Week 3: Taking a Step Back

    The group's goal for this week is to narrow down from the 12 design concepts to 4 working ideas. Also the Design Matrix and Classification tree was looked at. After talking with the professor, we realized that our original classification tree was too specific and that we needed to broaden our scopes with the project. By doing so, we were able to focus on more aspects of the project than originally intended.

Working Design Ideas

1) A wood stove with a solar powered ventilation system. While using the traditional, three-stone stove that is used by the natives, the solar powered fan will use the energy from the sun in order to power the fan that will remove all smoke from the fire. If there is not a presence of sun in order to power the ventilation system, a backup battery will be installed. A few pros regarding this system is the use of solar energy and sticking with native tradition of cooking. Cons include the effectiveness of the ventilation fan and and the lack of sun in the native area.

Figure 1: Solar powered fan will push the smoke out of the house

2) A Rocket stove will be a hand-made newly designed stove made out of a cheap but effective metal. The rocket stove's effectiveness will depend on the material used to power the heat generated. Depending on the material used, the amount of smoke produced will be greatly reduced thus improving the health of the natives cooking. A major con regarding this concept is finding a cheap and useful material to fuel the stove.

Figure 2: A traditional rocket stove

3) A wood stove with a wind powered smoke ventilation system. This is one of our top designs as the traditional wood stove will be accepted by the natives and the act of installing a ventilation system will greatly improve the health conditions of the natives and reduce the risk of smoke related illness. As for the wind-powered ventilation system, since the natives live high in the mountains, a constant stream of wind powering the machine will be key in keeping the relative cost down. In the few cases there is no wind, an additional backup battery will be installed for rare occasions. One con regarding this concept is the size of the ventilation system that will be installed.

Figure 3: A wind powered air vent will push all the smoke out of the house

A solar powered electric stove is another great concept idea as smoke will be completely eliminated. While the idea of the design is great in theory, it does have quite a few drawbacks. First, creating the solar panel will be a hard task as the material does not come cheaply. Also, including the times there is no sun present, the amount of energy generated from the sun may not be enough in order to completely cook the food. Additionally, the natives will be hard-pressed to accept this new idea and would have to adapt to this new cooking style. While the benefits are great regarding this concept, the flaws may outweigh the positive aspects.

Figure 4: A solar powered stove will completely eliminate all smoke from wood burning.