+ Procedure followed to design and construct the cooking Stove + Thermal design assumption of the cooking stove +
+ ++ The combustion chamber is designed in a rectangular prism shape. + In the combustion chamber fuel (wood pieces) are combusted. + It was observed that inner chamber became red hot. + To reduce the heat losses from inner chamber, a jacket of coarse sand and heat resistance refractory material was added (Fire Clay). + As shown in the figure to the right. +
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+ ++ Procedure followed to design and construct the cooking Stove + Design a prototype unit, based on interviews with Zimbabwe residents who are affected by IAP. + Test the: + Alternative Hypothesis: + A easy to construct, low-cost cooking system will significantly reduce IAP. + Null Hypothesis: A low-cost cooking system will not significantly reduce IAP. + Key Variables: + Independent: Cooking method- Traditional hearth, Clean cooking system, Amount of fuel burned + Dependent: Cooking particulate residue (weight), Carbon Monoxide concentration, Temperature of sto + +
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+ According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 2.6 billion people cook and heat using polluting open + fires or simple stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal (Air Pollution + Data Portal, n.d.). This generates high levels of health-damaging Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), such as particulates, + tar and carbon monoxide. Because women are primarily responsible for cooking and raising young children, both are + disproportionately affected by IAP. For example, the World Health Report (2002) states that in developing countries + among the poor, Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) is one of the leading causes of childhood mortality (under 5) and is + responsible for up to 33% of all ARI cases. IAP also adversely affects Zimbabwe because of the number of people who live + in poor, rural regions. (Rural Population (67% of Total Population…2020) - Zimbabwe | Data, n.d.). A second problem caused + by open or traditional heaths is the inefficient use of fuel. Past efforts to reduce IAP have focused on efficient combustion + but have not necessarily focused on thermal efficiency of the overall cooking and heating process. As a result, a significant + portion of the fuel's energy is lost, leading to increased levels of deforestation. In parallel, people who are faced with the + challenge of indoor air pollution are from low-income communities which makes it very difficult for them to afford expensive clean + cooking stoves. Most of the existing solution focus only on reduction of Indoor Air Pollution, but fall short on distribution + the solution to billions of people who need it. + +
+ ++ Because of the above issues, the engineering goal of this experiment is to create pattern designs of creating an affordable, + simple, and efficient cooking system whose design is based on origami. Origami is the Japanese technique of creating complex + 3-dimensional objects from flat sheets of paper. All that is needed to make a well known object such as a Crane, Cube or Lion + is the pattern and a piece of paper. Likewise, the clean cooking system's components will be fabricated from flat metal sheets using simple + folds and cuts, enabling them to be made worldwide without complex fabrication techniques. Additionally, if a component;s pattern is known, + it can produce it using locally available material and tools. This reduces or eliminates funding and production bottlenecks that have limited + the impact of prior efforts when attempting to produce and distribute billions of units worldwide. Since many regions that suffer from indoor air + pollution also have electricity shortages, the practicality of using the thermoelectric chips to generate electricity from the cooking stove's waste + heat is evaluated. Its cost per watt hour is compared to alternatives such as simple solar panels with local storage (batteries or super capacitors.) + +
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