Investigation of CTARA wood-burning stove. Part I. Experimental investigation

Abstract

This paper describes experimental investigation of a single pot wood-burning stove developed at Ctara. The stove incorporates features such as a converging combustion space, a grate, preheated secondary air and a swirling-device. Using chipped wood and a large diameter vessel (30 cm), efficiencies in excess of 40% have been measured. An electric stove, having a geometry similar to that of the woodburning stove, has also been experimented with to obtain magnitudes of heat transfer coefficient at the vessel bottom, to estimate relative contributions of convection and radiation heat transfer to the vessel bottom, to study the effect of flame to grate heat release ratios and to study the effect of depth of insertion of the vessel into the stove. Finally, a 3-pot mud stove used in the Konkan region is investigated and it is shown that provision of a grate improves the efficiency of the stove. © 1992 Indian Academy of Sciences.