A unified set of experimental data for cylindrical, natural draft, shielded, single pot, wood-fired cookstoves Nordica A. MacCarty, Kenneth M. Bryden ⁎ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 14 October 2014 Revised 18 March 2015 Accepted 23 March 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: Shielded, natural draft cookstoves Unified experimental dataset Thermal efficiency Parametric variation Design variables This article presents a unified dataset of 63 points compiled from three published laboratory studies for the most common type of improved household cookstove used in the developing world—a cylindrical, natural draft, shielded, wood-fired cookstove. Each data point includes 11 geometric variables, thermal conductivity of the stove body and insulation, lower heating value and moisture content of the fuel, heat release rate, and efficiency. Analysis of the dataset finds that the data are consistent between the studies and consistent with the current rules of thumb for the design of cookstoves. Specifically, it was found that pot shield gap, combustion chamber height, and insulation each have approximately the same impact on stove performance, increasing efficiency from roughly 20% to 40%. In contrast increases in pot shield height above 8 cm have limited impact on efficiency. No correlation between stove performance and volumetric or plan area heat release rate was found. © 2015 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction Today more than 2.7 billion people rely on traditional biomass fuels burned in small cookstoves to meet the majority of their household energy needs (IEA, 2010). The combustion of these solid fuels results in an estimated 4.3 million premature deaths each year primarily due to indoor air pollution and approximately 25% of global black carbon emissions (WHO, 2014; Bond et al., 2013). For subsistence-level fami- lies, the cost of acquiring this fuel represents a significant fraction of household time and income. For example, a recent study of village ener- gy in rural Mali reported that 98% of household energy needs are met with small household cookstoves and that women and children worked 250 and 40 h each year, respectively, gathering fuel (Johnson and Bryden, 2012a; Johnson and Bryden, 2012b). In spite of these health, safety, and environmental risks, recent projections indicate that bio- mass will continue to be the dominant fuel used for cooking and house- hold energy needs in rural, resource-poor households through 2030 (Daioglou et al., 2012). Because of this, the design and dissemination of improved cookstoves for the rural poor has been gaining increasing global attention (Rehfuess, 2006). Although a number of groups are working on modeling improved cookstoves, the use of detailed numerical modeling for cookstove design has been limited, and today the design of small biomass fueled cook- stoves is primarily a heuristic trial and error process based on previous experience, engineering judgment, rules of thumb, and experiment (MacCarty and Bryden, 2015). To date there is no dominant design basis or established design algorithm for optimizing the performance of these devices. Nor are there validated and accepted models or model- ing guidelines to support the design process although much of the nec- essary data, experience, and equations are available. There are two types of numerical models that have been developed for cookstoves. The most common type of numerical model is a zonal model, which typically breaks the stove system into three zones—the fuel bed zone, the flame zone, and the convective heat transfer zone. The combustion and heat transfer processes within each zone are then modeled using integral models and coupled with other zones to predict efficiency, excess air, average temperatures throughout the system, and in some cases pro- vide an indication of the emissions. Zonal models are fast, flexible with- in the prescribed design space, and can provide needed information for stove analysis and design related to thermal efficiency and the expected behavior of a cookstove. Less common are detailed high-fidelity models, which use the differential equations of conservation of mass, momen- tum, and energy to examine complex temperature profiles, local heat transfer coefficients, formation of pollutants, and combustion properties within a cookstove. This article presents a unified dataset of 63 points compiled from three published laboratory studies, including 11 geometric variables, thermal conductivity of the stove body and insulation materials, lower heating value and moisture content of the fuel, heat release rate, and efficiency for the most common type of improved household cookstove used in the developing world—a cylindrical, natural draft, shielded, wood-fired cookstove. This dataset can be used by cookstove re- searchers and designers to identify gaps in the current experimental data available and to suggest those variables that should be included Energy for Sustainable Development 26 (2015) 62–71 ⁎ Corresponding author at: 1620 Howe Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA. Tel.: +1 515 294 3891; fax: +1 515 294 3261. E-mail address: kmbryden@iastate.edu (K.M. Bryden). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2015.03.004 0973-0826/© 2015 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 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