Thermal efficiency enhancement of a community cook-stove through design improvements and comsolbased simulation.

Abstract

In the wake of climate change, the widespread use of traditional biomass cook-stoves, particularly in rural and low-income communities especially in Africa, presents a critical challenge due to their low thermal efficiency those results in high fuel consumption. This High fuel Consumption can exacerbate deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and severe indoor air pollution, which negatively affect health of women and children mostly in developing countries. The poor performance of cooking stoves is due to week inefficient design of stove’s combustion chambers and suboptimal selection of the insulation materials within the stove. This research seeks to design and develop an improved community cook-stove that addresses these mentioned challenges. To achieve this, the study employs a simulation-based approach using COMSOL Multiphysics. Three geometries; cylindrical, conical, and rectangular of combustion chamber were modeled for better understanding their impact on stove performance. In addition, the process of selecting insulation material, which includes glass wool batt, swamp air gap insulator, Glass Fiber Blanket insulator and alumino-silicate fire clay bricks, was optimized through simulations. By both stationary and transient heat, temperature profiles, thermal performance, combustion efficiency, and Sensitivity analysis further explored the impact of insulation properties on overall stove performance. The findings reveal that geometry and insulation material play a pivotal role in determining stove efficiency. The cylindrical combustion chamber, combined with high-performance insulation, achieved the best thermal retention and uniform heat distribution, significantly lowering fuel consumption. This optimized design offers a practical and sustainable improved clean cooking stove that reduce environmental impact, and improve public health in underserved communities. The work demonstrates a replicable model for advancing energy-efficient stove technologies through simulation-driven design.