Development of a wood-fired cooking stove to incorporate a thermo-acoustic engine-generator unit

Abstract

The provision of affordable electrical power in off-grid rural areas of developing countries is a major challenge but a vital element in the battle to reduce poverty. In response to this need, the SCORE project objective was to integrate a novel technology, thermo-acoustics, into a domestic cooking stove in order to produce an adequate level of electricity supply for families in developing countries whilst also providing efficient cooking. The unit is aimed at the majority of poorer families in developing countries that do not have access to electricity and have little hope of being connected to grid electricity in the near future. The electrical generation function is a vital driver in the adoption of low emission stoves which significantly reduce health problems from smoke inhalation. This paper describes the design of the cooking part of the stove developed within the framework of the project. Within the wood burning stove, heat released by combustion is first transferred to a thermo-acoustic engine to generate electricity, and then to the cooking part. The paper describes the development of the design and construction of the stove to meet the above objectives. This has been progressed through extensive testing of prototype stoves and also through modelling of the heat transfer within the combustion chamber and also for the cooking part of the stove. The paper presents and compares the results from the test programme and heat transfer modelling and shows how the results are being used to achieve a stove design with an acceptable level of performance. It then concludes with a discussion of how this design might be produced in developing countries.