P10461: Thermo-Electri Cook Stove #2
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Project Summary Project Information

According to the World Heath Organization more than three billion people depend on biomass fuels (wood, dung, or agricultural residues) primarily for cooking. The practice of cooking with biomass has decimated many ecosystems and requires an enormous amount of human effort to gather. In addition, there is considerable evidence that exposure to biomass smoke increases the risk of common and serious diseases in both children and adults. According to the WHO studies, indoor smoke from solid fuels causes an estimated 1.6 million deaths annually.

To minimize these harmful effects associated with cooking more efficient cook stoves have been proposed. These new stoves are significantly more biomass fuel efficient and thus reduce deforestation rates. These enhanced stoves also reduce indoor air pollution, thereby reducing deaths and illnesses due to biomass cooking.

RIT is working with an NGO partner in Haiti, H.O.P.E., and funded by an EPA Energy Research Grant to develop an enhanced stove. The goal of this project is to develop a first generation thermoelectric RIT stove with a specific focus on improving combustion efficiency. A separate team (P10451) will develop stove measurement and characterization methods and reduce them to practice. The mission of this project team is to design a basic stove with a combustion assisting fan. They should ignore for now how the fan is powered. The team needs to define the design space of combustion efficiency as a function of fan characteristics and stove size, dimensions, burner height, and fuel placement. Project deliverables would be a basic stove design including fan selection.

Example cook stove (click picture to enlarge):

Image:https://edge.rit.edu/content/P10451/public/Example.jpg

Project Readiness Package

More general information on thermoelectric modules is available at: TE Modules

References:

1) World Bank Group
2) Stove Testing Benchmarks
3) BioLite Stove
4) Cooking stoves and domestic energy
5) Philips Stove
6) Even More Stove Info

Project Name
Develop first generation thermoelectric stove and Improve combustion efficiency
Project Number
P10461
Project Family
P10400 - Sustainable Technologies for the Third World
Track
Energy and Sustainable Systems
Start Term
2009-2
End Term
2009-3
Faculty Guides
Dr. Rob Stevens and Dr. Rick Lux
Faculty Consultant
N/A
Graduate Teaching Assistant
N/A
Primary Customer
The People of Haiti

Sponsors

Hope Outreach - Pwoje Espwa

Hope Outreach - Pwoje Espwa

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

EPA P3 Competitor

EPA P3 Competitor

Thermo-Electric Stove #2 Senior Design Team

Christopher Brol - Department of Mechanical Engineering (Team Lead)

Aaron Dibble - Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ian Donahue - Department of Mechanical Engineering

Kevin Molocznik - Department of Mechanical Engineering

Neal McKimpson - Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering

Planning

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Planning

Concept Development

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Concept Development

System Level Design

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove System Level Design

Detail Design

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Detail Design

Testing and Refinement

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Testing Documents

Project Photographs

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Project Pictures

Final Project Review

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Final Review

Final Project Documentation

EPA P3 Expo Project Poster

EPA P3 Phase 2 Project Proposal

Thermo-Electric Cook Stove Technical Paper

Links Page

Senior Design Team Documents

Planning Concept Level Design System Level Design

Mission Statement

Staffing Requirements

Intellectual Property Considerations

Preliminary Work Breakdown Structure

Team Values and Norms

Required Resources

Identify Customer Needs

Establish Target Specifications

Generate Product Concepts

Select Product Concept(s)

Test Product Concept(s)

Set Final Specifications

Concept Design Review Documents (SD I)

Detailed Design Review Documents (SD I)

Managerial Design Review Presentation (SD I)

Technical Conference Publication (SD II)

Poster Publication (SD II)

Managerial Design Review Presentation (SD II)

Photo Gallery