HOME WORK ASSIGNMENT

Darshan Patel: 120020023

Anupam Dixit: 120020065

Aim and motivation

The best solution to the problem of harmful effects of smoke is to use a cleaner fuel.
These fuels, such as LPG, are easier to use, produce fewer emissions and cause less
exposure to pollutants. However they are expensive, not accessible everywhere and
culturally unfamiliar, and they may not be feasible in developing countries, especially in
poor rural areas. Hence, poor people will continue to use biomass as their main fuel.
Therefore it is essential that efforts be put to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution as
smoke will continue to be produced. So, it needs to be removed from the house.
Viable options
1. Substantial reductions to smoke exposure can be obtained by using improved stoves
with chimneys or by the use of smoke hoods and by improving the ventilation at home.
2. Also, new stoves can be designed to obtain better fuel efficiency. Reducing fuel
requirements will ease demand on forestry, lessen the burden on women collecting fuel,
and in urban areas cut expenditure on fuel.
3. We could also reduce the need of fuel for cooking wherein food is heated to boiling and
then it is placed in an insulated box where it continues to cook slowly.
4. We could also look at changing patterns of behaviour. For example, making sure that
fuel wood is dry cuts emissions. The use of a pot lid can reduce the fuel consumed.
Keeping children away from the fire is also an obvious way of reducing their exposure.
Basic Idea
We would like to design a new type of stove which will burn the fuel efficiently i.e. it will
produce the same amount of heat using less fuel thus reducing the harmful side
products. Also with proper designing, multiple pots could be heated with the same
amount of heat that was earlier used to heat a single pot. The fuel used would be wood
along with things that can be easily accessed in rural areas like maize stalks and animal
dung. Also, there would be an exhaust system which would help in passing the harmful
gases directly outside the house thus minimizing exposure that the children face.
Design

Compared to a well designed stove, open hearth cooking wastes fuel, takes longer to
cook food and produces a lot of smoke, which can cause health problems. Generally,
what happens is a stove is used for heating a single pot and there is a lot of heat that
goes waste because of the empty space around the pot. The new stove will consist of
an enclosed, cylindrical clay space that retains heat and directs smoke away from the
person who is cooking. Clay has very good heat absorbing properties. If the stove was
made out of metal, much of the heat would leak out of the stove, but the clay retains the
heat for better efficiency. Hence, we have used clay for making the stove.
The stove will completely encircle the cooking fire except for a small hole on the side
where firewood can be added. This ensures that the heat is directed to the bottom of the
cooking pot and is not lost out of the sides of the hearth. Also, we can use the excess
heat for heating other pots as well. Earlier, the heat that could have heated say 3 pots
was currently used only for heating one. But, by proper design of stove and providing
say 3 pots for heating, we could ensure that the heat is used effectively and there is
efficient burning of fuel.
Exhaust system
The stove could be covered by all sides by using a smoke hood and that can be
connected to a chimney which would take all the harmful gases directly out of the
house. This stove will be an actively ventilated stove. It will actively expel the
combustion products from the combustion chamber before they can enter the
surrounding environment. In doing so, it will create a negative pressure within the stove
and surrounding ventilated environment that will ideally serve to drive in fresh air from
the external surroundings. Thus, an actively ventilated combustion process leaves the
Respirable particulate matter (RPM) in the room unchanged because combustion
products are expelled and reactants are continuously replenished by the surrounding
external air.This would substantially reduce the exposure of children to this smoke and
hence the risk of ALRI.
Consumer Attitude
Practical Action put together a complete technical guide that gives material lists,
drawings, and step-by-step instructions with pictures describing how to make and use
the stove. Since clay is the main material used, this stove could be produced by
villagers as well. Also, points stating how this will be a cheaper and more efficient
process and how this is less harmful for children would motivate people to install these
stoves in their homes.