Charcoal Stove Design

After learning about the environmental, health, and economic concerns related to cooking with biomass fuel in developing countries, my teammates and I set out to design and build an "improved" charcoal stove for use in underserved communities.

Our primary design goals were to:

1. Improve insulation & smoke control
2. Low cost & local manufacture

Secondary design considerations included:

- Range of temperatures for cooking

- Air flow

- Portability

- Safety

- User friendliness

-Aesthetics

- Simplicity

When embarking on the brainstorming process, we had a simple iron charcoal stove from Ghana in front of us as a reference:

The key features of this stove are its trapezoid form to evenly direct heat to the cooking 
grate, and an opening beneath the charcoal grate for ash to fall through and also for ventilation.

We generated the following ideas:

Drawing inspiration from my old fashioned wood stove at home (rough sketch pictured above), we decided that a dual stove and oven function would allow for a greater range of temperatures for cooking while retaining as much of the heat produced as possible. Food requiring the highest heat could be placed on a burner directly above the fire source, while other items with lower heat requirements could be placed in the oven, or on the surface above the oven. We also decided to retain the trapezoid shape of the charcoal holder in the Ghanian stove. Our design included a sliding ash try that would sit beneath the charcoal and collect dust that fell through the crate for easy removal. To improve air flow to the fire, we decided to include two air vents on the lower side walls. We hoped that these vents would also channel smoke out of the bottom of the stove, rather than the top.

Rough sketch:

Side view of our double grate, charcoal-holding apparatus: