Modular Plancha Cookstove Design for Capacity Building in Santa Catarina, Guatemala
Name
horowitz-jnh-bs-meche-2023-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
1.29 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4da00de45160a22568ba9c4bb082b6fc
Author(s)
Horowitz, Sylas
Advisor(s)
Sweeney, Daniel
Date Issued
February 2023
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Indoor air pollution from cooking on inefficient firewood cookstoves and open fires leads to 3.2 million premature deaths every year (World Health Organization, 2022). In Santa Catarina Palopó, Guatemala, women spend much of their time cooking and primarily use wood fuel, which disproportionately exposes them to air pollutants. An efficient, modular, user-friendly cookstove would improve the health, safety, independence, and cooking experience of women in the community while helping families save wood fuel. Through the Guatemala-based non-profit, Link4, women and builders in Santa Catarina co-designed, prototyped, and user-tested a cookstove that could be manufactured locally for community capacity building. A prototype was also produced in D-Lab to evaluate emissions and efficiency through burn testing. The resulting prototype was a horizontal-feed fiber-reinforced concrete rocket stove with perlite insulation and a plancha (flat stovetop), similar to but smaller than traditional Guatemalan stoves. The size and geometry was designed for modularity and portability, allowing multiple stoves to be used in various configurations, and to maximize thermal efficiency. A burn test D-Lab demonstrated a thermal efficiency of 13-14%. A user test in Guatemala found that the stove heated up quickly and reduced fuel consumption but required more tending and was difficult to transport.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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