is asking very pertinent questions that the CSI team in Indonesia has been grappling with, and I think making very good progress. I recommend everyone read and ponder the past portion, at least:
X = your altitude in meters.
Y = the local boiling point (at standard air pressure)
If you know your altitude, it will give you the ‘standard’ boiling temperature.
If you know the local boiling point, you can work backwards to get the altitude where you are standing.
Excel cell contents:
=99.996-0.0036*Altitude+4*10^-8*Altitude
where ‘Altitude’ is the cell in which the altitude is located.
> It is a spreadsheet and a PDF with explanations and caveats. There could always be more. Testing stoves is a messy business.
So, don't read too much into any particular test, though they were chose to be representative of the technologies involved. It is expected that during the next three years we will make improvements on all of them. The ignition of the stoves involves 'technique' and as those skills are developed and transferred, we expect even better performance.
> You will see that two classes of stove, TLUD and Crossdraft, are consistently performing well no makes who makes it. I have not been making downdraft stoves for this market but will do so from July. That will bring in another strong contender into the 99% reduction class.
>
> It is not clearly stated that the stoves are developed for a particular fuel (lignite from Nalaikh Mine). They can be adapted to any fuel as far as I understand things. We are going to try goat dung during the coming year.
Dung burners: don't forget we are going to work out something for Central Asia!
International, DUE (Domestic Use of Energy) Conference
12 - 13 April 2011
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Cape Town Campus, South Africa
See attached Brochure:
A sample of the conference presentations
Design Features of Solid Fuel Stoves: Workshop Discussion
Mr Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New Dawn Engineering, Ontario
The Uncontrolled Cooking Test: Measuring Three-Stone Fire Performance in Northern Mozambique
Mr James Robinson, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park,
A Preliminary Comparison between the Heterogeneous Protocols and the Water Boiling Test
Mr Tafadzwa Makonese, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park,
The results of field testing the POCA/Maputo Ceramic Stove (MCS) and traditional metal stoves (TMS) using an uncontrolled cooking test (UCT) are attached. In a UCT people cook whatever they want and we watch carefully. The results have fuel-moisture compensated values. The charcoal was almost always hardwood lumps. Larger meals tend to be watery and small meals tend to be frying something in oil.
Crispin Pemberton‐Pigott October, 2008
Sustainable Energy Technology and Research Centre University of Johannesbrg
Programme for Basic Energy Conservation GTZ/ProBEC a SADC Regional Project
It is intended that this brief report describe in an accessible manner the results of some basic research into the performance of ceramic materials suitable for use to make modern, low‐cost improved charcoal stoves. The
theatre of investigation is the area around Maputo, Moçambique.
The information and ideas are assembled from a large number of tests and reports. If studied carefully an understanding can be gained of the
principle ingredients found in typical clays. It is hoped enough can also
be learned about what the tests show so as to interest the ‘stover’ in a
deeper study of this vast subject.
Some reasons why clay stoves and stove components typically have such a
short life are described and to a certain extent, what can be done about
it.
There is a great deal of material available on how to find, identify and
process clays such as pottery books and the internet. It is not repeated
here. Unfortunately very little of the material available is geared to
the design of low cost ceramics stoves which have problems not encountered
in many industrial applications with far higher temperatures.
Ceramics are complex mixtures of many minerals so it is not possible to
give comprehensive explanations in such a brief text, however the novice
reader should learn enough to be able to deal with a laboratory and
understand some common terminology and the test results. There have been
many technological advances in recent years making accessible tests and
analyses that were previously unaffordable to the ordinary potter.
This is a stove seen by Dulguun Basaandavaa at Suhkbaatar Square which is a huge plaza in downtown Ulaanbaatar. There was a demonstration of stoves in yurts (gers) a few days ago.
This one is particularly interesting for the reason that it is the first small scale Mongolian coal gasifier spotted in the wild. It has a fan so it may be modelled on a much larger device. I have no idea at all how it works. Perhaps someone far more knowledgeable about gasifiers can spot and name the components.
In all more than 10 new stoves were shown nearly all of which are downdraft stoves, or which can be started in updraft mode and switched to downdraft.
One of them was the previously reported BLUD stove from Inner Mongolia that rotates and becomes a TLUD during the ignition cycle.
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott (New Dawn Engineering) with Prof Sereeter Lodoysamba (National University of Mongolia),
Sod Dulam (Energy consultant, Ulaanbaatar) and Altangadas Tsegmid (Heat and Power Systems consultant, MonEnergy)
This stove was seen in operation in 6 and 8th March 2010 by in the home of Demberel in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
It is a form of top lit updraft (TLUD) stove part of the time. The combustion chamber is a (ceramic?) lined square box with a grate enclosing the top and the bottom. It is mounted in a fairly standard brick-lined steel box with a heat exchanger at the back. The overall dimensions are approximately 500 W x 600 L x 500 H.
The unusual burning sequence is:
Open the stove, push the top grate out of the way (towards the back).
Build a wood fire in the combustion chamber and wait until it has burned to the point of being substantially charred.
Load coal on top of the burning wood. At this point it becomes a bottom lit, updraft (BLUD) burner.
The coal is left to be heated on top of the burning/smouldering wood. The top grate is pulled over the coal closing the box. It is now a square box with a grate on the top and bottom.
When flames emerge through the coal and appear above the top grate, the box is flipped over using the handle on the front of the stove. At this point it becomes a TLULD burner because the charcoal has been moved to the top. The smoke arising from the hot coal below has to pass through the charcoaled wood on top and is ignited.
The charcoal finishes burning during which time the coal gets fully ignited, de-volatilised and coked. After that it is an ordinary coke fire.
The coke fire burns until it expires. During the first visit it was tested with a combustion analyser during the later portion of a burn. There was nothing unusual about the fire. On the second visit gas samples were taken during ignition and for a period of one hour afterwards. The sample point was where the gases leave the mass wall and enter the bottom of the short chimney passing through the roof. Gases were analysed with a certified TSI CA-6203 combustion analyser.
Initially the CO/CO2 ratio was 20% to 40% as the fire got going. The ratio after one hour was just over 4% and 12 % late in the fire. At all times there was a high excess air ratio, 900% on high power and 1500% on low. This is higher than a traditional stove which runs 400-1000%.
The system efficiency was negatively affected by the high excess air level: from 40 to 50%. The system efficiency of a traditional stove is about 70%. The major portion of the particulates are emitted during the first 45 minutes in both stoves.
The 'heating wall' is a heat storing brick structure that condenses the combustion and fuel moisture thereby retaining the latent heat of condensation. They are gaining popularity. In spite of condensing the moisture and the low gas exit temperature (70-90 Deg C) the system efficiency is not high because of the great quantity of warmed air passing through the system. The openings are large and the stove is generally leaky, for example the cast iron top on the one we tested is not bolted onto the body (see the picture near the end of the video).
A moveable flat plate with a few holes in it is provided over the top grate that limits the rate of combustion. The burn rate is quite high for a domestic stove (because of the large area of the grate). It is probably able to reach 40 kW thermal output. The flat plate is pulled over the top grate and interferes with the airflow, extending the burn. A full charge of coal will reportedly burn for 8 hours in that condition and still have some hot coals left with which the next fire can be started. That is a major consumer demand - burning through the night.
Observations
: It is likely that this system will reduce start-up emissions from the point that the hot coal is under the burning wood/charcoal fire (the TLUD stage), for approximately 1/2 of the ignition cycle.
: The system efficiency is low compared with a traditional stove which means that although the rate of particulate production may be less per kg burned during part of the ignition cycle, more coal might have to be burned to provide adequate heat, possibly increasing the overall production of smoke.
The contact information for one of the local (Mongolian) promoters is:
Prof Adiyasuren Borjigdkhan ozoff@magicnet.mn
He reports that they wish to install 80 in homes around Ulaanbaatar to gather user opinions.
Submitted by
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott (New Dawn Engineering)
with Prof Sereeter Lodoysamba (National University of Mongolia)
and Sod Dulam (Energy consultant, Ulaanbaatar)
and Altangadas Tsegmid (Heat and Power Systems consultant, MonEnergy)
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