prandtl's equation," Phillips says. "I came up with a very special formula." The mathematics involved in flight is mind-numbing, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you can reduce drag -- the force you feel when you stick a hand out your car window -- you can keep airplanes in the air longer. And here's what really matters: Less drag means less fuel consumption. Fuel cost has recently stepped to the fore as the biggest drag on the airline industry. Exactly how the Phillips technology will be applied is yet to be seen. One of the more creative possibilities would be by fabricating high-tech "smart" materials, to allow a wing to be in a state of constant transformation to fight drag. Phillips, working with USU doctorate candidate Nick Alley, built a radio-controlled airplane "Zephyr" to test the formula. Alley and other students crafted a modified aileron, the hinged flap at the trailing edge of an airplane's wing that allows it to bank for turns. Phillips' aileron, however, constantly flexes or twists -- hence "Twisteron" -- which changes the airflow over the wings. And, for complex reasons of physics, that reduces drag. This subtle twisting would be computer controlled, based on the aircraft's ever-changing circumstances and environment. "The flight computer would measure temperature, air speed and density, weight of the aircraft, then compute the optimum amount of twist at any time," Phillips explains. "All this would be totally transparent to the pilot." The gains would be small, he says. "But because these jets burn so much fuel, a small fraction is worth a great deal of money." The radio-controlled racer on which Alley tested the theory gets a 12 percent to 20 percent reduction in drag. The advantage would be less on commercial aircraft, Phillips says, about 2.5 percent. Phillips and Steve Kubisen, vice president of technology commercialization at USU, say it will be some time before Twisteron technology appears on commercial aircraft. Such changes would require rigorous Federal Aviation Administration safety testing. But the theories could turn up in third-party aircraft modifications, the growing field of unmanned aircraft and, of all things, sailboats. "The keel on a sailboat is nothing but a wing," Phillips says. USU is in the earliest stages of talking to aviation manufacturers, Kubisen says. "We haven't yet thought of all the potential applications for the technology." But the hardest work is done. "The foundation is the mathematical solution," Phillips says. "You have to know exactly how to twist the wing." © Copyright 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune.

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