Improved Performance of Mehsana Cookstove Through Minimal Design Modifications

Abstract

Despite the evolution in cooking practices over the globe, a large population still relies on traditional cooking practices, such as wood-fired cookstoves or “chullahs”. Though the fuel is locally available, the collection of wood is time consuming and tiring. An increase in the efficiency of the “chullahs” reduces the wood consumption and saves the effort of wood collection. Various techniques have been introduced in order to reduce the amount of fuel by improving the thermal performance of the “chullah”. It is experienced that the minimally retrofitted traditional “chullahs” have better acceptance among the users than the ones which are completely differently designed. The objective of the present work is to test one such traditional chullah and investigate the scope of improvement of thermal performance with minimal modifications in the actual stove or in the cooking practice. To achieve that goal, a traditional cookstove from the Kaiyal village of Kadi block from the Mehsana district of Gujarat is selected. Experiments are performed in order to identify the sources of heat loss and to find out the best modification. Water boiling test is carried out for the measurement of thermal performance. The efficiency is found to increase by 37.18% as compared to the original cookstove with an increase in the base height and insertion of twisted tapes.