Lemma Kahsay - 2

Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

School of Multidisciplinary
Energy Center
Designing, Simulating and Manufacturing of Improved
Charcoal Stove
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master
of Science in Energy Technology
By: Lemma Kahsay
Advisor: Kamil Dino Adem (PhD)
December, 2020
Designing, Simulating and Manufacturing an Improved Charcoal Stove Master Research 2020
CERTIFICATION
I, the undersigned, certify that I read and hear by recommend for the acceptance by Addis
Ababa university, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Energy Center a thesis entitled
“Designing, Simulating and Manufacturing an Improved Charcoal Stove”. This certificate used
as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in energy
technology.
Signature__________________
Date ____________________________
i
Designing, Simulating and Manufacturing of Improved Charcoal Stove
DECLARATION
I, Lemma Kahsay, I declare that this thesis is the result of my own work and that all source and
material used for this thesis have been duly acknowledged. This thesis is submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for master’s degree in energy technology at Addis Ababa
university and to be made available at the at the university’s library under the role of the library.
I confidently declare that this thesis has not been submitted to any other institutions anywhere
for the award of any academic degree, diploma, or certificate.
Candidate
Name: Lemma Kahsay
Signature ____________________
Date ________________________
Adviser
Name: Dr. Kamil Dino Adem
Signature____________________
Date ________________________
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Addis Ababa University

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology
School of Multidisciplinary
Energy Center
Designing, Simulating and Manufacturing of an Improved
Charcoal Stove
By: Lemma Kahsay
Approved by Board of Examiners:
________________________________ _______________ ______________
Advisor Signature Date
________________________________ _______________ _______________
Internal examiner Signature Date
_________________________________ ________________ ________________
External examiner Signature Date
_________________________________ _________________ _______________
Chairman Signature Date
_________________________________ __________________ ______________
Director of post Graduate Program Signature Date
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, I am very grateful to Almighty of God, This thesis has not been possible without
His blessing and graces.
Then I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Kamil Dino Adem, who
has been a great source of inspiration for me, supportive in the entire activity and works
actively to the completion of this research with a day to day follow up, guidance and also for
sharing his knowledge and experience in stove designing, manufacturing, modeling and testing,
this research could not have been possible without his support and care.
I am also grateful to Dr. Solomon T/Mariam and Dr. Wondwosen Bogale, for their valuable
comment, suggestion and for providing useful measuring device. Then I would like to express
my sincere appreciation to Mr. Anteneh, for his skillful works, suggestion, and valuable
comment while developing and constructing the actual prototype, his support made this project
possible.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for my wife, sons and
younger brother for their continuous love, help and support.
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ABSTRACT
Nearly 2.7 billion people in the world depend on biomass for cooking. Charcoal fuel is a solid
biomass fuel which is widely used in urban and semi-urban areas of Ethiopia. However, these
fuels are combusted inside thermally inefficient stoves. One solution to such problem could be
designing, manufacturing and disseminating improved stoves. Thus, this study aims at
designing, simulating and manufacturing an improved charcoal stove to maximize the thermal
performance. Designing the stove has been performed by solid work. Besides, simulation has
been performed by CFD module which is found in COMSOL Multiphysics software. This
module includes coupled sub models representing fluid flow and heat transfer. From the
simulation temperature distribution, velocity distribution and pressure distribution in the grate
holes and on the combustion chamber of the stove were analyzed. The simulation shows that
the increased temperature results in higher firepower, which leads to higher thermal
performance of the stove.
The prototype was tested using the Water Boiling Test (WBT) protocol. The simulation results
were compared and validated with experimental results. Based on simulation thermal
efficiency obtained was 34.7%. With regard to experimental investigation, the thermal
efficiency of the stove is 32.6% and its specific fuel consumption is 56 g of fuel/ liter of water.
The study showed an improvement in thermal performance of the charcoal stove. The specific
fuel consumption of the prototype charcoal stove shows 70% improvement compared to the
three-stone fire. Generally, the new prototype charcoal stove has better thermal performance
compared to the previous designs proposed by other researchers. Therefore, disseminating our
improved charcoal stove at a larger scale in Ethiopia will be beneficial in preservation of forests
and associated ecosystem services and will improve health for households.
Key words: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Charcoal stove, Water Boiling Test,
Simulation, Improved cookstove, Design principle
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NOMENCLATURE
Symbol Description and units
Ui useful energy delivered(kJ)
Cp, w Isobaric mass specific approximate heat capacity of water (kJ/kg. k)
W1 Initial mass of water in the pot(kg)
W2 Final mass of water in the pot (kg)
T1 Initial temperature of water in the pot (℃)
T2 Final temperature of water in the pot (℃)
Ψ Latent heat of water vaporization at the local point(kJ/kg)
Cp Cooking power(kW)
T4 Final time at the end of the test phases (s)
T3 Starting time at the starting of a test phase (s)
ɳe Cooking thermal efficiency without energy credit for remaining char (%)
A Mass of fuel fed (kg)
Lnet f Lower heating value of fuel, as fired (kJ/kg)
Ω Cooking thermal efficiency with energy credit for remaining char (%)
Rc Mass of remaining char(kg)
Lnet c Lower heating value of remaining char(kJ/kg)
EF Pollutant emission factor(mg/s)
Xt Total mass of pollutant emission during the test (mg)
SFC Specific fuel consumption(g/liter)
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Fc Fuel consumed (g)
WpW Weight of pot with water after test (g)
Pt Weight of pot (g)
E Surface emissive power(W/m2)
Ts Absolute temperature of the surface(k)
Qconv Convective heat transfer (W)
h Average convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
AT Area of heat transfer (m2)
Tsur Surface temperature (K)
Tf Temperature of fluid at a distance from the surface (K)
Qy Heat transfer rate only in the Y-direction
𝜕𝑇 Temperature gradient in the direction of the heat flow

𝜕𝑥
K Thermal conductivity of the material
𝜌 Density of the fluid (kg/m3)
U Velocity vector (m/s)
P Pressure(pa)
Fv Volume force vector(N/m3)
µ Dynamic viscosity (Pa. s)
Sr Strain rate tensor
Ug Velocity of fluid through grate holes(m/s)
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D Diameter of the grate hole (m)
FB Body force
St Surface force
Re Reynolds number
Q Heat source (W/m3)
q Heat flux vector (W/m2)
w Mass flow rate (kg/s)
T Temperature (K)
GREEK SYMBOLS
Symbol Description
𝜎 Stefan Boltzmann’s constant
𝛼 Transmitted irradiation
𝜏 Reflected irradiation
𝛾 Absorbed irradiation
SUBSCRIPTS
f Final
i Initial
sur Surface
B Body
g Grate
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v Volume
y y-direction
p Power
r Rate tensor
ABREVIATION
Abbreviations Description
AAU Addis Ababa University
AAiT Addis Ababa institute of Technology
KPT Kitchen performance test
CO Carbon monoxide
PM Particulate matter
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
WBT Water boiling test
CO2 Carbon dioxide
NMHCs Non-methane hydrocarbons
OC Organic carbon
OM Organic matter
EC Elemental carbon
NOx Oxides of Nitrogen
N2O Nitrous oxide
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UCODEA Urban Community Development Agencies
IWA International Workshop Agreement
LHV Lower Heating Value
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................................... i
DECLARATION..................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ....................................................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. v
NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................................... vi
GREEK SYMBOLS............................................................................................................. viii
SUBSCRIPTS ....................................................................................................................... viii
ABREVIATION ..................................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. xvi
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. xvii
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background ................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Statement of the problem .............................................................................................. 4
1.3. Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Significance of the research .......................................................................................... 5
1.5. Limitations .................................................................................................................... 5
1.6. Scope of the study ......................................................................................................... 5
1.7. Organization of the research ......................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................... 7
2.1. Biomass classification and composition ....................................................................... 7
2.2. Biomass fuels consumption in Ethiopia........................................................................ 7
2.3. Stove design principles ................................................................................................. 8
2.4. Charcoal stove design principle .................................................................................... 8
2.5. Stove construction materials ....................................................................................... 10
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2.6. Biomass stove Testing Protocols ................................................................................ 11
2.6.1. Water Boiling Test (WBT) ............................................................................... 11
2.6.2. Controlled cooking test (CCT).......................................................................... 12
2.6.3. Kitchen Performance Test (KPT) ..................................................................... 12
2.7. Charcoal stoves ........................................................................................................... 12
2.7.1. Combustion chamber ................................................................................................. 12
2.7.2. Grate ............................................................................................................................ 13
2.7.3. Air entrance ................................................................................................................ 13
2.7.4. Stove body .................................................................................................................. 13
2.7.5. Pot seat ........................................................................................................................ 14
2.8. Development of Charcoal stoves ................................................................................ 14
2.8.1. Lakech charcoal stove ............................................................................................... 14
2.8.2. Merchaye charcoal stove........................................................................................... 15
2.8.3. Traditional charcoal stoves ....................................................................................... 15
2.9. Other Charcoal Stoves ................................................................................................ 16
2.9.1. Ghanan charcoal stoves ............................................................................................. 16
2.9.2. Ugandan charcoal stove ............................................................................................ 17
2.10. Research gap ............................................................................................................... 17
2.11. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Module ......................................................... 19
CHAPTER THREE MATERIALS AND METHODS ...................................................... 21
3.1. Type of stove and materials for manufacturing .......................................................... 21
3.1.1. Combustion chamber and Grate............................................................................... 23
3.1.2. Auxilaries .................................................................................................................... 24
3.2. Design process ............................................................................................................ 26
3.3. Methods....................................................................................................................... 27
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3.4. Design parameters ....................................................................................................... 29
3.5. Experimental Approach and Procedure ...................................................................... 30
3.5.1. Instruments used for the experimental procedure .................................................. 30
3.5.2. Water Boiling Test (WBT) ....................................................................................... 32
3.5.3. Experimental test set-up description ....................................................................... 33
3.6. Performance evaluation methods ................................................................................ 35
3.6.1. Useful energy delivered calculation ........................................................................ 35
3.6.2. Cooking power calculation ....................................................................................... 35
3.6.3. Calculating cooking thermal efficiency without energy credit for remaining
char… ..................................................................................................................................... 35
3.6.4. Calculating cooking thermal efficiency with energy credit for remaining char 35
3.6.5. Calculating emission factor ...................................................................................... 36
3.6.6. Calculating emission rate .......................................................................................... 36
3.6.7. Specific fuel consumption ........................................................................................ 36
CHAPTER FOUR SIMULATION .................................................................................... 37
4.1. Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics and CFD...................................................... 37
4.1.1. Pre-processing ............................................................................................................ 37
4.1.2. Solution ....................................................................................................................... 37
4.1.3. Post-processing .......................................................................................................... 37
4.2. Heat Transfer .............................................................................................................. 38
4.2.1. Radiation ..................................................................................................................... 38
4.2.2. Convection .................................................................................................................. 39
4.2.3. Conduction .................................................................................................................. 39
4.3. Fluid flow Governing Equations ................................................................................. 39
4.3.1. Conservation of mass ................................................................................................ 39
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4.3.2. Conservation of Momentum ..................................................................................... 40
4.3.3. Conservation of Energy ............................................................................... …. .. ... 41
4.4. Materials ..................................................................................................................... 42
4.5. Boundary conditions ................................................................................................... 43
4.5.1. Inlet .............................................................................................................................. 44
4.5.2. Stove walls .................................................................................................................. 44
4.5.3. Heat source ................................................................................................................. 45
4.5.4. Outlet ........................................................................................................................... 45
4.6. Laminar flow model .................................................................................................... 45
4.7. Simulation workflow .................................................................................................. 46
CHAPTER FIVE RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................ 48
5.1. Thermal performance of the stove .............................................................................. 48
5.1.1. Thermal efficiency ..................................................................................................... 50
5.1.2. Specific fuel consumption ........................................................................................ 51
5.2. Time vs. temperature variation for the tests................................................................ 53
5.3. CFD Simulation result analysis .................................................................................. 56
5.3.1. Mesh statistics ............................................................................................................ 56
5.3.2. Mesh independence test ............................................................................................ 58
5.3.3. Velocity distribution .................................................................................................. 60
5.3.4. Pressure distribution .................................................................................................. 61
5.3.5. Temperature versus fire power................................................................................. 61
5.3.6. Temperature profile ................................................................................................... 62
5.4. Experimental versus simulation validation ................................................................. 64
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5.4.2. Temperature ................................................................................................................ 65
CHAPTER- SIX CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..................................... 66
6.1. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 66
6.2. Recommendation ........................................................................................................ 67
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................... 68
APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................................ 72
APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................................ 80
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2-1:Main components of charcoal stoves .................................................................... 14
Figure 2-2: Charcoal cook stoves which are widely used in Ethiopia a) Merchaye stove b)
Lakech stove c) traditional stove............................................................................................. 15
Figure 2-3: charcoal cookstove which are widely used in Ghana a) Ahinbenso b) Gyapa c)
Traditional stove (coal pot) ..................................................................................................... 16
Figure 2-4: Ugandan charcoal stove with pot ......................................................................... 17
Figure 3-1: New prototype charcoal stove .............................................................................. 21
Figure 3-2: Full drawing of the new prototype ....................................................................... 22
Figure 3-3: Combustion chamber ........................................................................................... 23
Figure 3-4: Grate ..................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 3-5: Pot support ........................................................................................................... 25
Figure 3-6: Ash tray ................................................................................................................ 25
Figure 3-7: Bottom casing ...................................................................................................... 25
Figure 3-8: Main casing .......................................................................................................... 26
Figure 3-9: Methodology of the research................................................................................ 28
Figure 3-10: the actual test set-up with measuring instruments used ..................................... 34
Figure 4-1: Model boundary conditions ................................................................................. 43
Figure 4-2: The simulation work flow .................................................................................... 47
Figure 5-1: Comparisons between thermal efficiencies % of different stoves ....................... 50
Figure 5-2: Comparisons between specific fuel consumptions g/liter of different stoves ...... 52
Figure 5-3: Temperature of water during boiling process ...................................................... 55
Figure 5-4: The generated mesh ............................................................................................. 58
Figure 5-5: Mesh independence test graph ............................................................................ 59
Figure 5-6: Velocity distribution in the grate holes and combustion chamber ....................... 60
Figure 5-7: Pressure distribution in the combustion chamber ................................................ 61
Figure 5-8: Temperature versus firepower in the combustion chamber ................................. 62
Figure 5-9: Temperature distribution in the fluid region ........................................................ 63
Figure 5-10: Comparision between simulation and experimental temperature values ........... 65
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1: Biomass fuel consumption in Ethiopia (2013) ........................................................ 8

Table 3-3 Charcoal stove design principle................................................................................ 9
Table 2-2: Advantages and disadvantages of cookstove construction materials .................... 11
Table 2-3: Different types of traditional charcoal stoves in Ethiopia ..................................... 15
Table 2-4: Different types of charcoal stoves reviewed in the thesis ..................................... 18
Table 3-1: Part drawing names ............................................................................................... 23
Table 3-2: The essential requirements for cook stove design ................................................. 27
Table 3-4: Specifications of the OHAUS scale ...................................................................... 31
Table 3-5: Detailed specifications of wood moisture meter ................................................... 31
Table 3-6: Specifications of environmental meter .................................................................. 32
Table 3-7: Thermocouple temperature range .......................................................................... 32
Table 4-1: Material properties of the fired clay ...................................................................... 42
Table 4-2: Material properties of sheet metal ......................................................................... 42
Table 4-3: Air properties from COMSOL Multiphysics ........................................................ 43
Table 5-1: Summary of results on thermal performance of the stove..................................... 49
Table 5-2: Some details of the mesh used .............................................................................. 57
Table 5-3: Mesh independence test......................................................................................... 59
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Since the beginning of human history open fires and primitive stoves have been used to
burn a biomass fuel which includes wood, charcoal, dung, crop and plant residues for
cooking, heating, lighting and other purposes. Currently about 2.7 billion people on the
world depend on biomass as their primary fuel for cooking and this is linked to more than
2.6 million permanent deaths per year. In sub-Saharan Africa 890 million people rely on
biomass for cooking particularly in rural areas and only 17% of the populations have clean
cooking access (IEA, 2018). It has been studied that the use of solid biomass fuels in open
fires and traditional stoves for cooking, heating, lighting and other purposes leads to
adverse health effects, high levels of indoor air pollution, increased probability of death,
climate change, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Exposure to smoke from open fires
and traditional stoves contributes to respiratory diseases such as; pneumonia, tuberculosis,
lung cancer, asthma and non-respiratory diseases such as; low birth weight, infant mortality,
cardiovascular disease and cataract (Sutar et al., 2015).
A stove is called an improved cook stove if it is highly efficient, safe and emits fewer
emissions (Kshirsagar and Kalamkar, 2014). There are a lot of reasons for the development
of improved biomass stoves such as environmental, health, and socio-economic benefit.
Improved stoves can be designed to be more efficient, clean and to reduce the emissions of
several pollutants, which include carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), black or
elemental carbon (EC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), methane (CH4), nonmethane
hydrocarbons (NMHCs), organic carbon (OC) and organic matter (OM). There are also
other benefits due to the production improved charcoal stoves. As one study indicates in
china, adoption of improved cook stoves reduced fuel wood consumption, tree felling and
wood collection time by 40.1%, 23.7%, and 38.2% respectively (Zhang et al., 2000). The
implementation of improved cook stoves in Tanzania saved wood fuel consumption,
reduced women’s workload by reducing time required for fuel collection, created business
for the stove producers (Mwampamba et al., 2013). Similarly, in china improved cook
stoves reduce the emissions of healthy risky pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO) in the
short term and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the long term (Zhang et al., 2000).
Improved cook stoves in Mexico reduced particulate matter (PM) by 74% and carbon
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monoxide (CO) concentrations by 78% (Pine et al., 2011) . Improved cook stoves (Patsari)
reduced concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and fine particulate matter (PM) by 66%
and 67% respectively. They also improved health, climate, environment and socio-
economic benefit (Masera et al., 2007). Improved stoves can be designed to be more
efficient, clean and to reduce the emissions of several pollutants.
Biomass cook stoves are classified on the basis of; use of technology, type of draft used,
application type, purpose served, chimney use, portability, construction materials and on
the basis of fuel used (Kshirsagar and Kalamkar, 2014). Biomass stoves that are classified
on the basis fuel type used are fuel-wood cook stoves, charcoal cook stoves, Agri-residue
cook stoves, dung cake cook stoves and miscellaneous and multi-fuel cook stoves. On the
basis of use of technology, they are classified into traditional cook stoves and
improved/advanced cook stoves. There are two types of traditional stoves; ‘three stone fires”
and “built on stove” or “mud stove”. Three stone fires are characterized by low efficiency,
least costly and least safe stove. In the laboratory these stoves showed high carbon
monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions, high fuel usage, and 10% thermal
efficiency and moderate time to boil (Kshirsagar and Kalamkar, 2014).
Charcoal fuel is one of the biomass fuels which are used broadly in developing countries.
The production, trade and consumption of charcoal fuels for household food preparation
are characterized by conflict, misconceptions and stereotyping (Mwampamba et al., 2013).
These fuels are combusted and burnt in charcoal stoves. In many parts of the world there
are different types of improved charcoal stoves; such as Kenyan charcoal Jiko (Kenya),
Mali charcoal (Mali), Gyapa charcoal (Ghana), UCODEA charcoal stove (Uganda), and
Lakech stove (Ethiopia) are the stoves which are found in Africa (Kshirsagar and Kalamkar,
2014)
Ethiopian households dominantly use solid biomass fuels for cooking, water heating and
coffee making. The cookstove technologies which are found in Ethiopia are classified as
injera baking cookstoves and non-baking cookstoves (pot sized stoves). Non-baking
cookstoves are referred to cookstoves that are used for cooking, water heating and coffee
making. In Ethiopia improved cookstoves; reduce fire wood consumption and harmful
emissions, the drudgery of fuel wood collection is diminished saving time and effort, small
scale stove producers benefit from self-sustaining income-generating opportunities as well
as low-income households, social facilities and small and medium enterprises gain
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sustainable access to improved cookstoves technologies and services. Improved cookstoves

reduce deforestation and offer more time for education and improved living conditions
especially for women and children.
Charcoal fuel is one of the biomass fuels widely used in urban and semi-urban areas of
Ethiopia. At this time there are two improved charcoal stoves and other traditional metal
stoves. The improved stoves are called merchaye and lakech. Merchaye charcoal stove
reduced emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and particulate matter
by 28%, 22% and 27%, respectively in comparison to traditional stoves. Lakech charcoal
stove reduced emissions of CO, CO2, and PM by 15%, 8%, and 13% (Mamuye et al., 2017).
Stoves are usually designed using trial and error processes i.e. manufacturing a prototype,
and testing it for different types of performance, then changing parameters until successful
design found. The design process depends on previous engineering design, experience and
experimental works. This trial and error process results in greater resource and time
consumption on manufacturing prototype and testing it (Nordica Ann MacCarty, 2013).
Application of computational modeling used for product design would help to answer these
problems. In the past 30 years above 500 scientific articles have been published which
examined various aspects of biomass cookstoves; however, only less than 6% of the
scientific articles have answered numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat transfer processes
in traditional biomass stoves and none of these coupled, provide detailed simulation
validation of the experimental results (Nordica MacCarty and Bryden, 2016). Among the
cookstove modeling software’s is the CFD package which is found is found in COMSOL
Multiphysics. CFD modules can solve temperature profiles, velocity distribution and
pressure distributions (Sengupta et al., 2019).
Even though CFD models have advanced the art of modeling cook stoves, they have largely
been validated without considering real stove design principles and used very small number
of stove geometries. Combustion has been modeled with simple reaction and heat transfer
is often modeled without considering the presence of remaining char. The remaining char
highly affects the temperature distribution, velocity distribution and heat transfer from cook
stoves to the pot. The influence of design principles such as secondary air entrance, grates,
pot support height, cone deck, ash tray, bottom body of the stove and outer casing on the
stove thermal performance has not been studied. The fundamental physics behind why
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certain arrangements result in better thermal performance and emissions has not been fully
studied (Pundle et al., 2019 ;Varunkumar et al., 2012).
1.2. Statement of the problem

Charcoal is a solid fuel used for cooking, water boiling, and coffee/tea making, and heating
in many developing countries, like Ethiopia. Charcoal is widely used fuel both in urban
and rural areas of Ethiopia. Currently they are burnt and combusted in charcoal stoves
which are characterized by the problems of inefficient fuel use which leads to deforestation,
environmental degradation, high indoor and outdoor emission, another extra cost to buy
charcoal fuels. Moreover, charcoal fuels are typically burned with substantial production
of products of incomplete combustion, which include CO, and other particles that affect
global climate change as well as toxic air pollutants that adversely affect human health.
Charcoal fuels emit huge amount of carbon monoxide which is odorless and colorless when
enters in to human body through the respiratory system it combines with hemoglobin (Hb)
and thus prevents oxygen transfer to the blood and when hemoglobin carbon monoxide
blood level reaches 80% it directly causes instantaneous death.
Currently in Ethiopia traditional metal charcoal stoves, lakech and merchaye,Shekela

charcoal stoves are used to burn and combust these fuels. Merchaye and Shekela stoves are
new to the market. So lakech stove and the traditional stoves are well familiar to the market.
Shekela charcoal stove has the highest thermal efficiency i.e., 29% and Merchaye charcoal
stove has the lowest thermal efficiency i.e., 67 g/liter. The traditional metal charcoal stoves
are manufactured through traditional way and it is not scientific. So, the aim of the current
research is to address these problems by designing, simulating, manufacturing and testing
charcoal stove using scientific principles.
1.3. Objectives
The main objective of the research is to design, simulate, manufacture and test improved
domestic charcoal stove.
The Specific objectives include;
• Designing charcoal stove using solid work.
• Simulating the stove.
• Manufacturing the stove
• Testing the performance of the improved charcoal stove.
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1.4. Significance of the research

This research focuses on designing, simulating and manufacturing a charcoal stove which
will be more efficient and user friendly. The benefits of this research include reduced
concentrations of smoke and indoor air pollutions, money and time will be saved in
acquiring charcoal fuels, reduction in the quantity of fuels usage, reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions, job creation to the community and reduce health risks for all users. The
peoples who are living in urban and semi-urban areas of Ethiopia will get an improved
charcoal stove after successful completion of the research and implementation of the result.
Up to now there is no charcoal stove which is designed using scientific principles. Thus,
the research will help as a reference for other studies, which may focus on similar issues,
related to the designing, simulating and manufacturing of an improved charcoal stove.
1.5. Limitations
The limitation of this work is that Computational Fluid Dynamics models have problems
in predicting the complex phenomenon of turbulence and combustion, model assumption
and non-availability of accurate reaction mechanisms result in the predictions deviating
from the experimental data significantly. In terms of its setting up of the model and its
actual computations Computational Fluid Dynamic models are significantly time
consuming. The second limitation of this research will be the indoor air pollution measuring
instruments are not available. The emissions of CO, CO2 and PM are not measured in the
experiment.
1.6. Scope of the study

This study focuses on the designing, simulating and manufacturing an improved charcoal
stove. Geometry of the new prototype charcoal stove was designed on SOLID work 2020
and it is used to manufacture the prototype. The simulation is done using CFD package
which is found in COMSOL Multiphysics software. Different types of charcoal stove
design principles are used like sizing the combustion chamber for the required task,
maintaining constant cross-sectional area etc. the prototype was manufactured using locally
available materials and it was tested using WBT protocol and instruments like
thermocouple, environmental meter mass balance and moisture meter were used.
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1.7. Organization of the research

The structure of the research is organized as follows: chapter one discusses about the
introduction of the research which includes background of the research, problem of
statement and objective of the research. Chapter two discusses the different reviews of the
research and the research gap is clearly explained in this chapter. Chapter three discusses
about the design principles and manufacturing materials used for the new prototype and
testing procedures using WBT protocol. Chapter four discusses about the simulation
process. Here in this chapter the following topics are discussed; the physics used, fluid flow
governing equations, heat transfer mechanisms, the type of geometry, material selection,
the different types of boundary conditions and model assumptions. Then results and
discussion part is discussed in chapter five of this research paper. Thermal performance
results of the stove are discussed in this chapter and are compared with other charcoal stove
types. The CFD simulation results are also discussed and compared with other similar
papers. The experimental and simulation results are validated. The last chapter discusses
about conclusions, and recommendations for future works.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the different types of literatures reviewed are discussed. Stove construction
materials, stove design principles, biomass testing protocols, the main components of
charcoal stove, development of charcoal stove in Ethiopia, research gap and CFD models
are discussed.
2.1. Biomass classification and composition

Biomass is the plant material that comes from the reaction between water, sunlight and CO2
in the air, through photosynthesis, to produce carbohydrates (starch, sugars and cellulose)
that form the building blocks of biomass. Not more than 1% of the available sunlight is
converted to stored chemical energy by photosynthesis (McKendry, 2002).
A lot of biomass resources can be changed to enable energy supply. These can be divided
into six groups, based on their properties such as forestry products, wastes, and residues,
agricultural wastes and residues (herbaceous species), Industrial and municipal organic
wastes, aquatic species, energy crops, which are grown with the aim to supply energy
carriers and derivatives. Cellulose, hemicellulose, linin and chitosan are the main structural
organic constituents of biomass fuels. Together with the main structural organic
constituent’s biomass fuels contains other minor constituents such as oils, fats (lipids),
proteins, star and sugar as well as spectrum of organic extractives (McKendry, 2002).
2.2. Biomass fuels consumption in Ethiopia

In 2013, Ethiopia’s total national biomass fuels consumption was estimated to be 105.2
million tons per year with 5.7 million tons of charcoal fuel. From 2000-2013 there was
massive increase in charcoal consumption in nearly all regions of Ethiopia. There are
different reasons behind increase in rural charcoal consumption such as increase in rural
income, creation of rural markets, and increase in rural infrastructure as well as reduction
of transportation costs (Geissler et al., 2013). Table 2-1 shows the biomass consumption in
Ethiopia in 2013.
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Table 2-1: Biomass fuel consumption in Ethiopia (2013) (Geissler et al., 2013)
Region 2000(ton/yr.) 2013(ton/yr.)

Addis Ababa - -
Afar 1,905 214,677
Amara - 1,083,524
BSG 3,787 34,953
Diredawa - 7,841
Gambella 32 9,638
Harari - 8,656
Oromiya 5,031 1,554,763
SNNPR 149 448,436
Somali 18,131 498,389
Tigray 19,545 271,996
Total 48,581 4,132,873
2.3. Stove design principles

Mostly, improved biomass cook stoves are designed based on the principles of Dr. Larry
Winiarski. These design principles focus on the selection of best materials like heat
resistant insulation around the fire which reduces smoke. There must be properly sized gaps
between the fire and the pot to maximize heat transfer. Less amount of draft produces lots
of smoke and charcoal but too much of it cools the fire. If too much charcoal is produced
this results in the emission of harmful carbon monoxide. The intensity of the fire is
dependent on how many sticks are pushed into the fire (Bryden et al., 2005). Proper air
circulation is needed for efficient combustion. The amount of heat transferred to the pot
can be increased by maintaining a constant cross-sectional area of the flow path. Properly
utilization of heat transfer by radiation and increase the surface area of the pot in contact
with the hot and fast-moving flue gases improve the heat transfer rate (Thompson et al.,
2011). For the design and construction of a stove the following parameters are needed such
fuel type, insulation, local resources, stove power output, safety consideration, air flow rate,
reactor cross sectional area, diameter and height (Bantu et al., 2018).
2.4. Charcoal stove design principle
there are about eight charcoals stove design principles (Still et al., 2015). This design
principle combines both optimized heat transfer and clean burring characteristics. most of
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these design principles were used in designing the new prototype charcoal stove and it was
a successful procedure. Table 3-3 shows charcoal stove design principles.
Table 3-3 Charcoal stove design principle (Still et al., 2015)

Principles Description
Principle one Size the combustion chamber for the required task.
The amount of fuel loaded in to the stove will be proportional to
the amount of air made available to it. More fuel loaded means
there is always excess air which reseals in more fire power. For
cooking small amount of food load, a small amount of fuel in to
the stove, or use a stove with a small combustion chamber. The
opposite is true for cooking lots of food at a time or for boiling
large amount of water.
Principle two Charcoal stove can have a high turn down ratio.
Principle three Secondary airs are required to burn up the remaining CO.
In most charcoal stove design, the Air must pass through the
burning charcoal before it reaches to the top where the CO is. To
burn up the remaining CO hot air must be added above the charcoal
fuel.
Principle four Put the pot close to the charcoal.
This will maximize heats transfer by conduction & radiation from
the charcoal fuel to pot.
Principle five Insulators like clay, ceramic fiber, rock wool and sheet of foil, etc.
are required in order to achieve a temperature of 609℃ or above
five minutes or less than five minutes after lighting
Principle six Small channel gaps are required between the pot and the stove.
Radiative and convective heat transfer are the main modes of heat
transfer in charcoal stoves. In order to increase heat transfer by
convection to the pot a skirt is needed around the pot. The pot
should be located very close to the top of the burning charcoal.
Principle seven Maintain a constant cross-sectional area.

Maintain a constant cross section area during the stove to start the
design process and decrease as intended for by experimentation.
This will maintain the velocity of the draft as high as possible
Principle eight Provide huge amount of primary air to ensure adequate fire power.
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2.5. Stove construction materials

Materials used for stove construction are selected based on different criteria’s such as fire
resistivity, easy portability, durability, thermal conductivity, cost, maintenance as well as
minimizing safety risks, failure and deterioration. By many designer’s metal is selected as
the construction material because it has the advantages of easy portability, low thermal
inertia as well as high performance but metals can result in higher heat losses due to its
higher thermal conductivity. Mud, cement and brick can be used for stove construction and
they are poorer conductor of heat. But these materials store huge amount of energy in the
stove body (Sutar et al., 2015). In natural draft wood stoves combustion liners are exposed
to temperatures of 600-800℃ and in charcoal stoves it is from 600-1100℃ (Global Alliance
for Clean Cookstoves, 2014a). Corrosion of metallic components, unavailability and cost
of materials are the challenges faced by designers. Small amounts of salts, like chlorine and
sulfur which are present in many solid fuels and high temperature environments speed up
the rate of corrosion. The advantages and disadvantages of some cook stove materials are
shown in Table2-2 below.
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Table 2-2: Advantages and disadvantages of cookstove construction materials

(Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2014a)
Material Advantages Disadvantages Stove components

Aluminum Low density Low availability Radiative insulation
Moderate strength high conductivity
Easy to form high cost
Cast iron High strength Low availability Cone deck and pot
High service and melting Melting and casting is supports Grate
temperature Can be cast difficult
into different shapes Low availability of scrap
iron
Very high conductivity
Calcium silicate Very low thermal Low strength Insulation layer
conductivity Aerosol dust is harmful
Low density if inhaled
High cost
Not widely available
Ceramic fiber Very low thermal High cost Insulation layer
conductivity Not widely available
Low density Very low strength
Exposed fibers irritate
skin
Aerosol fibers are
harmful if inhaled
Mild steel Widely available Low service and melting External component
Low cost temperature Poor (door, handles, legs,etc)
corrosion resistance
2.6. Biomass stove Testing Protocols

2.6.1. Water Boiling Test (WBT)
Water boiling test is a type of laboratory testing protocol that is planned to provide
repeatable and reproducible outcomes. The testing protocol was originally done for wood
stoves, but later it is also suitable for charcoal stoves. This test protocol consists of three
phases: high power cold start, high power hot start and low power. The difference in stove
performance is calculated by the first two phases i.e., from cold and hot start. It is the most
widely used test protocol because it is easy to conduct and quick to do procedures
(Kshirsagar and Kalamkar, 2014). The main parameters that are tested in the laboratory are
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time to boil thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption, burning rate, fire power and turn
down ratio. WBT is dependent on temperature change and mass loss of water on a pot.
Because this test is planned to be repeatable and reproducible procedure it is useful and
suitable as an aid to the design process in the ability of identifying areas of poor
performance and for comparing the performance of different stoves. However, the WBT
also has weakness; it cannot provide necessary information about how the stove performs
when cooking actual foods and the fuel type, composition, moisture and size may vary
(Taylor, 2009).
2.6.2. Controlled cooking test (CCT)

Controlled cooking test takes place under controlled settings to use the stove to its best
performance, but it has its own weakness during cooking real meals in actual households.
It is more suitable lab based stove testing method, for forecasting actual household
performance. Controlled cooking test which acts as a bridge between Water Boiling Test
(WBT) and Kitchen Performance Test (KPT), accounts for 12% of all the tests performed
on cook stoves (Delapena et al., 2016).
2.6.3. Kitchen Performance Test (KPT)

Kitchen performance test is the main field-based technique to determine the effect of stove
intervention on household fuel consumption. It is among the most accepted testing
protocols for cookstoves. It includes an assessment of the qualitative aspects of stove
performance through household survey and to compare the impact of improved stoves on
fuel consumption in the kitchens of real households (Delapena et al., 2016).
2.7. Charcoal stoves

Charcoal stoves are the most widely used devices for cooking, coffee making, water boiling
and other related activities in many parts of the world. To minimize absorption and storage
of heat charcoal stoves should be lightweight. To further reduce this stored heat combustion
chamber must be isolated from the other parts of the stove. In charcoal stoves an insulated
combustion chamber wall and insulated stove bottom may help reduce the heat that radiates
away from the pot (Baldwin, 1987). The main components of a charcoal stove are listed
below.
2.7.1. Combustion chamber

In improved charcoal stoves the shapes of the combustion chambers have been noted to be
slightly conical. The advantage of this shape is that it keeps the charcoal to be packed as it
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burns down and it is used to hold charcoal fuels. The combustion chamber is the area where
combustion takes place (Stewart, 1987).
2.7.2. Grate
The advantage of a grate is to improve the combustion efficiency, due to improved supply
of primary air under the bed and better contact of this air with the fuel. It should have
sufficient open area to allow good mixing of air under the charcoal. The openings should
be greater 0.5cm wide in order to prevent blocking, but less than 2cm wide to reduce the
amount of small charcoal pieces that will fall through. If the open area is too large excess
air enters the combustion chamber and this decreases the flame temperature, but if the open
area is to small sufficient will not enter the combustion chamber (Stewart, 1987).
2.7.3. Air entrance

There are different ways in which biomass cook stoves can be classified. One method is
based on air entrance, and these are the natural draft cooks stoves and forced draft cook
stoves. Natural draft cook stoves are free convection driven cook stoves. These stoves are
preferable because of low-cost and ease of manufacturing. Air enters the combustion
chamber due to the natural process that involves the hot air in the combustion chamber
rising and being replaced by cold air from outside. Forced draft cook stoves are fan operated
stoves. Fans create high velocity air jets that mix fuel, air, and flame. Forced draft cook
stoves reduce emissions through improved combustion as well as improve heat transfer to
the cooking vessel (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2014a).
2.7.4. Stove body

A lot of studies indicate that the weight of the stove has a relationship with efficiency; the
heavier and very light stoves have lower efficiencies. Heavy stove body results in major
penalty of stored energy in the stove body whereas; lightweight stoves (metallic body) can
result in higher heat losses from the stove body due to its higher thermal conductivity.
Insulating the combustion chamber with heat resistant insulators such as calcium silicate,
ceramic fiber, perlite, low-density pottery, a clay/rice-husk ash mix, pumice stone,
cement/vermiculite mixtures, and fired pottery usually increased the efficiency
significantly. Insulating the outside of a cast-iron combustion chamber also increases the
efficiency considerably (Stewart, 1987).
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2.7.5. Pot seat

It is made on top of the stove to accommodate a range of pot sizes. If the combustion
chamber is made of a weaker material many designs have the pot supported on metal
supporters(Stewart, 1987).
1=air entrance 2=grate

3=combustion chamber 4=pot seat
5=pot shield 6=stove body
Figure 2-1:Main components of charcoal stoves (Stewart, 1987)
2.8. Development of Charcoal stoves

Charcoal stoves are widely used in urban and semi-urban areas of Ethiopia. However, these
stoves are less efficient, environmentally unfriendly and high emission. Different charcoal
stoves are present; some of these stoves are mirchaye, lakech and traditional charcoal stoves
(Mamuye et al., 2017).
2.8.1. Lakech charcoal stove

Lakech charcoal stove has been used in Ethiopia for more than two decades .Majority of
the stoves has been produced in large cities like Addis Ababa and has been transported to
other different regions(SNV, 2018). Metal, clay, cement, sand and water are the raw
materials to produce the stove. Metal and clay are the main raw materials in the production
of the stove. No welding, soldering or brazing is required because all the joints in the casing
are either riveted or folded. The adoption of Lakech charcoal stoves is negatively affected
by the presence of other metal charcoal stoves. It has daily specific fuel consumption
reduction efficiency of 23%. CO emission reduction of 15%, the CO2 emission per 2.5L of
water is 625g, PM2.5 emission reduction of 13 % (Mamuye et al., 2017).
Page | 14
2.8.2. Merchaye charcoal stove

Merchaye charcoal stove uses briquette fuels and it looks like lakech stoves. Because it is
new to the market it is becoming preferable by refugee camps rather than the households
(SNV, 2018). It has daily specific fuel consumption reduction efficiency of 32%, CO
emission reduction of 28%, and PM2.5 emission reduction of 27%.
2.8.3. Traditional charcoal stoves

There are different type’s traditional charcoal stoves in the local market. Square and funnel
shaped stoves are the most widely ones. The grates of these stoves are removable unlike
the other improved charcoal stoves. The main physical characteristics of the above-
mentioned stoves are described Table 2-3 (Gashie, 2005).
Table 2-3: Different types of traditional charcoal stoves in Ethiopia (Gashie, 2005)
No Stove type Weight(gm) Combustion camber Upper rim Pan Air Grate
area(cm2) rest
Area(cm2) Depth Shape Area Door

(cm) (cm2)
1 Funnel 783 161.7 6 20*20 yes trapezoid 21 no
traditional
metal
2 Square 2060 161.3 8.5 20*20 yes rectangle 70 no
traditional
metal
Figure 2-2: Charcoal cook stoves which are widely used in Ethiopia a) Merchaye stove
b) Lakech stove c) traditional stove
(Mamuye et al., 2017)
Page | 15
The Merchaye charcoal stove is lighter, with a smaller depth, upper surface area and
combustion chamber area. It has combustion chamber area of 169 cm2, depth of 7.8 cm and
upper surface area of 324 cm2 as well as it has 1.8 kg weight. The grate holes are 1-2 cm in
diameter. Lakech charcoal stove has an upper surface area of 400 cm2, combustion area of
179 cm2 and depth of 8.5 cm. It weighs 1.9 kg with a bowl-shaped combustion chamber.
The grate holes are 0.5 cm in diameter. The traditional metal charcoal stove weighs1.5kg
with combustion area of 180 cm2, depth of 9.5 cm and an upper surface area of 441 cm 2.
The cooking pot seats directly on the charcoal in the chamber. Merchaye and lakech
charcoal stoves are made from clay and sheet metal while the traditional stove is made only
from sheet metal (Mamuye et al., 2017). Figure 2-2 shows the different charcoal stoves
which are found in Ethiopia.
2.9. Other Charcoal Stoves

2.9.1. Ghanan charcoal stoves
Ahinbenso charcoal stove, Gyapa charcoal stove and the traditional coal pot stoves are the
three commonly used charcoal stoves in Ghana. Figure 2-3 shows the three types of
charcoal stoves which are present in Ghana.
Figure 2-3: charcoal cookstove which are widely used in Ghana a) Ahinbenso b) Gyapa c)
Traditional stove (coal pot)
The Ahinbenso charcoal stove has hemispherical combustion chamber with curved surface
area of 942.82 cm2. The combustion chamber and the grate are made from sheet metal.
Gyapa charcoal stove also has a hemispherical combustion chamber with surface area of
Page | 16
726.10 cm2. The combustion chamber and grate are made from clay material. The
Traditional coal pot stove had a truncated pyramidal combustion chamber with a
surface area of 1093.00 cm2.
2.9.2. Ugandan charcoal stove
The Ugandan charcoal stove is made from fiber glass, stainless steel and granite rocks. The
combustion chamber of the stove 100 mm with 120 mm diameter.
Figure 2-4: Ugandan charcoal stove with pot
The outer chamber was fabricated at an internal diameter of 170 mm using granite rock,
glass wool and stainless steel at 23 mm, 48 mm and 1.0 mm thick, respectively.
2.10. Research gap

Simulation models are done at steady state conditions while experimental tests are not.
Simulation models may not consider the real conditions like air temperature, wind
conditions, moisture content of the fuel and relative humidity. As shown in table 2.4 the
thermal efficiency of charcoal stoves is very low as well as their fuel consumption is very
high. In general, from the reviewed articles gaps are recognized. Therefore, in this study
integrating design, simulation, manufacturing and testing stoves is more reliable than the
previously done articles.
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Table 2-4: Different types of charcoal stoves reviewed in the thesis
Stove type Thermal Specific fuel Reference

performance consumption (g/liter)
(%)
Laketch 26 81.1 (Mequaninte et al., 2013)
charcoal stove
Merchaye 27 67.3 (Mequaninte et al., 2013)
charcoal stove
Ethiopian 18 89.3 (Mequaninte et al., 2013)
traditional
charcoal stove
Kenyan 21 74 (Grimsby et al., 2016)
traditional
charcoal stove
Shekela (clay) 29 77.4 (Mequaninte et al., 2013)
charcoal stove
Kenyan Jiko 24 62 (Grimsby et al., 2016)
Bora charcoal
stove
Ghanan Gyapa 23 63.3 (Boafo-Mensah et al.,
charcoal stove 2013 )
Ghanan 31 58.3 (Boafo-Mensah et al.,
Ahinbenso 2013 )
charcoal stove
Ugandan 29 (Bantu et al., 2018)
granite charcoal
stove
All the improved charcoal stoves had higher thermal efficiencies than the traditional
charcoal stoves. The improved thermal efficiency is due to the fact that more heat being
transferred to the cooking pot and less heat are being lost to the surroundings mainly due
to the use of insulating material in the combustion chamber of the improved stove. The
thermal efficiency of the different charcoal stoves which are found in Ethiopia ranges from
18% to 29%. The difference between the highest and lowest thermal performance is 11%.
Ugandan Ahinbenso Charcoal stove had the highest thermal performance. In terms of
specific fuel consumption, the traditional metal charcoal stove consumes more fuel than the
other charcoal stoves. From stoves tested in Ethiopia Merchaye charcoal stove offered
significant fuel savings of 59.5% compared to the traditional metal square charcoal stove.
The Ethiopian Shekela (clay) charcoal stove and the Ugandan charcoal stove had the
highest thermal efficiency next to the Ghanan Ahinbenso charcoal stove. In terms of
specific fuel consumption, the Ethiopian traditional charcoal consumes the highest fuel and
Page | 18
Ghanan Ahinbenso charcoal stove consumes the least fuel. Table 2-4 shows the different
types of charcoal stoves reviewed in the thesis.
2.11. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Module

The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) module in COMSOL Multiphysics is a
commercially available package that can be used to simulate a variety of flows and is a
well-known field within many different engineering disciplines such as aeronautical,
biomedical engineering, civil, chemical, mechanical, petroleum and geophysics. It is cost
effective way for engineers and scientists to understand, control, optimize and develop
designs and process. Modeling of fields flow is an important part in development of new
equipment and process. The main focus of flow in the simulation process is to know how
the flow affects others processes and application parameters.
The module uses the newest research possible to simulate fluid flow; it offers the most
manageable simulation environment for CFD applications. It is used to models laminar and
turbulent single or multiple flow, stirred vessels etc. CFD models includes all the steps
available for the modeling process such us creating , importing and manipulating the
geometry , definition of parameters and component variables , specifying the materials to
be includes in the component, setup an appropriate mesh for the modeling domain ,
defining the physics of the fluids flow on boundaries and in domains ,solving the equations
that describe a system for stationers or time dependent behaviors as well as collecting and
analyzing results to presents for furthers use in others analysis (Comsol AB, 2019).
COMSOL Multiphysics is an influential modeling environment used to model and answer

all types of engineering and scientific problems. The software offers combined desktop
environment with a model builder that gives a full overview of the model and access to all
functionality. Using COMSOL Multiphysics can extend conventional models for type of
physics in Multiphysics models. Accessing this software does not require an in-depth
knowledge of Mathematics and numerical analysis. It is easy to build models by defining
the relevant physical quantities such as fluxes, sources, material properties and fluxes rather
than by defining the underlying equations. The expressions, numbers and variables can
apply directly to solid or fluid domains, boundaries, edges and points independently of the
computational mesh. The software can perform various types of studies such as stationary,
time-dependent, linear, non-linear, eigenfrequency, modal and frequency response studies.
Page | 19
COMSOL Multiphysics software gathers and answers problems using a set of advanced
numerical analysis tools. It runs the analysis together with adaptive mesh refinement and
error control using a variety of numerical solvers. It also creates arrangements to record all
steps that create the geometry, physics, mesh studies, solver settings, visualization and
results presentation. This makes to easily change a node in the model tree and rerun the
sequences. COMSOL Multiphysics software can be applied in many engineering and
science areas, such as; fluid dynamics, heat transfer, geophysics and geomechanics, metal
processing, micro fluidics, microwave engineering, pipe flow, porous media flow, semi-
conductor devices, structural mechanics, transport phenomena, quantum mechanics,
multibody dynamics, chemical reactions, fuel cell and batteries. The software also offers
modeling and analysis power for many application areas. There are optional adds-on
modules for several key application areas. The module also includes comprehensive
application libraries with example models that show the use of the product within its
application areas.
Page | 20
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this chapter the manufacturing process of the stove, design principles and experimental
setup are discussed. It is divided into three sections. The first section discusses about the
manufacturing materials and in the second section design principles of charcoal stoves are
discussed. The last section discusses about the experimental test set up.
3.1. Type of stove and materials for manufacturing

A charcoal stove as is shown in Figure 3-1 has been developed at Addis Ababa university-
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAU-AAiT), Addis Ababa -Ethiopia. All the
dimensions were based on the laketch charcoal stove because of its prominence on the
Ethiopian local market and availability of dimensional data. The charcoal prototype stove
is 260 mm high with a diameter of 250 mm. the stove was designed for a pot with 300mm
diameter and the combustion chamber for this type of pot is 180 mm (Bryden et al., 2005).
The whole diameter of the stove was calculated from the combustion chamber. The height
of the stove is the sum of the height of the combustion chamber, pot support height, height
of air entrance and the bottom casing of the stove. In the following sections the materials
needed for manufacturing the new prototype charcoal stove will be separately discussed.
Figure 3-1: New prototype charcoal stove
Page | 21
Primary air enters via the grate holes below the fuel bed. The door remains completely open
for high power operation and can be almost completely closed to create a large degree of
turndown for lower phase (simmering). Figure 3-2 shows the full drawing of the new
prototype charcoal stove and table 3-1 shows part drawing names.
Figure 3-2: Full drawing of the new prototype
Figure 3-2: shows the major components of the new prototype stove. Most of the stove
parts are made from sheet metal because of its availability on the local market. Clay was
selected for the combustion chamber because it has low thermal conductivity and it is
Page | 22
easily accessible. Aluminum foil was selected for the ash tray in order to reflect heat back
to the grate holes and combustion chamber
Table 3-1: Part drawing names

Item no. Part name Material Qty.
1 Door_Base_CS008SMXT2 Sheet metal 1
2 Door_CS009SMXT2 Sheet metal 1
3 Main_Case_CS001SMT1 Sheet metal 1
4 Bottom_Inner_Case_CS00 5T2 Aluminum foil 1
5 Bottom_Case_CS006T2 Sheet metal 1
6 Grate _CI003T15 Sheet metal 1

7 Handle_RB007T35 Wood 2
8 Inner_Case_CS003SMT2 Clay 1
9 Top_case_CS002SMT2 Sheet metal 1

10 Hinge_CS010T2 Carbon Steel 1
11 Vertical_Hinge_CS011T2 Carbon Steel 1
12 B18.3.4M - 3 x 0.5 x 3 SBHCS -- Sheet metal 2
3.1.1. Combustion chamber and Grate

The combustion chamber of the new prototype charcoal stove is made from clay mixed
with predetermined amount of water and pressed into molds to form brick. The brick was
allowed to dry, which took three weeks, and then it was fired at temperatures of 1050℃ .
Figure 3-3: Combustion chamber
Clay bricks are physically durable and to resist abrasion and breakage. The main function
of the chamber is to hold the charcoal and to serve as a combustion area. The combustion
Page | 23
chamber is 85 mm deep with 180 mm diameter and it is 30 mm thick. Clay properties are
explained in chapter four of this research paper. Figure 3-3 shows the combustion chamber
of the stove.
Steel was selected for the grate body because steel has less density than clay and it does not
store huge amount of heat in its body. For this particular prototype the total numbers of
holes are thirteen and are shown in figure 3-4 below. The holes are 12 mm diameter and 3
mm depth. It is 3 mm thick with 180 mm diameter.
Figure 3-4: Grate
First the diameter of the grate holes is determined from Laketch and Merchaye charcoal
stoves. The diameter of the grate holes for Laketch and Merchaye charcoal stoves are 5
mm and 20 mm, respectively (Mamuye et al., 2017)
. The diameter of the new stove taken to be 12 mm in diameter because this is the optimum
diameter. If it is less than this number enough air will not enter the combustion chamber
and small pieces of charcoal can block the holes. But if it is greater than this number excess
air will enter the chamber and small pieces of charcoal fuel will fall in the ash tray which
diminishes the combustion process and thermal performance of the stove. The number of
holes were determined using rotational angle with equal spacing method. One hole was
drilled at the center and the other four holes were drilled using -90,180, -90- and -180-
degree angles. The outer eight holes were drilled using 90, 45, 180, 135, -90, -135, -180-
and -45-degree angles.
3.1.2. Auxilaries
Pot support is constructed on the top of the stove. Its basic function is to support the pot
during boiling process of water, figure 3-5 shows the pot support of the prototype. It is 20
mm high with 200 mm inner diameter and 250mm outer diameter.
Page | 24
Figure 3-5: Pot support
In this particular study the ash tray of the charcoal stove is made up of aluminum foil and
is used to collect ashes and small charcoal pieces during burning process. This reflecting
aluminum foil placed in the ash tray is used to reflect radiant heat back to the combustion
chamber. The ash tray is 2 mm thick and with 180 mm diameter. Figure 3-6 shows the ash
tray of the new prototype stove.
Figure 3-6: Ash tray
The bottom casing is constructed on the bottom of the stove. It is made from sheet metal
and its feet are constructed from woods. The woods are used for safety purposes,
households can easily use them. It has 322 mm diameter at the bottom and 250 mm at the
top.
Figure 3-7: Bottom casing
Page | 25
The bottom casing was manufactured to be aesthetically appealing to the end users. Users
satisfaction is one of the essential requirements used to evaluate stove acceptability at
community level. There are three feet which used are to prevent heat transfer from the
stove to the ground. So, the prototype charcoal stove is easy to use everywhere. Figure 3-7
shows the bottom casing of the stove.
The main casing is used to hold the combustion chamber, the pot support, the grate and the
ash tray. It is made from stainless steel and it is 180 mm high with 250 mm diameter. The
main casing is shown in figure 3-8 below.
Figure 3-8: Main casing
Sheet metal was selected as a casing material because of; its availability on the local market,
its resistance to corrosion in high temperatures, its minimum cost and it has longer service
life time than most metals. Its material properties are described in chapter four table 4-5.
3.2. Design process

Designing of a stove consists of four steps: Define the functions, find ways to realize the
constituent processes, define shape, materials, and dimensions as well as write
specifications and manufacturing instructions (Verhaart, 1982). In order to design a device,
one has to know what duties it is expected to accomplish. Other conditions also have to be
met. There are organized design processes that can help designers and enterprises to find
new ideas and opportunities as well as to create successful solutions that are more likely to
meet their goals. The design process includes three phases and three stages. The three
phases are: framing the problem, creating a solution and developing a product. Each phase
includes three stages:
Page | 26
Collect information and opinions to gain a better understanding, brainstorm different ideas
and select the best one, test, implement and verify prior to moving on to the next phase.
Table 3-2 shows the essential requirements for cookstove design.
Table 3-2: The essential requirements for cook stove design (Global Alliance for Clean
Cookstoves, 2014a)
Usability
Performance Affordability
Attractiveness Safety Sale price
Maintenance & service Health pollutants Fuel consumption
Ease of ignition Durability Service life
Time saved Time Unit cost
Cleanliness Energy efficiency
Portability Greenhouse emissions
Weight
User interface
3.3. Methods
This section describes the method used to develop the improved charcoal stove from the
beginning to the end. The method sections throughout this paper are as shown in Figure 3.9.
Page | 27
Material selection
Conceptual design
Model the 3D cad drawing

using solid work
Engineering design
Optimized design
Construction, testing and

evaluation of the prototype
Validation
Figure 3-9: Methodology of the research
Material selection is the act of choosing material best suited to achieve the requirements of
a given application. In this section the materials needed for the construction of the prototype
are discussed. The materials for the combustion chamber, grate, ash tray and insulation
sheets are selected. Conceptual design is an early stage of the design process which includes
the design of experiences, processes, strategies and interactions. In the case of stoves this
stage includes modification of popular stove designs, recombination of different stove
designs, or full product design from scrap. Different scientific papers were reviewed in
order to design the new prototype charcoal stove.
The 3D cad drawing model of the new prototype stove is drawn using solid work and
dimensions are shown in Appendix A. After choosing the conceptual design fundamental
and applied principles of engineering and science are applied to generate visible solution.
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Modern engineering design tools such as CFD simulation, mathematical modeling of

different physical phenomenon, dimensional analysis, numerical simulations and energy
analysis are done at this stage. Simulation is the process of subjecting an individual stove
component model to various operating and boundary conditions, to evaluate their
behavioral characteristics.
Optimized design is the process of maximization or minimization of chosen variables

related to quantities like heat transfer, specific fuel consumption, efficiency, emission and
cost etc. The new prototype is made up of sheet metal, clay and aluminum foil. Water
Boiling Test (WBT) was conducted in order to test stove. Different parameters such as wind
speed, relative humidity, temperature etc. was taken during testing the stove. After the stove
was manufactured and tested the test results were validated with other similar works.
3.4. Design parameters

When designing the stove, the following parameters were computed: area of the
combustion chamber, circumference of the combustion chamber, the gap needed between
the bottom of the pot and the top edge of the combustion chamber and. The gap needed
between the bottom of the pot and the top edge of the combustion chamber can be very
small for charcoal stoves when compared to wood burning stoves. The area of the pot
exposed to the charcoal should be maximum when stove designs are done. Pot distance
from the top of the fuel should be between 2-5 cm (Baldwin, 1987). For 18 cm diameter
combustion chamber the pot diameter should be 30 cm. Area of the combustion chamber
and circumference of the combustion chamber was computed based on the following
formulas (Bryden et al., 2005).
A𝒄 = π𝑟 2 (3.1)
Ac is area of the combustion chamber, cm2

r is radius of the combustion chamber, cm
𝜋 is 3.14
𝐴 = 3.14 × 92
= 254cm2
C𝐜 = 2𝜋r (3.2)
𝐶𝑐 = 2 × 3.14 × 9
Page | 29
= 56.52 𝑐𝑚
Where
Cc is Circumference of the combustion chamber, cm
A𝒔 = 2πr 2 d + πr 2 (3.3)
𝐴𝑠 =2(3.14 × .09 × 0.085) + (3.14 × 0.092 )

= 0.082 𝑚2
As is surface area of the combustion chamber, m2
d is depth of the combustion chamber
the gap needed between the bottom of the pot and the edge of the combustion chamber is
given by;
𝐴𝑐 (3.4)
𝑁𝐺 =
𝐶𝑐
(Bryden et al., 2005)
3.5. Experimental Approach and Procedure

Charcoal stove prototype was built in the workshop. Charcoal fuels with known cross-
sectional area were used for the experimentation. The height, diameter, upper surface area,
combustion area, weight and depth of the stove were recorded. The mass of charcoal fuel
required to boil water and the remaining charcoal was recorded. Different instruments were
used for measurements. Thermal efficiency, time to boil and specific fuel consumption etc.
were recorded.
3.5.1. Instruments used for the experimental procedure

The following instruments have been used for conducting testing of the charcoal stove.
a) OHAUS Scale
OHAUS Scale is used to measure different instruments like charcoal fuel, water, pot and
remaining char etc. Table 3-4 shows the specifications of the scale.
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Table 3-4: Specifications of the OHAUS scale

Temperature range 10℃ to 40 ℃
Maximum weight 32000 grams
Accuracy 0.4 milli gram to 0.4 milligram
b) Wood moisture meter
It was used to measure the approximate moisture content of the charcoal fuel. Table 3-5
shows the detail specifications of the wood moisture meter.
Table 3-5: Detailed specifications of wood moisture meter

Measurement Range 0 to 99.9% REL (relative reading)
for wood;
Measurement Accuracy ±3%
Measurement Resolution 0.1%
Operating Temperature 0° to 50C)
@<80%RH
Dimensions 146 x 66 x 22mm)
c) 5 in 1 Environmental meter
The 5 in 1 environmental meter was used to measure many parameters like ambient
temperature, humidity, light intensity, sound level and air velocity Table 3-6 shows the
detail specifications temperature, relative humidity and air velocity of the environmental
meter.
Page | 31
Table 3-6: Specifications of environmental meter

Measurement unit Range Resolution Accuracy
Temperature ℃ 0 to 50 ℃ 0.1℃ ± 1.2°C
Air velocity m/s 0.4 to 0.1 ≤20m/s: ±

30.0m/s 3% F.S., >
20m/s: ± 4%
F.S.
Humidity %RH 10 to 0.1 %RH < 70 %RH: ±

95 %RH 4 %RH
≧ 70 %RH:
± (4%rdg +
1.2 %RH)
d) K-Thermocouple
The temperature variation during boiling the water was recorded by thermocouple and they
were placed inside the pot. Temperature specifications of the K-type thermocouple is
shown in table 3-7 below.
Table 3-7: Thermocouple temperature range

Measurement unit Range Resolution Accuracy
Temperature ℃ -100 to 0.1℃ ± (1% rdg +

1300 °C 1°C)
3.5.2. Water Boiling Test (WBT)

The water boiling test was conducted in Addis Ababa institute of Technology (AAiT) cook
stove laboratory to determine the performance of the stove. The WBT test for efficiency
can be accomplished with simple equipment all over the world. It is preferable than the
other testing protocols because it has benefits such as; It delivers initial or laboratory
assessments of stove performance in a controlled setting, Calculate stove modifications
during improvements , Select the most hopeful products for field judgments, Confirm that
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fabricated stoves meet planned performance based on designs and Compare the
effectiveness of different designs at accomplishing parallel tasks (Global Alliance for Clean
Cookstoves, 2014b).
The water boiling test procedure is explained as follows; Determining the type, size and
moisture content of the fuel used. General conditions such as room temperature, wind speed,
relative humidity and local boiling of water was recorded, Pot was weighed empty and dry,
then weight was recorded, The pot was filled with 2.5 litter water and its new weight was
taken and recorded, Weight of charcoal and char containers were taken and recorded, Some
quantity of charcoal fuel placed in charcoal container was weighted and recorded,
Thermocouple was placed on top of the pot and water temperature was recorded at one-
minute interval, The tests were done for 30 minutes. When 30 minute reaches all the
remaining charcoal was removed from the stove, the weight of the remaining charcoal and
the unused charcoal were weighted and recorded separately and the weight of the pot with
the remaining water was taken and recorded.
3.5.3. Experimental test set-up description

An improved charcoal cook stove was used for conducting the experimental study. The
experimental work mainly studies the transfer of energy from charcoal fuels to a pot placed
in a charcoal stove. A stainless-steel pot of capacity 3.5 liter was used to contain water to
conduct the cooking process. Thermocouples was inserted in the boiling water to measure
the change in temperature and 5 in 1 environmental meter displays the temperature on its
screen. The experimental tests on the new prototype improved charcoal stoves were carried
out during the duration starting from August 04/08/2020-08/08/2020 between 08:00 am to
05:00 pm. The station is located at Addis Ababa institute of Technology where, longitude
of 38.7 0E and latitude of 9.04 0N. figure 3-10 shows the actual test set-up with measuring
instruments used.
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Figure 3-10: the actual test set-up with measuring instruments used
Page | 34
3.6. Performance evaluation methods

3.6.1. Useful energy delivered calculation
It is the amount of energy transferred to the ingredients of the cooking pot or space heating.
It includes sensible heat energy and latent heat of vaporization (Ethiopian Standards
Agency ,2018)
Useful energy delivered can be calculated using equation (3.5) as follows
𝑼𝒊 = 𝑪𝒑 𝑊1 (𝑇2 − 𝑇1 ) + (𝑊1 − 𝑊2 )Ѱ (3.5)
3.6.2. Cooking power calculation

It is the average rate of heat transferred to the contents of a cooking pot. It is expressed in
kilo watts.
Cooking power can be calculated using equation (3.6) as follows;
𝑈𝑖 (3.6)
𝑃𝒄 =
(𝑡4 − 𝑡1 )
3.6.3. Calculating cooking thermal efficiency without energy credit for remaining
char
The Net Heating Value or Lower Heating Value is defined as the theoretical maximum
amount of energy that can be extracted from the combustion of the moisture free fuel. If it
is completely combusted and the combustion products are cooled to ambient temperature
but the water produced by the reaction of the fuel burning hydrogen remains in the fluid or
gas phase. It is calculated using equation (3.7) as follows;
𝑈𝑖 (3.7)
𝜂𝒆 =
𝐿𝒏𝒆𝒕.𝒇𝑨
3.6.4. Calculating cooking thermal efficiency with energy credit for remaining char
Thermal efficiency increases when the energy credit for the remaining char is considered.
This is calculated using equation (3.8) as follows
𝑈𝑖 (3.8)
𝜑𝒄 =
𝐴𝐿𝒏𝒆𝒕.𝒇−𝑱𝑳𝒏𝒆𝒕.𝒄
(Ethiopian Standards Agency ,2018)
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3.6.5. Calculating emission factor

The emission factor is calculated as follows
𝑋𝒕 (3.9)
𝐸𝑭 =
𝑈𝑖

3.6.6. Calculating emission rate
The emission rate is calculated as described below
𝑋𝒕 (3.10)
𝐸𝑹 =
𝑡4 − 𝑡1

3.6.7. Specific fuel consumption
The amount of charcoal consumed per unit mass of water boiled. It is calculated as follows
𝑓𝒄 (3.11)
𝑺fC =
𝑊𝑝𝑊 − Pt
Specific fuel consumption is a measure of the amount of the fuel needed to boil or simmer
one liter of water. It is also described as any number of cooking tasks and should be
considered the fuel needed to produce a unit output whether the output is boiled water,
cooked foods or loaves of bread. In the case of the cold-start high-power WBT protocol, it
is a measure of the amount of charcoal fuel required to produce one liter of boiling water
beginning with cold stove.
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CHAPTER FOUR
SIMULATION
4.1. Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics and CFD
It is an influential communicating environment for modeling as well as for answering all
types of engineering and scientific problems. COMSOL Multiphysics use the Recognized
finite element method to solve models (Comsol AB, 2019). CFD models are capable of
handling complex geometries, require simple assumptions, and can provide detailed
information about heat transfer, combustion and fluid flow within the cook stove. There
are three elements to every computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation process
(Versteeg and Malalasekera, 2007): pre-processing, solution and post-processing. We
describe each of them briefly below.
4.1.1. Pre-processing
It is done at the beginning of the simulation to build and analyze the fluid flow model. It
includes building geometry of the model; generating and applying a proper computational
mesh, choosing of fluid properties that need to be modeled and entering flow boundary
conditions. The preciseness of the solution is defined by the number of cells in the mesh.
Better accuracy is achieved by increasing the number of cells but this increases the
computational time of the simulation. Finer mesh is needed at the point of interest.
4.1.2. Solution
At this step CFD solver is used to produce results by solving the discretized form of the
governing equation. It needs clear understanding of the physics involved in the problem
like phenomenon related to heat transfer, reacting flow, mass transfer, radiation, turbulence
etc. there are different types of options in the CFD package to solve the governing equations.
Flow parameters like velocity, viscosity, density, pressure concentration and temperature
are calculated as a solution of all the governing equations at each grid point.
4.1.3. Post-processing
This is the final step in CFD analysis. At this stage the CFD analysis involve the
coordination and explanation of the anticipated flow data and the yielding of CFD images
and animations. In order to solve the problem different post-processing tools like counter
plots, color plots and vector plots are used. The interpretation of these results plays
important role in determining the performance of any system being used.
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In this work, we develop a steady-state,2D axisymmetric CFD model to simulate heat

transfer and fluid flow in charcoal cook stove. The objective of the model is to provide a
link between (i) thermal performance of a stove (ii) stove physics (heat transfer, fluid flow)
and stove design features. Stove design features include geometric parameters such as
combustion chamber diameter and height, grate holes and primary air entrance.
4.2. Heat Transfer

Heat transfer is a method of energy transfer that is driven by temperature differences. Heat
transfer occurs when a temperature difference exists in a medium or between media. There
are three modes of heat transfer. These modes are; radiation, convection and conduction.
In the charcoal stove, there is heat transfer by all the three modes mentioned above. We
define each of them briefly below.
4.2.1. Radiation
Thermal radiation is the energy emitted by body that is at a nonzero temperature. It uses
electromagnetic waves (photons) to transport the radiation field. Actually, radiation transfer
occurs most efficiently in a space. Radiation heat transfer is the principal mode of energy
transfer in charcoal stoves. There are five principal areas through which radiative heat
transfer should occur in charcoal stoves; from the fire bed and flames to the frying pan,
From the hot gases to the charcoal to sustain combustion, from the flames and fire bed to
the stove wall, from the stove body to the pot and from the stove body to the surrounding
(Usman, 2011) .
The rate at which energy is released per unit area is termed as the surface emissive power
and it is governed by Stefan Boltzmann law which can be expressed as
E = εσT 4 S (4.1)
𝜀= emissivity, whose values lie in between 0 and 1 (1 for an ideal radiator or black body)
The rate at which radiation is incident upon the surface per unit surface area is called
irradiation, G (W/m2). This irradiation can be transmitted, reflected or absorbed (Bergman
et al., 2011). That is;
𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 + 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 + 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑
ρ +α+τ=1 (𝟒. 𝟐)
Page | 38
Radiosity (J) is the rate at which radiation leaves a surface per unit area. For an opaque
surface itis described by
𝐽 = 𝐸 + 𝜌𝐺 (4.3)
4.2.2. Convection
Convection heat transfer is a mode of energy transfer between a solid surface and a moving
fluid due to bulk fluid motion and random motion of fluid molecules. To understand
convection heat transfer between a surface and flowing fluid the concept of boundary layer
is necessary. The rate of convective heat transfer can be expressed as
𝐐𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯 = hA(T𝐬𝐮𝐫 − Tf ) (4.4)
4.2.3. Conduction
Conduction is mode of energy transfer between two solid surfaces. In charcoal stoves there
are two principal areas which conductive heat transfer should be expected; conduction heat
transfer through the stove walls and conduction heat transfer through the pan to the product
to be boiled, fried and baked (Usman, 2011). The conductive heat transfer is given by the
Fourier’s relation
𝒒 𝝏𝑻 (4.5)
𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅=−𝑲𝑨
𝝏𝒚
The minus sign in the above formula is inserted to satisfy the second principle of
thermodynamics i.e. energy transfers from high temperature region to low temperature
region (Holman, 2010).
4.3. Fluid flow Governing Equations

There are three fundamental conservation laws governing the fluid flow behavior in
biomass cook stoves. Each of them is briefly described below.
4.3.1. Conservation of mass

Conservation of mass simply means that the time rate of change mass of a system must be
zero. In differential form it is expressed as
If density of fluid is dependent of time the mass conservation equation is expressed as
𝜕ρ (4.6)
+ ∇ ∙ (ρu) = 0
𝜕𝑡
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For stationary analysis
∇ ∙ (ρu) = 0 (4.7)
(McDonough, 2009)
4.3.2. Conservation of Momentum

Fluids are not consisting of point masses, so, it is not proper to apply Newton’s second law
of motion in the usual form𝐹𝑟=𝑚𝑎 . Instead, we will use a more universal form expressed in
words as time rate of change of momentum of a fluid element = sum of forces acting on the
fluid element. The general statement of the Newton’s second law is given by
d(mu) (4.8)
F𝒓 =
dt
Where
𝐹𝑟 is the resultant of all forces acting on the fluid element.
If we consider a fixed mass m of a fluid contained in an arbitrary region R(t), there are two
main types of forces acting on a fluid element. These are categorized into body forces and
surface forces.
Body forces acting on the entire region R(t), denoted
(4.9)
∫ 𝐹𝑩 dV
R(𝐭)
Surface forces acting only on the surface S (t) of R (t). Denoted by.
(4.10)
∫ 𝑭𝒔 dA
𝒔(𝒕)
This is not suitable for practical use or engineering calculations. So, the momentum
conservation equation for a single-phase fluid flow interfaces are based on the Navier-
stokes equations, which in their most general form read as
∂v (4.11)
𝜌 + 𝜌(𝑣. ∇)𝑣 = ∇. [−pI + 𝜏] + 𝐹𝑣
∂t
The viscous stress tensor is given by
Page | 40
2 (4.12)
𝜏 = 2𝜇𝑆𝑟− μ(∇. v)I
3
𝟏 (4.13)
𝑆𝒓 = (∇𝑣 + (∇𝑣)T)
2
On rearranging equations (4.10) and (4.11) the momentum conservation equation for
incompressible as well as for compressible fluid flow with viscosity and density variations
are given by (Zienkiewicz et al., 2000)
𝜕𝑣 2 (4.14)
𝜌 + 𝜌𝑣. ∇𝑣 = −∇𝑝 + ∇. (𝜇(∇𝑣 + (∇𝑣)𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒) − 𝜇(∇. 𝑣)𝐼) + 𝐹𝑣
𝜕𝑡 3
For a stationary analysis, the equation reduces to
2 (4.15)
𝜌𝑣. ∇𝑣 = −∇𝑝 + ∇. (𝜇(∇𝑣 + (∇𝑣)𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒) − 𝜇(∇. 𝑣)𝐼) + 𝐹𝑣
3
For incompressible fluid flow where 𝜌 is constant or nearly constant i.e., the case for gases
at low velocities and for all liquids under normal conditions the momentum conservation
equation reduces to;
𝜕𝑣 (4.16)
𝜌 + 𝜌(𝑣. ∇)𝑣 = ∇. (−𝑝𝐼 + 𝜇(∇𝑣 + (∇𝑣)𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑇)) + 𝐹𝑣
𝜕𝑡
For a stationary analysis, the equation reduces to
𝜌(𝑣. ∇)𝑣 = ∇. (−𝑝𝐼 + 𝜇(∇𝑣 + (∇𝑣)𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑇)) + 𝐹𝑣 (4.17)
4.3.3. Conservation of Energy

The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is always conserved. It cannot be created
or destroyed. This means that the amount of energy entering a system must be equal to the
amount of energy leaving a system. For single-phase fluid flow interfaces are based on the
Navier-stokes equations which in their most general form read as;
𝜕𝑇 𝑇 𝜕𝜌 𝜕𝑝
𝜌𝐶𝑝 ( 𝜕𝑡 + (𝑣. ∇)T) = −(∇. q) + 𝜏: 𝑆𝑟 − 𝜌 𝜕𝑇 ( 𝜕𝑡 + (𝑣. ∇)p) + Q (4.18)
Page | 41
4.4. Materials
In this section, the materials specified for the different stove components and some of their
important properties are stated.
i. Combustion chamber
The combustion chamber is made of fired clay which can withstand high temperatures.
Some important properties of fired clay are given in table 4-1.
Table 4-1: Material properties of the fired clay
Property value
Specific heat capacity 880J/kg. k
Thermal conductivity 1.3 K [W/ (m. K)]
Density 1460kg/m3
ii. Sheet metal
Sheet metal is the material needed for the seal, grate and vessel. The most important
properties of the material used are stated in Table 4-2.
Table 4-2: Material properties of sheet metal

property value
Heat capacity at constant pressure 475 J/Kg.
Density 7850 Kg/m3
Thermal conductivity 44 K (W/m. K)
iii. Air
The material specified for the fluid phase occurring in the domain is air. The properties of
air available from the COMSOL Multiphysics material library are used. Table 4-3 shows
air properties
Page | 42
Table 4-3: Air properties from COMSOL Multiphysics

No Property Value
1 Thermal conductivity 0.0242 k⌊𝑤/(𝑚. 𝑘)⌋
2 Density 1.225 kg/m3
3 Viscosity 1.789*10-5kg/m-s
4 Specific heat capacity 1006.43 J/kg. k
4.5. Boundary conditions

Figure 4-7 shows the different boundary conditions used in the domain.
Figure 4-1: Model boundary conditions
Some of the major assumptions made in defining the geometry are:

• In this simulation process only the combustion chamber of the stove is modeled.
• The model is developed for a case when there is not a vessel placed on the top of
the stove.
• To reduce computational effort detailed design of the insulation sheets has not been
included.
Page | 43
• The flow is steady state flow where fluid variables become independent of time
• The fluid is assumed to be incompressible
• To reduce computational time and resource on 2D-axisymmetric model is
developed
There are four types of boundary conditions in the domain. A brief overview of the
different boundary conditions is provided in the following section.
4.5.1. Inlet
It is the part where air enters the ash chamber. The air at this position is entered by natural
convection. The flow properties of the entering air are calculated from experimental results.
The fluid velocity measured at the inlet is
𝐹𝑅 = 𝑉𝐴 (4.19)
The mass flow rate of air through the stove is
w = Vρ (4.20)
The area of each grate holes, GA is given by

𝐺𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2 (4.21)
After calculating the grate hole areas and with the flow rates available a rough estimation
of the Reynolds number can be obtained. Since there are three grate holes, the flow from
the ash chamber is divided almost equally among the three holes. The flow rate through
each of the grate holes was calculated using equation 4.22;
𝑉𝑔 = 𝐴𝑉 (4.22)
Velocity at the grate hole is calculated by

Vg (4.23)
Ug = ( )
GA
The air gets heated as it rises up the grate. The average air temperature at the inlet of the
grate holes which is found from experimental measurement is 500K .
4.5.2. Stove walls

The inside stove wall is made up of clay material and the boundary conditions at the walls
are; Temperature, radiation heat transfer, convective heat transfer but at the solid wall the
Page | 44
temperature specified is the ambient temperature which is 293K. There is conduction and
radiation heat loss to the base of the combustion chamber. No slip conditions.
4.5.3. Heat source

This node describes heat generation within the combustion chamber. The combustion
chamber is modeled using a source term with uniform heat generation. Heating is expressed
with a positive value and cooling is expressed with a negative value. The average heat
source in the new prototype charcoal obtained from experimental measurements is about
1,715 kW.
4.5.4. Outlet
This boundary condition is specified as the outlet pressure and pressure value was taken as
ambient pressure. The ambient pressure of Addis Ababa is 76 kPa. This value is taken for
the simulation.
4.6. Laminar flow model

Laminar flow model is used to compute the velocity and pressure fields for the flow of a
single-phase fluid in the laminar flow regime. A fully developed flow condition is described
by a dimensionless Reynolds number. The Reynolds number is the ratio of the inertial force
to the viscous force of the flow. The fluid flow in geometries like cook stoves having
Reynolds number less than 2000 is called laminar flow (Ismail and Adewoye, 2012). At
low Reynolds number viscous forces dominate which leads to laminar flow. Laminar flow
is characterized by flows in parallel layers with no disruption between the layers, low
velocities, no lateral mixing, and adjacent layers slide past one another.
A flow will remain laminar as long as the Reynolds number is below a certain critical value.
The equations solved by the laminar flow interface are the Navier-stokes equations for
conservation of momentum and the continuity equation for the conservation of mass. The
laminar flow interface can be used for stationery and time-dependent analysis. Note that
for high Reynolds number, a flow becomes inherently time-dependent and three
dimensional, and time dependent studies have to be used. We can use the Reynolds number,
as a simple mathematical expression, used to predict whether the flow via geometry will be
laminar or turbulent. Laminar flow heat transfer in tube geometries like cook stoves is
encountered in a wide variety of engineering and science applications. The following
examples describe laminar heat transfer in tubes (Hong, 1974); heat of the circulating fluid
in solar collectors, heat transfer in compact exchangers, heat transfer in biomass cook
Page | 45
stoves, cooling of space suits and warming and cooling of blood during surgical operations.
Laminar flow heat transfer is dependent on many variables including tube geometry, flow
inlet velocity profile, fluid properties, tube orientation, tube wall properties and heat flux
boundary conditions. The Reynolds number can be calculated using equation (4.23) (Uruba,
2018)
ρUg d Ug d Qr d (4.24)
Re = = =
µ ν νA
4.7. Simulation workflow

Figure 4-3 shows the simulation work flow of the research. When one opens the COMSOL
Multiphysics software the model environment open first and select the model wizard. The
next step is to space dimension window and the 2D-axisymetric dimension was selected.
After selecting the space dimension, the physics would follow and from this the heat
transfer in fluids and laminar flow from heat transfer and fluid flow modules was selected,
respectively, which are found in the CFD package of the software. Stationery and time
dependent studies are available with the heat transfer in fluids interface. Stationary study is
selected because temperature field is independent of time at each point. Stationary type of
study is selected because the flow is at steady state and the temperature is independent of
time. This study type is also used for optimum problems that are constrained with
stationary PDE. In heat transfer, it is used to compute the temperature field at thermal
equilibrium.
In the COMSOL Multiphysics software desktop different types of windows are found such
as model builder window settings window and graphics window etc. So first making a tour
in the desktop window is necessary. Before creating a geometry creating definitions like
parameters, variables and functions were done. The 2D-axisymmetric geometry was done
in the software first by creating 3D drawing of the object and second by making a partition
of the object in four parts. After creating the geometry material was selected from the
material library which is found in the software.
Page | 46
Set up model
environment
space dimension Selection
Physics window selection
Study type selection
Tour the COMSOL

desktop
Creating model geometry
Specify material
properties
Define boundary
conditions
Define the mesh
Run simulation
Post process results
Figure 4-2: The simulation work flow
In the material browser section, there are a lot of materials to be selected. In this model air,
clay and stainless steel were selected and added in the material properties window. There
are four types of boundary conditions in this simulation; inlet, clay wall, heat source and
outlet. After doing the above procedures the mesh was done and normal mesh was selected
for clay wall and extra fine mesh for grate inlets and the fluid section. Lastly, running the
simulation and interpreting the results were done.
Page | 47
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the results obtained from the experiment and simulation model are discussed.
The chapter is divided into two sections. The first section discusses the results obtained
from the experimental testing and in the second section the CFD simulation results are
discussed and compared with the experimental ones.
5.1. Thermal performance of the stove

Thermal performance indicators including thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption,
fire power, water boiling rate, and fuel use reduction were used to calculate the performance
of the designed stove. Data used in the calculation (Table 5-1) were produced by WBT
protocol. In order to know the thermal performance of the stove five tests were conducted.
The test results are summarized in Table 5-1 below. From the table the two main
performance indicators i.e., thermal efficiency and specific fuel consumption are discussed
in detail. The other performance parameters are briefly discussed below;
Time to Boil; The time it took to boil pot 1 from initial temperature to final temperature.
Temp-corrected time to boil Pot # 1; it is an important parameter which is used to determine
the speed of the stove at high power. It is time it took for pot #1 to reach boiling temperature,
corrected to reflect a temperature rise of 75 deg C from start to boil.
Burning rate; The rate of fuel consumption during which the water gets boiled. It is
calculated by dividing the equivalent dry fuel consumed by the time of the test.
Temp-corrected specific fuel consumption; This is the specific fuel consumption measure,
also corrected as if the temperature rises from start to boil was 75 ℃, in order to easily
compare different tests that may have had different beginning or boiling temperature. It is
best to usually look at the corrected temperature.
Temp-corrected specific energy consumption; This is the same measure as the temperature-
corrected specific fuel consumption, but reported as kilojoules per liter. This is used to
compare different fuels, such as various types of wood, charcoal, dung etc.
Temp-corrected specific energy consumption; This is the same measure as the temperature-
corrected specific fuel consumption, but reported as kilojoules per liter. This is used to
compare different fuels, such as various types of wood, charcoal, dung etc.
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Table 5-1: Summary of results on thermal performance of the stove
high power test (cold start)
No Performance index Unit of charcoal stove Three -stone fir

measure
(Adem andAmbie, 2017)
Test -1 Test-2 Test-3 Test-4 Test-5 Avg. test-1
1 Thermal efficiency % 31 32 33 35 32 32.6 14
2 Time to boil Pot # 1 min 30 30 30 30 30 30 24
3 Temp-corr time to boil Pot # 1 min 30 31 30 30 31 30 27
4 Burning rate g/min 3.3 3.1 3.5 3.9 3.4 3 35
5 Specific fuel consumption g/liter boiled 60 59 56 53 52 56 187
6 Temp-corr sp consumption g/liter 61 60 57 53 54 57 213
7 Temp-corr sp energy consumption kJ/liter 1819 1798 1700 1591 1613 1704 4013
8 Firepower watts 1674 1555 1674 1949 1723 1715 10913
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Fire power; this is the fuel energy consumed to boil the water divided by the time to boil. It
tells the average power output of the stove in watts during the high-power test. It is affected by
both the stove i.e., size of fuel and combustion chamber and user operation i.e., rate of fuel
feeding. It is an indicator of how consistently the operator ran the stove over multiple tests. A
higher or lower value is not necessarily preferable, but rather is an indicator of the size of the
stove.
5.1.1. Thermal efficiency

Thermal efficiency is the most commonly used indicator for reporting stove performance.
Thermal efficiency is the percentage of input energy transferred to the water in a vessel placed
on the stove. The new prototype charcoal stove was compared with the previous works in terms
of its thermal efficiency. The average thermal efficiency obtained is 32.6%.
Figure 5-1: Comparisons between thermal efficiencies % of different stoves
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The thermal efficiency of the new prototype stove is increased because of the grate and the ash
tray are made from sheet metal and aluminum, respectively. Sheet metal does not store and
absorb huge amount of heat in its body. Aluminum foil in ash tray is used to reflect radiant
heat back to the combustion chamber. The thermal efficiency of a granite charcoal stove is 29%
(Bantu et al., 2018) . The thermal efficiencies of shekel, Lakech, Merchaye and traditional
charcoal stoves are 29%, 26%, 27%, and 18%, respectively (Mequaninte et al., 2013) . the
Tanzanian traditional charcoal stove and Jiko Bora charcoal stove have a thermal efficiency of
21% and 24%, respectively (Grimsby et al., 2016). The thermal efficiency of Gyapa and
Ahinbenso charcoal stoves which are found in Ghana are 23% and 31.3 %, respectively
(Boafo-Mensah et al., 2013 ). In Fig 5-1 Comparisons was made with locally and globally
existing stoves. The designed, simulated and manufactured new prototype charcoal stove
achieves tier 2 in the IWA tiers of performance which shows substantial improvement over the
baseline traditional 3-stone fire.
5.1.2. Specific fuel consumption

Specific fuel consumption is defined as the amount of fuel consumed per liter of water boiled.
The specific fuel consumption of the new prototype charcoal is compared to that of the
traditional stove to measure the fuel saving between the two. The specific fuel consumption of
the new prototype charcoal stove shows 63% improvement compared to the traditional
charcoal stove. Figure 5-3 shows the specific fuel consumption of the different stoves.
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Figure 5-2: Comparisons between specific fuel consumptions g/liter of different stoves
From figure 5-2 the new prototype charcoal consumes less fuel than the other charcoal stoves.
If a stove can save a fuel up to 25% over a traditional stove it is called an improved cook stove
(Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority, 2004). In Africa, especially sub-Saharan
Africa, charcoal and wood fuel accounts for 75% of total wood harvest, which contributes for
high deforestation in countries like Ethiopia (Jagger and Jumbe, 2016). Thus, designing and
manufacturing improved cook stoves have great implications concerning forest degradation
since the use of such stoves can reduce deforestation and climate changes.
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5.2. Time vs. temperature variation for the tests

The variation of temperature with time for the five tests was shown in table 5-2. The test was
conducted for duration of 30 minutes.
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Figure 5-3: Temperature of water during boiling process
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The WBT protocol specifies that the stove to tested at three phases i.e., high-power cold start
phase, high power hot start phase and low power (simmer phase). All the tests began with the
stove at ambient conditions and this is called the high-power cold phase. During high power
phase the stove operated at high power to heat water in the pot. As the WBT protocol the tests
were conducted inside cook stoves lab. In all the tests conducted temperature increases from
the starting time to the end of the test. Five tests were conducted on the manufactured stove
principally to access the thermal performance of the stove such as thermal efficiency, specific
fuel consumption time to boil, fire power etc. At the same time, the result indicates the accuracy
level of the test results. The tests were conducted at different times day morning and day
afternoon. At both times the tests show similar trends because the tests were conducted at rainy
season. For all the tests there was a gradual decrease in mass of water with increasing
temperature over time. During the first test mass of water with pot decreases from 2850.4
grams to 2680.5 grams and water temperature increases from 15.3 ℃ to 68.5 ℃. The weight
of fuel consumed was 120 grams and the time was day-morning. For test two weight of pot
with water decreases from 2850 grams to 2685.7 gram and water temperature increases from
16.3℃ to 66.2 ℃. The amount of fuel consumed was 110 grams and the time was day morning.
For the third test the weight of pot with water decreases from 2848 grams to 2678 grams and
water temperature increases 16.1℃ to 73.1 ℃. In this test the amount of fuel consumed was
118 grams and the time was day-morning. During the fourth test weight of pot with water
decreases from 2850 grams to 2640 grams and water temperature increases from 14.4℃ to
86.5 ℃. The amount of fuel 157 grams and the time was day-afternoon. For the last test weight
of pot with water decreases from 2848 grams to 2690 grams and temperature increases from
17.1 ℃ to 78.6 ℃ . The amount of fuel consumed was 120 grams.
5.3. CFD Simulation result analysis

5.3.1. Mesh statistics
When building the mesh there are several factors that should be taken in to consideration. All
of which can be addressed using various features and functionalities available in the software.
These includes; choosing a mesh sequence type either it is physics controlled or user controlled,
meshing sequence order, element type, element size and distribution, element order being used
and mesh quality. In discretizing a given problem there are three considerations; how to divide
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the geometry (element type used), Shape used to divide the geometry, how the solution is
interpolated between the nodes. The generated mesh was dominantly composed of mostly
triangular elements is used for the simulations. Table 5-2 shows some details of the mesh used.
Table 5-2: Some details of the mesh used

Description Value
Minimum element quality 0.1355
Average element quality 0.9296
Triangle 9548
Quad 344
Edge element 536
Vertex element 18
Discretization of the geometry in to small elements of simple shapes is called mesh. The mesh
quality is defined as an indication of the length to width ratio of the elements. Minimum
element quality measures the regularity of the mesh elements shapes which leads to inverted
mesh elements. From the above table the geometry is divided by element type. The element
type used is the shape which is used to divided of the geometry. The mesh element quality is
a dimensionless quantity between 0 and 1, where 0 represents a degenerated element and 1
represents a perfectly regular element in the choosen quantity measure. Low element quality
cuases poor convergence for iterative solvers and makes the problem ill- conditioned in general.
Inverted mesh element is defined that a mesh element is wrapped inside-out or has zero area
in 2D or zero volume in 3D. Triangular and quadirilateral shapes are used to divide 2D model
geometry. Tetrahedron, hexahedron,pyramid and prism shapes are used to divide the 3D-model
geometry. The number, size and distribution of elements are controlled using size and
distribution nodes.
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Figure 5-4: The generated mesh
There is very finer mesh at the shared boundary and this is to accommodate the material effects
on both sides. In order to get real solution, the number of edge elements must be increased.
When the number of edge element increases the mesh becomes very finer and this leads to
high average element quality. Very finer mesh near at the walls is required to produce a smooth
solution.
5.3.2. Mesh independence test

Mesh independence test is done to determine the level of enhancement needed. The results of
the mesh independence test are given in table 5-3 below.
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Table 5-3: Mesh independence test

Solution
Mesh Degree of freedom time(minutes)
Coarse 5350 20
Normal 6170 27
Fine 8181 46
Finer 18020 61
Extra fine 41911 89
Extremely fine 65951 122
When the number of elements increases the degree of freedom also increases. The memory
requirement and the solution time are directly related to the number of degrees of freedom in
the simulation. The variation in temperature is studied for all the mesh sizes. There is
temperature variation from extremely coarse mesh to the finer mesh. Reducing the mesh size
further beyond the finer size did not give any great difference in the temperature. Figure 5-5
shows generated mesh independence test of the simulation.
806.5
806 9892 24018 38738

4331
2811
805.5
Temprature(K)
805
1879
804.5 1033
804
803.5
715
803
423
802.5
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000
Number of elements
Figure 5-5: Mesh independence test graph
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From figure 5-5 when the number of elements increases temperature increases. When the
number of elements reaches 9892 there is no great temperature variation. If we further increase
the number elements the temperature remains almost the same.
5.3.3. Velocity distribution

The outcome of the velocity magnitude shows that it is less near the walls and zero at the wall
boundaries. The wall is not moving and there is no slip condition. There is high velocity at the
entrance of the grate holes and gradual decreases along the height of the combustion chamber.
From the velocity magnitude, the Reynolds number of the air calculated from equation 4.23 is
323.
Figure 5-6: Velocity distribution in the grate holes and combustion chamber
There exists a zero-velocity region in the combustion chamber. This to the blocked region
where there is limited fluid flow. This is due to non-detailed design which means specific detail
designs have not been included in the model to reduce computational time and resource. But
this is in contrast to the actual operating conditions. Therefore, the Reynolds number of the air
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flow at the grate holes is around 323. The Reynolds number along the grate holes is lower than
the critical value of 2300 for flow in circular channels (Cengel and Cimbala, 2006). The flow
in the grate holes remains laminar. From the counter plot shown in figure 5-6 there is high
velocity at the center of the grate holes and it is surrounded by relatively lower velocity layers
near the wall of the grate holes, this was also hypothesized by (Asranna, 2015).
5.3.4. Pressure distribution

The pressure is high at the inlet of the combustion chamber and it is gradually decreasing from
the bottom of the chamber to the top. At the outlet the pressure is the ambient pressure.
Figure 5-7: Pressure distribution in the combustion chamber
Due to the overloading of charcoal fuels there is pressure gradient in the stove combustion
chamber (Klayborworn and Pakdee, 2019). There is also horizontal pressure gradient in the
combustion region chamber this is due to horizontal pressure gradient force is directed from
higher pressure towards lower pressure of the stove.
5.3.5. Temperature versus fire power

We use the model to examine the relationship between temperature and fire power. Figure 5-
6 shows a plot of the computed fire power as a function of temperature.
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Figure 5-8: Temperature versus firepower in the combustion chamber
Temperature and firepower have direct relationship. As the height of the chamber increases
both temperature and fire power increases. As the gas temperature increases density of the gas
decreases resulting in increasing volumetric flow rates. Increase in fuel consumption results in
greater buoyant force in the combustion chamber, which results in higher gas temperatures. At
firepower 1470 W the temperature varies from 600-670 K and at fire power of 2000W the
temperature varies from 600-705 K. This indicates that when the firepower increases the
amount of heat transferred from the stove to the pot increases. This is also true in the case of
experimental test done in the cook stoves laboratory. Thermal performance of the stove such
as thermal efficiency increases as temperature increases (Pundle et al., 2019)
5.3.6. Temperature profile

Temperature is highest at the outlet of the combustion chamber. Figure 5-9 shows the
temperature distribution in the combustion chamber which varies from 500 K at the inlet of
the grate holes and around 1126.91 K at the outlet of the chamber.
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Figure 5-9: Temperature distribution in the fluid region
Cold air is seen at the sides of the combustion zone, which diminishes the combustion process
of the fuels and this leads to a reduction in the thermal performance of the stove. The
temperature distribution decreases from the top of the fluid domain to the bottom of the fluid
domain because at the bottom of the fluid domain there is cold air entering the stove and this
decreases the combustion process, which leads to lower temperature at the bottom of the fluid
domain. But this is the same to the actual operating conditions where higher temperatures are
expected towards the outlet of the stove. Therefore, the temperature field is in realistic
approximation of the actual conditions. The highest temperature occurs at the center of the
combustion chamber and this is true for all temperature distributions (Klayborworn and Pakdee,
2019).
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In this COMSOL Multiphysics software analysis of charcoal cook stove, the model used to
simulate the system is energy model and fluid flow model and this is used to compute heat
transfer rate in the domain. If heat transfer rate at the outlet of the stove is the same as heat
utilized by the system, then thermal efficiency of the stove is calculated as
𝑛𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑡

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 (𝜂) = (5.1)
𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙
From the simulation heat transfer rate at the outlet of the stove is found to be 951.34 W and
the total heat flux at this region is 74809 W/m 2. Heat loss by radiation, convection and
conduction at the height of the pot support is obtained by simulation i.e. 273 W. So, the net
heat transfer to the pot will be; 951.34-273= 678.34
𝐿𝐻𝑉∗𝑀𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑙
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 = (5.2)
𝑇𝐵
29800𝑘𝐽/𝐾𝑔 ∗ 0.118𝑘𝑔
= 1.9536𝑘𝑊
1800 𝑠
678.34
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = ∗ 100% = 34.7%
1953.6
5.4. Experimental versus simulation validation

The experimental procedure and simulation conducted on the prototype charcoal stove was
used to distiniguish the thermal performance of the stove i.e. thermal efficiency, specific fuel
consumption, fire power etc. the average thermal efficiecy obtained from experimental test and
simulation were 32.6% and 34.7% respectively. The simulation analysis result doesn‟t
consider the ambient conditions such as; humidity, moisture content of the biomass fuel, daily
temperature condition and daily wind speed. Therefore by considering those factors the thermal
efficiency result acquired from simulation will decrease from 2% to 10%. The relative error is
6% and this value is very close to the tested data.
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5.4.2. Temperature
Temprature values of simulation and experimental data at different regions of the stove were
validated. Table 5-4 provides a comparison of the simulation and experimental values.
Figure 5-10: comparison between simulation and experimental temperature values

There are slight differences between experimental and simulation values . the values are
comparable only at the grate bottom. Simulation values at the outlet of the stove are
significantly higher than experimental results. This is due to the absence of detailed design.
Detailed designes have not been included in the model partly to reduce the computational time
and resource. A specific detailed design will lead to more suitable results.
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CHAPTER- SIX
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
This chapter contains a summary of the necessary information of the research and
recommendations for future work are also included.
6.1. Conclusion
This paper examines the performance of an improved charcoal stove through experimental and
numerical simulation. The relationship between thermal efficiency and temperature was
analyzed. Considering the design principles that were followed, there was a successful design
construction and simulation of the improved charcoal stove. The aim of manufacturing
thermally efficient easy to use and aesthetically pleasing stove was achieved successfully. The
stove was designed using a solid work and it was manufactured in the university workshop.
The performance of the stove was accessed using a WBT protocol and the simulation was done
using CFD package which is found in COMSOL Multiphysics. For the sake of computational
efficiency, only the combustion chamber was modeled.
CFD model is developed to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer in the combustion
chamber for steady state operation of the charcoal stove. The simulation model is only expected
to aid the experimental design. Combustion is modeled using uniform heat source in the
combustion chamber. The computational domain is done using 2D-axisymmetric geometry.
From the simulation velocity distribution, temperature profile, pressure distribution, thermal
efficiency, Reynolds number as well as the relationship between temperature and fire power is
analyzed. The temperature field inside combustion chamber increases as the height of the
combustion chamber increases. The Reynolds number inside the grate holes 318 and the flow
is laminar flow.
Thermal efficiency obtained from experimental and simulation results are compared.
According to this thermal efficiency obtained from experiment is 32.6% and from simulation
it is 34.7% and the relative error is 6% and this value very close to the tested data. This
difference is because of simulation is done at steady state condition, while experimental
procedures are not. Based on our study, the new prototype charcoal stove is worth promoting
than other improved charcoal stoves and traditional charcoal stoves which are found in
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Ethiopia and in other countries. Disseminating this new prototype charcoal stove will result in
reduced fuel charcoal use in urban and semi-urban areas of Ethiopia where local people widely
use traditional charcoal stoves for household cooking and coffee ceremony.
6.2. Recommendation
According to the observation made during this thesis, the following recommendations can be
reached that can be conducted for the better prediction of the thermal performance of the stove.
❖ In this thesis secondary air entrance has not been included in the stove thus it is
recommended to use secondary air has been demonstrated to improve combustion and thermal
performance of the stove.
❖ The combustion chamber is made from clay material. Very low thermal
conductivity materials like perlite or volcanic glass in the combustion chamber has been
demonstrated to increase the thermal performance of the stove.
❖ Only the combustion chamber of the stove is modeled. It is suggested to model the
different parts of the stove like modeling thermal efficiency as a function of pot support height
and modeling thermal efficiency as a function of thickness of the clay wall etc.
❖ Temperature distribution at the grate holes and combustion chamber are not
modeled in detail thus it is recommended for future researchers.
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Environment, 34, 4537-4549.
Zienkiewicz, O.C., CBE, FRS, FREng and R.L.Taylor. (2000). the finite element method
(Vol. volume 2: solid mechanics).
Page | 71
APPENDIX A
WBT test results
Page | 72
Page | 73
Page | 74
Page | 75
Page | 76
Test- five
Page | 77
Page | 78
Page | 79
APPENDIX B
part drawing
Page | 80
322
8
9 6
50°
12
250
10
28
96 11
260 1
3
ITEM NO. PART NAME MATERIAL QTY.
2 4
1 Door_Base_CS008SMXT2 Sheet Metal 1
2 Door_CS009SMXT2 Sheet Metal 1
3 Main_Case_CS001SMT1 Sheet Metal 1
4 Bottom_Inner_Case_CS00 Sheet Metal 1

5T2
5 Bottom_Case_CS006T2 Sheet Metal 1
6 Grid_CI003T15 Cast Irion 1
7 Handle_RB007T35 plastic 2 AAiT DESIGNING SIMULATING AND MANUFACTURING
Center of Eneryg Technology IMPROVED CHARCOAL STOVE
8 Inner_Case_CS003SMT2 Clay 1
9 Top_case_CS002SMT2 Sheet Metal 1

10 Hinge_CS010T2 Carbon Steel 1
DWG NO._001/2020
11 Vertical_Hinge_CS011T2 Carbon Steel 1 DRAWN LEMMA KAHSAY MAY,2020
12 B18.3.4M - 3 x 0.5 x 3 Stainless Steel 2

SBHCS --N CHK'D Dr.KAMIL DINO ADEM JUNE,2020 SCALE: 1:3 SHEET 1OF 12
160
15 4 40
20 80
70
12
15
12.50
105
R125 R127
All dimensions are in mm

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Door_Base_CS008SMXT2
DRAWN LEMMA KAHSAY MAY,2020 DRG NO.-008T2
CHK'D Dr.KAMIL DINO ADEM JUNE,2020 SCALE:1:2 SHEET 8 OF 12

120
50
R129 R127

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Door_CS009SMXT2
CHK'D Dr.KAMIL DINO ADEM JUNE,2020 SCALE: 1:2 SHEEET 09 OF 12

246 322
250
100
40
80
45
105
322 All dimensions are in mm
AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Main_Case_CS001SMT1

180
150
33 R10
45°
80
76
103

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Inner Bottom_Case_CS005T2

244
240.00
Thickness: 4mm
AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Bottom_Case_CS006T2

160
105
36
180
24
10

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Grid_CI003T15
CHK'D Dr.KAMIL DINO ADEM JUNE,2020 SCALE:1:3 SHEET 03OF12

R169.66
50°
R125.00
TRUE R11
20
6
TRUE R7
AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Handle_RB007T35
CHK'D Dr.KAMIL DINO ADEM JUNE,2020 SCALE:1:2 SHEEET 07OF12

180
246
85

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Inner_Case_Clay CS003SMT2

250
200
180
25 20
184

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Top_case_CS002SMT2

48.82
18
4 15
24
12

AAiT
Center of Eneryg Technology Hinge_CS010T2

48.82
18
4 15
24
12
R4
R1.50
Thickness: 2mm

AAiT

5.40
R137.00
36 32

AAiT

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Addis Ababa University

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University

By: Lemma Kahsay

Advisor: Kamil Dino Adem (PhD)

Name: Lemma Kahsay

Name: Dr. Kamil Dino Adem

Addis Ababa University

Approved by Board of Examiners:

________________________________ _______________ ______________

Advisor Signature Date

________________________________ _______________ _______________

Internal examiner Signature Date

_________________________________ ________________ ________________

External examiner Signature Date

_________________________________ _________________ _______________

Chairman Signature Date

_________________________________ __________________ ______________

Director of post Graduate Program Signature Date

Ui useful energy delivered(kJ)

Cp, w Isobaric mass specific approximate heat capacity of water (kJ/kg. k)

W1 Initial mass of water in the pot(kg)

W2 Final mass of water in the pot (kg)

T1 Initial temperature of water in the pot (℃)

T2 Final temperature of water in the pot (℃)

Ψ Latent heat of water vaporization at the local point(kJ/kg)

T4 Final time at the end of the test phases (s)

T3 Starting time at the starting of a test phase (s)

A Mass of fuel fed (kg)

Lnet f Lower heating value of fuel, as fired (kJ/kg)

Rc Mass of remaining char(kg)

Lnet c Lower heating value of remaining char(kJ/kg)

EF Pollutant emission factor(mg/s)

Xt Total mass of pollutant emission during the test (mg)

SFC Specific fuel consumption(g/liter)

Fc Fuel consumed (g)

WpW Weight of pot with water after test (g)

Pt Weight of pot (g)

E Surface emissive power(W/m2)

Ts Absolute temperature of the surface(k)

Qconv Convective heat transfer (W)

h Average convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

AT Area of heat transfer (m2)

Tsur Surface temperature (K)

Tf Temperature of fluid at a distance from the surface (K)

Qy Heat transfer rate only in the Y-direction

𝜕𝑇 Temperature gradient in the direction of the heat flow

K Thermal conductivity of the material

𝜌 Density of the fluid (kg/m3)

U Velocity vector (m/s)

Fv Volume force vector(N/m3)

µ Dynamic viscosity (Pa. s)

Sr Strain rate tensor

Ug Velocity of fluid through grate holes(m/s)

D Diameter of the grate hole (m)

Q Heat source (W/m3)

q Heat flux vector (W/m2)

w Mass flow rate (kg/s)

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