-
-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.)
-
-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.).
-
-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.
-