LAXMI (goddess of wealth) stove
Priyadarshini Karve
ARTI
Fig.1: LAXMI (goddess of wealth) stove
This is a two pot hole stove with chimney. The dimensions are as follows.
Main pot hole: top diameter 220 mm, inner diameter 160 mm
Second pot hole: top as well as inner diameter 160 mm
Chimney hole: diameter 130 mm
mouth of the firebox: height 120 mm, width 160 mm
underground tunnel: depth 100 mm, width 100 mm.
The stove height and length are shown in the fig. in mm.
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This is the schematic of the BHAGYALAXMI (wealth of good fortune) STOVE. This is essentially the same design as the LAXMI STOVE, however there is no chimney. In this case, pot raisers are provided on the second pot hole so that a draft can be set up by the hot air coming out from the this pot hole.
The pot raiser dimensions are 25 mm X 25 mm X 25 mm. There are three pot raisers.
The stove efficiency is about 30%.
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This is the schematic of the GRIHALAXMI (wealth of the home) STOVE.
We found that the users preferred to use two single pot hole stoves rather than a single two pot hole stove. This was because both the pot holes of a two pot hole stove must be used simultaneously in order to get an efficient stove performance. This was inconvenient when only one dish had to be cooked. Therefore we developed the single pot hole chimneyless stove shown here. This stove has an efficiency of about 30%.
In this stove we have used the concept of a top grate to direct the flames towards the center of the bottom of the cooking pot. The design of the top grate is shown in the figure below. The top grate design must be such that while changing the flame direction, it should not affect the rate of air flow through the stove. The slotted design was found to be optimal in this context.