3 billion people worldwide rely on solid fuel as a main source of energy. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 4.3 million deaths per year due to indoor air pollution caused by open fires from cooking . Additionally, women spend an estimated 1-2 hours daily collecting biofuels for traditional cookstove use. In order to improve health and save labor, a solar stove is a practical device to improve health, reduce environmental stress, and save labor for women in rural India.

Goal: Create a solar stove that utilizes modular and scalable thermal energy storage technology to reduce exposure to fire cooking emissions, reduce labor demands, and reduce stress on the environment. This stove should have the capacity to boil 1 liter of water in 15 minutes and keep water simmering for 45 minutes. The thermal battery should have a recharge time of two hours and a daily storage time of 10 hours.

Objective 1 – Model Solar Stove Heat Battery and Vessel
Model each solar stove component (heat battery and vessel) in Solidworks with appropriate dimensions and tolerances. 3-D print the solar stove model as a tangible example of what the product will look like.

Objective 2 – Prototype Solar Stove Heat Battery and Vessel
Build a working prototype of the heat battery and vessel. The heat battery disk is made Sodium and Potassium Nitrate as the phase change material that stores heat in an aluminum disk. The vessel is a triple insulated stainless steel cylinder that holds each disk.

Objective 3 – Solar Stove Analysis
Test stove performance and compare to goal specifications. Analyze thermal resistance of vessel and areas of greatest heat loss to understand how to maximize heat storage within the design. Evaluate and design other practical applications of the thermal battery.