TITUSVILLE, Fla. (Sept. 28, 2004) – A revolutionary new spoiler design that could help conserve costly aviation fuel has received important validation from the NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP).

SATOP provides free technical assistance to small businesses through the donation of expertise from 49 Alliance Partner organizations nationwide.

The spoiler design is the creation of Raymond Gilbert, president of Gastrim Inc. in Springfield, Va. Gilbert has patented a family of aircraft control subsystems employing short bursts of spoiler actions to help steer large aircraft. The segmented spoilers are arranged around the nose of the aircraft, rather than on the wing, and are designed to reduce unnecessary drag, thereby significantly reducing the amount of fuel used.

For Gilbert to make his designs marketable, however, he needed analysis and verification of the spoilers’ performance. While attending the American Society of Mechanical Engineering Congress in November 2003, Gilbert came across the SATOP booth and realized that he had found a way to obtain the verification he needed. He completed a Request for Technical Assistance (RTA) on the spot.

SATOP paired Gilbert’s RTA with Dr. Thong Q. Dang with the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Alliance Partner Syracuse University. Dr. Dang enlisted the assistance of graduate student Hung Vu Le and they decided that the best way to analyze the design of the segmented spoilers was to run a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model.

“They asked insightful, encouraging questions,” Gilbert said. “They really kept me on my toes providing them with the necessary data to run the CFD.”

The results of the CFD showed that the segmented spoilers would perform successfully and just as Gilbert had anticipated. This verification will allow Gilbert to take the segmented spoiler concept to the next level of development. He already has applied for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants through NASA to obtain funding to take the project farther on the road to the marketplace

“My experience with SATOP has been meaningful, realistic and encouraging,” Gilbert said. “I received an impressive 158-page report from Dr. Dang and Mr. Hung containing technical documentation that I could not have had access to otherwise.”

“From our perspective, this is the perfect example of a SATOP project,” said Peter Plumley, director of outreach with the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. “It has been rewarding and successful for everyone involved.”