FlexSys thinks it can save as much as 5 percent on your plane's jet fuel with its new technology.
The Ann Arbor-based tech firm is launching its FlexFoil, a variable geometry airfoil. That technology would replace the wing flaps on a jet by making the wings one piece of metal. FlexFoil is a deformable, seamless surface that changes shape for optimized performance throughout the flight regime saving jet fuel. You can watch a video about the technology
here.
"We can get at least 5 percent fuel savings," says Sridhar Kota, founder of
FlexSys. "It is easy to implement and you can have a payback (in jet fuel savings) in two years."
Kota is a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. He started FlexSys in 2001 after noticing how many man-made objects are strong and rigid, but how most things in nature are strong and flexible.
FlexSys' products have included from helicopters windshield wipers blades and wind turbine technology. FlexSys currently employs a dozen people. It hired a University of Michigan engineering graduate last year to help round out its staff.
Source: Sridhar Kota, founder of FlexSys
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.