Synergistic Integration of Top-lit Up Draft and Rocket Principles in a Novel Biomass Cook Stove for Enhanced Thermal Efficiency | Chapter 9 | Engineering Research: Perspectives on Recent Advances Vol. 10

 

Traditional open fire methods are used by many people in developing countries for cooking and heating, but they are inefficient in burning fuel. In Sierra Leone, the majority of the population, especially those living in rural communities, prepare their food using a three-stone fire stove, which is inefficient in terms of fuel use, leading to more trees being cut down, which increases deforestation. A stove that uses less fuel and takes less time to perform heating and cooking tasks can help solve these issues. Better design methods of cook stoves are needed to help increase thermal efficiency, and to reduce pollutants, health risks and fuel usage. Thus, the essence of this study is to design and produce an improved solid biomass cook stove that can transfer heat more efficiently, thereby using less fuel. Design processes were done with the help of the Automatic Computer-Aided Design (AutoCAD) software, version 24.3. Thermal performance metrics such as temperature, heat flow across the combustion chamber, burning rate, specific fuel combustion, power consumed and thermal efficiency are considered in the design process. Mild steel was used to fabricate the entire stove, which is widely available and cheaper. The parts were joined through Arc welding, while four roller bearings provided movement of the combustion chamber for reloading of fuel. Performance of the stove was tested using the Water Boiling Test. Thermal efficiency results for the rocket, natural draft and forced draft are 39.55%, 48.68% and 52.48% respectively. Burning rates for forced draft operation were 6.76g/s, while those for rocket and natural were 2.97g/s, 4.11g/s respectively. Specific fuel consumptions for the three tests were 0.62 Kg wood/Kg water, 0.72 Kg wood/Kg water and 0.77 Kg wood/Kg water. The time taken to boil water was lowest for the forced draft (6 minutes), which is due to the faster rate of air supplied to the fuel, but it consumed more fuel than the other two methods. These results demonstrate that a well-designed improved cook stove is more efficient than traditional stoves by enhancing the mixing of combustible gases and oxygen, leading to more complete combustion and lower emissions. This stove operates on both rocket and Top-Lit Up Draft combustion principles, making it suitable for various solid biomass fuels and continuous operation.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Sheriff Kamara
Department of Mechanical and Maintenance, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/erpra/v10/6191