Tag: stove

Could This Be History In The Making?

Community cooker for emerging markets.

Development is under way to produce a community cooker capable of lighting up an entire village while at the same time giving cooking and hot water facilities to a small community.

This cooker, weighing in at almost one ton, is under going rigorous tests. With more than 30.000 villages in India without electricity, could this be the future.

60 million people in Africa live without electricity. 1.1 billion people have no access to electric light. 3.5 billion people cook and heat with wood.

Disasters rage around the globe, earth quakes, tsunami’s, tornados and hurricanes wreak devastation. The first and most important requirement is electricity. Emergency services being able to see 24 hours per day, boiled water for clean water drinking and heat in cold climates must all be addressed. This appliance could save lives anywhere. Powered by fuel all around us makes this a real contender in a disaster. Trials are under way using any dry fuel, wood, grass, leaves, straw, in fact anything that will burn can make electricity.

This rugged and robust multi fuel power generating stove undergoing tests at our facility may be the answer!

The Technology Behind The Micro Power Station

In the mid 19th century, a gentleman by the name of Jean Charles Athanase Peltier invented a form of electrical production.

The TEG or thermoelectric generator, produced in different sizes, is often used in Space technology, powering satellites etc. Some plates are only 3mm thick and 50x50mm in diameter and these tiny devices, subjected to heat on one side and cold on the other can produce a small amount of electricity. These tiny plates are made up of dissimilar metals.

When subjected to heat and cold they produce an electrical current. We liken this to a thunder storm. When a hot cloud meets a cold cloud a bolt of lightening erupts (electricity).

The plates can be connected together in order to produce more electricity. The bigger the temperature difference the more powerful the TEG becomes.

The difference in the two temperatures is known as the delta T. For instance, if the hot side is one hundred degrees centigrade and the cold side is ten degrees centigrade then the delta T is 90c. The greater the delta T, the more electricity is produced.

Being able to control and balance the two temperatures on a plate only 3mm thick is the secret of success.

The cold side, if too cold, stops the heat from striking the plate. In the same way, if the plate is too hot it can stop the cold side striking. This is where technology kicks in.

Electronics help to balance the two temperatures. Xtralec have developed a circuit board capable of controlling both the hot and the cold sides of the TEG, when placed into a wood or multi fuel stove.

Once installed inside a multi-fuel stove, these generators are capable of producing a considerable amount of electricity.