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ABSTRACT
Access to standard form of energy in cooking and lighting has been a serious concern among most of the people residing in rural parts of the world. More than 2 billion people concentrated mostly in rural areas of India and sub-Saharan Africa use firewood in inefficient (thermal efficiency is <8–10%) traditional cook stoves. Around 15% of input energy from fuel is stored within the stove body as waste heat. Further, the annual per capita electricity consumption is just over 1000 kWh compared to world average of more than 3000 kWh. Whereas, the figure drops to 314 kWh in the northeastern state of Assam, India. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) can be used to recover the waste heat and utilize it in the conversion into electricity on the principle of Seebeck effect. This research work is attempted to test the feasibility of integrating a TEG module with an Ministry of New and Renewable energy (MNRE)-approved improved clay made cook stove named Sukhad using fundamental heat transfer and thermoelectric equations. Preliminary tests of the TEG-integrated cook stove showed a potential of generating 2.7 W of electrical power and illuminating a 3 W LED bulb.
Nomenclature
| α | = | Seebeck coefficient (V/K) |
| αstove | = | Thermal diffusivity of the stove material (m−2s−1) |
| σ | = | Stefan Boltzmann’s constant (W/m2.K4) |
| ϵflame | = | Emissivity of flame |
| εfb | = | Emissivity of fuel bed |
| εstove wall | = | Emissivity of combustion chamber outer wall |
| ∆T | = | Temperature difference between hot and cold side of TEG module (°C) |
| Acc | = | Area of combustion chamber inner wall (m2) |
| Aflame | = | Area of the flame (m2) |
| Afb | = | Area of fuel bed (m2) |
| Ao | = | Outer wall combustion chamber area (m2) |
| C | = | Percentage weight of carbon in fuel (%) |
| Dcc | = | Diameter of combustion chamber of stove (m) |
| Fflame.cc | = | View factor from flame to combustion chamber inner wall |
| Ffb.cc | = | View factor from fuel bed to combustion chamber inner wall |
| h | = | Convective heat transfer coefficient inside combustion chamber (W/m2.k) |
| ho | = | Convective heat transfer coefficient of ambient air (W/m2.K) |
| H2 | = | Percentage weight of hydrogen in fuel (%) |
| I | = | Current (A) |
| k | = | Thermal conductivity of flowing gas (W/m.K) |
| kstove | = | Thermal conductivity of stove material (W/m.K) |
| K | = | Thermal conductance (W/m.K) |
| Kd | = | Decay coefficient (m−1) |
| L | = | Length (or height) of the outer wall (m) |
| LHV | = | Lower heating value of fuel (MJ/kg) |
| mg | = | Air flux (kg/m2.s) |
| NuL | = | Nusselt Number |
| O2 | = | Percentage weight of oxygen in fuel (%) |
| PTEG | = | Power output from TEG module (W) |
| Pr | = | Prandtl Number |
| Qconv | = | Convective heat transfer from flowing gas (W) |
| QC_TEG | = | Heat rejected from the cold side of TEG module (W) |
| QH_TEG | = | Heat input to hot side of TEG module (W) |
| Qflame.cc | = | Radiative heat transfer from flame to combustion chamber inner wall (W) |
| Qfb.cc | = | Radiative heat transfer from fuel bed to combustion chamber inner wall (W) |
| Qloss,o | = | Heat transfer from outer combustion chamber wall to surrounding (W) |
| Qstored | = | Heat stored by stove body (W) |
| Qtotal | = | Total heat transfer to combustion chamber inner wall (W) |
| RaL | = | Rayleigh Number |
| R | = | Resistance (Ω) |
| S | = | Percentage weight of Sulfur in fuel (%) |
| Tamb | = | Ambient air temperature (°C) |
| TC | = | TEG module cold side temperature (°C) |
| Tf | = | Flame temperature (°C) |
| Tfb | = | Fuel bed temperature (°C) |
| Tflame | = | Flame temperature (°C) |
| Tg | = | Flowing gas temperature inside stove combustion chamber (°C) |
| TH | = | TEG module hot side temperature (°C) |
| Tig | = | Ignition temperature (°C) |
| Tw,i | = | Combustion chamber inner wall temperature (°C) |
| Tw,o | = | Combustion chamber outer wall temperature (°C) |
| V | = | Voltage generated by TEG module (V) |
| Vth.air | = | Volume of theoretical air required (kmol/kg fuel) and (kg air/kg fuel) |
| x | = | Thickness of the flame (m) |
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to appreciate Tezpur University and technical staffs of Department of Energy for providing assistance during conducting of experiment of the present study.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rupam Patowary
Rupam Patowary has received his Master of Technology degree in Energy Technology from the Department of Energy, Tezpur University, India in 2013. He has recently submitted his Ph.D. thesis on Thermoelectric conversion and utilization of waste heat from fixed clay cookstove under the supervision of Prof. Debendra Chandra Baruah. His research interests include Renewable energy, energy conservation and management, rural energy access, and thermoelectric conversion.
Debendra Chandra Baruah
Debendra Chandra Baruah has received his Master of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 1990 and a Ph.D. degree from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India in 2000. He is the Head and Professor in the Department of Energy, Tezpur University. His research interests include Renewable Energy, Energy Planning and Thermal Energy Management, and Rural Energy Access.