Development and Assessment of Thermoacoustic Generators Operating by Waste Heat from Cooking Stove

Abstract

This paper presents the development and assessment of two low-cost, travelling wave, thermoacoustic generators operating by waste heat energy from cooking stove. One powered by waste heat from a propane-driven stove, the other powered by waste heat from a wood-burning stove. The propane-driven thermoacoustic generator was successfully demonstrated to produce approximately 15 watts of electricity using a commercial audio loudspeaker. The wood-burning thermoacoustic generator was successfully constructed and tested to generate a maximum of 22.7 watts of electricity under a pressurised condition. The latter has a high potential to be used by over 1.5 billion people in rural communities for applications such as LED lighting, charging mobile phones or charging a 12V battery. A comprehensive power assessment of the propane-driving generator as well as the development and performance assessment of the wood-burning generator are described throughout this article.

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B. Chen, A. Yousif, P. Riley and D. Hann, "Development and Assessment of Thermoacoustic Generators Operating by Waste Heat from Cooking Stove," Engineering, Vol. 4 No. 12, 2012, pp. 894-902. doi: 10.4236/eng.2012.412113.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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