Re: "World's Most Efficient Stove" Contest

["Paul S. Anderson" <psanders@ilstu.edu>]

Kirk's message is ABSOLUTELY OF GREAT IMPORTANCE.  

One primary rule of science is to learn from others whenever
possible.

But how do we get to the knowledgeable people about this in China? 
THIS is important.

Paul

At 11:29 AM 1/6/02 -0800, Kirk R. Smith wrote:

For many years, the Chinese operated a special facility at their Rural Energy Training Center outside Beijing used not only for testing stoves as part of training but also stove efficiency competitions.  People would bring their stoves from all over China or construct them along the walls of a large auditorium that was instrumented with separate stations for each stove with thermocouples, scales, etc., such that a dozen or so stoves could be operated at once.  The output from the instrumentation for each stove was displayed on a large "score board" comparing the status of the stoves in real-time as they went through a prescribed set of operations.  The ministry gave awards at the province level for the best stoves and the winners would come to Beijing for the nationals.  The winners of the national competitions appeared in the national press (and TV too, I think).  I heard recently, however, that the stove building of the training center is no longer in use.  This is after more than 180 million improved stoves have been introduced since the early 1980s.

Best for the new year for all/k

At 02:13 PM 1/6/2002 -0400, Kevin Chisholm wrote:

Dear Dean

----- Original Message -----

From: Dean Still

To: stoves@crest.org

Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 2:44 PM

Subject: Re: "Worlds Most Efficient Stove" Contest

Dear Kevin,

 

Can I propose an alternative contest?

 

Sure can!! :-)

 

1: Fastest time to boil

2: Most efficient

3: Lowest cost stove to boil 1 litre in 5 minutes

4: Worlds fastest 8" diameter pancake cooker.

5: Worlds fastest wood fueled teapot.

6: etc..

are all very different alternative contests.

 

Seeing who can boil one litre the fastest tests what stove can blow up all the wood at once, which seems to have less than optimal correlation to the real world of fuel efficient cooking.

 

I fully agree that "the fastest stove contest" would be unlikely to give an optimal or practical stove. However, I feel that with the warm summer months coming, and with the need for summertime entertainment, there would be lots of opportunity for fundamental advancements on heat transfer and rapid and complete combustion to be implemented and proven. I am sure that we will be all very impressed at the clever ways that people come up with to attempt to win their $100. The important thing will be the practical fallout which wil result from the "basic research" that flows from such a focused contest.

 

But, I love the idea of a contest and Aprovecho would throw in another hundred dollars to the builder of the stove that:

 

Great!! Perhaps you (and others) could propose other specific Contests that would lead to advancements in areas of particular interest.

 

Using a twelve inch in diameter pot and ten litres of water can achieve 50% fuel efficiency figuring 8600 BTU's per pound of wood, 1005 BTU's per pound of water boiled away, when burning two pounds of wood. As of today, the Rocket could edge into the 40%s with fancy skirts so I know that we wouldn't win this prize.

 

OK... no problem!! Make up the contest rules for a particular contest, so that you have a better chance of winning it!! :-)

 

Be worth a hundred to see who could. No fans, made from vernacular materials, cost less than ten dollars.

 

How about it?

 

May I suggest that, in general, there be as few restrictions as possible, to leave the door open for the maximum in creative activity? The contests need not be directly practical.... they could be considered "R&D projects". However,  there should be some basic rules, so that an "apples and apples comparison" is possible.

 

You may wish to configure a Contest which encourages the Entrants to focus on a problem area of interest to you. This can be a very cost effective way to get a lot of good basic stove research done.

 

At any rate, I am sure a lot of us are building, or would like to build "fun stoves", and the various types of contests available would serve to focus our efforts in a particular direction. Finally, the Contest could provide a forum for the dissemination of cleverness in stove design and construction.

 

This could be a very fun thing, and these various contests could lead to some very practical fallout in the wonderful world of stoves.

 

Kindest regards,

 

Kevin Chisholm

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Paul S. Anderson, Ph.D.,  Fulbright Prof. to Mozambique 8/99 - 7/00

Dept of Geography - Geology (Box 4400), Illinois State University

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