hen the world’s first commercial, manned space vehicle made its record flight into sub-orbital space earlier this year, a little piece of John Kentfield’s technology went with it. SpaceShipOne was the creation of investor and philanthropist Paul Allen and aviation legend Burt Rutan, president of Scaled Composites. Its successful return to earth ended with a long glide to land, much like an aircraft – and that’s where Kentfield’s novel aerodynamics design came into play.

A professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Kentfield has been researching more efficient aircraft design for 15 years. He has developed a unique, low-drag configuration that incorporates horizontal outboard stabilizers, much like an outrigger canoe. The design increases the lifting capacity of the aircraft wings and improves stability. The feature was installed outboard and downwind of SpaceShipOne’s stubby wings where it ensured the final leg of re-entry was efficient and stable.

Scaled Composites is a California based aerospace company that specializes in designing and manufacturing private aircraft from composite materials. Kentfield wrote to the company in 1994, initiating interest in his research and a consulting contract. His practical aerodynamic technology was first used on a NASA-funded project called Alliance One.

Improving aircraft performance is a passion for Kentfield, a former Distinguished Lecturer at the Ohio Aerospace Institute. “The challenge with this kind of technology is getting aircraft manufacturing companies interested in it,” he says. Although the beleaguered North American aircraft industry now makes planes out of high-tech composite materials, standard design has changed little since the days of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Kentfield says simple design improvements would lead to substantial fuel savings. His aeronautical technology gets a lot more lift for the same amount of drag, 30 percent more in fact.

Since it is drag that uses up fuel, airplanes could fly a third more distance on the same amount of fuel, or use a smaller engine and carry less fuel. With escalating fuel costs and passenger fuel surcharges, it’s a technology whose time has come. “I haven’t given up hope, ” Kentfield says.

Kentfield’s interest in more efficient airplane performance was sparked as an undergraduate at Southampton University, UK, where he studied aerodynamics and mechanical engineering. Early applied research in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics led to improved designs for gas turbine engines. A major achievement was a unique design for the blades of a wind turbine — the unusual configuration captures wind more efficiently, generating maximum energy. The technology, which is used to pump water efficiently in developing countries, was introduced to Cuba last year through a CIDA project. It has been evaluated at the Alberta government’s renewable energy test facility.

In another area of research, Kentfield is modifying the configuration of diesel and spark ignition gasoline engines so that variable amounts of fuel and air can be drawn into the combustion chamber.

The new design gets more out of vehicle engines by extending the expansion strokes. By matching the configuration of the engine to the load applied, the engine can convert itself automatically to a low-powered, efficient engine when required, slashing fuel consumption.

“ It essentially creates different types of engines that are more fuel efficient in different types of situations,” Kentfield explains.

“ You get the same power from the same size engine and save on fuel costs when the engine is running at a light load.” Gas guzzling SUVs and other high-powered vehicles with oversized engines would benefit most from this technology, he adds. He also sees enormous application in the transport industry where fuel costs continue to rise.

After 34 years at the U of C, Kentfield officially retired in June. He still comes into his office on the fifth floor of the Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering building every day. “Life hasn’t changed much,” he says.

When asked about hobbies, he laughs, and gestures around his office, which is filled with books, papers and models. “I’m much too busy,” he says.