III.
IV.
V.A.
V.B.
V.B.3
V.C.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
Summary of Phase I
Proposal for Phase II
Partnerships
References
Supporting Letters
Budget and Budget Justification
Resumes
Total Number
of Pages
4
8½
6½
2
2
2
6
6
Page Number
2
6
14
20
22
24
26
32
IV.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NCER Assistance Agreement Project Report Executive Summary
Date of Project Report: March 23, 2010
EPA Agreement Number: SU834291
Project Title: Improved Cook Stoves for Haiti Using Thermoelectrics to Reduce Deforestation
and Improve Quality of Life
Faculty Advisors(s), Departments, and Institutions: Robert Stevens, Mechanical Engineering,
rjseme@rit.edu; Richard Lux, Engineering, ralddm@rit.edu; Brian Thorn, Industrial and Systems
Engineering, bkteie@rit.edu; James Myers, Multidisciplinary Studies, Rochester Institute of
Technology, Rochester, NY
Student Team Members, Departments, and Institutions: Salinla Chaijaroonrat, Chris Goulet,
Matthew Labrie, Chris Brol, Aaron Dibble, Ian Donahue, Kevin Molocznik, Neal McKimpson,
Young Jo Fontaine, Shawn Hoskins, Dan Scannell, Dan Higgins, and Luke Poandl; Mechanical,
Electrical, and Industrial and Systems Engineering, RIT.
Project Period: August 15, 2009 through August 14, 2010
Description and Objective of Research:
According to the World Health Organization more than three billion people depend on biomass
(wood, dung, or agriculture residues) primarily for cooking. The practice of cooking with
biomass has decimated many ecosystems, requires an enormous amount of human effort to
gather, and creates considerable health problems that continue to plague the world’s poorest
populations. These problems are no more apparent than in Haiti, the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere. To minimize the harmful effects associated with cooking, a Rochester
Institute of Technology (RIT) multidisciplinary student engineering team in partnership with an
NGO is designing, building, and testing more efficient, cleaner, and socially acceptable cook
stoves using thermoelectrics and a simple blower. The improved stoves will significantly reduce
the need for biomass, which will help cut the alarming deforestation rates in Haiti while reducing
the time and financial resources spent on fuel. The enhanced stove will also improve the indoor
air quality, thereby reducing deaths associated with respiratory illnesses. The advanced stove
will be designed with the intent of assembly in Haiti, creating jobs which are greatly needed to
create local prosperity. The focus of the stove project has been to build on recent stove
advancements to develop an improved stove for Haiti and other developing nations with the
goals of:
1. reducing fuel use by a factor of two or greater in order to turn the tide on deforestation
and diminish the time and limited financial resources spent on fuel;
2. creating microenterprises for assembling the advanced stoves to generate wealth and
develop local expertise for maintaining the stoves in order to improve chances of
sustained stove adoption;
3. enhancing conventional cooking techniques for traditional foods;
4. providing an electrical power source to operate auxiliary loads such as radio, lighting,
charge cell phone batteries, and small UV water treatment technologies;
5. improving the air quality for women and children, and;
6. minimizing the impact on the local and global environment by incorporating a life cycle
analysis in the design process.
Summary of Findings (Outputs/Outcomes):
Three student teams of mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineers were formed in the fall of
2009. The first team’s focus was on researching different testing options for comparing stoves
and assisting in providing feedback during stove development for the first phase and future
phases of the project. The second team focused on developing the first generation of the
combustion chamber and stove body, while the third team has focused on developing a
thermoelectric power unit thermal and power conditioning system. The teams have worked
closely together throughout the course of the project. The student teams developed a working
relationship with H.O.P.E., an NGO focused on development work in Borgne, Haiti. In
consultation with H.O.P.E, the teams established the needs of the end customer, rural families
and vendors in Haiti. Multiple needs were identified and prioritized to create an effective stove
solution that would be more functional than the current stoves used in Borgne, Haiti, while also
providing economic, environmental, and personal health benefits. The most important of these
needs are: the stove is affordable, cheap to operate and maintain, fits the existing cooking
practices and cookware, transportable, is simple and intuitive to use, and potentially provides
electric power generation capability. The teams developed three sets of project specific
engineering specifications based on established customer needs and their particular team’s
project’s scope.
Several stove technologies including the 3-stone, earthen stoves, rocket stoves, various
gasification stoves, and jet stoves were benchmarked to determine key design parameters.
Factors that should be incorporated to improve combustion in the design included: 1) creating a
good draft, 2) insulate around the fire for a hotter burn, 3) avoid the use of dense material around
the combustion chamber to reduce warm-up time, 4) allow air to circulate and contact all
surfaces of the fuel, 5) meter/limit fuel capacity, 6) limit cold air intake into the combustion
chamber, and 7) preheat intake air to maintain complete combustion.
The stove design team developed multiple concepts including both gasifier and direct single
stage combustion stoves. Based on feedback from technical reviews and consultation with
H.O.P.E., the gasification stove was selected for further design development because of the
potential for higher fuel efficiency, controlling burn rates, and reduced emissions. The stove
integrates some of the recent stove advancements. The basic concept design for the
thermoelectric stove consists of an inner combustion chamber surrounded by an outer shell. Air
in the channel around the combustion chamber is slightly pressurized by the use of a fan that is
powered by a thermoelectric module, a robust solid state device that converts thermal energy
directly into electrical energy. The pressurized air is used to force air through perforations in the
inner stove wall and into the combustion chamber to optimize the air-fuel ratio and ensure
complete combustion. The air passing through the outer chamber also helps reduce heat losses
through the walls. So minimizing side losses will be done without the need for ceramics or
bricks. Therefore the thermoelectric stove with its thinner walls will have significantly less
mass, enabling quicker start up times. Quicker start up times means reduced time spent on task
and smaller fuel requirements for stove warm-up.
The first concept stove being built and tested should provide cooking power of 1,250 to 5,400
Kcal/hr and consume charcoal at a rate of 1.6 kg/hr when simmering for rice and beans,
substantially less than the current Haitian practices. The first stove concept was designed to
allow for quick variations in combustion chamber height, hole count, and air flow so
experimental optimization can be done early in the project. Control of the air flow will provide
some control over heat rates for different cooking options (boiling, simmering, frying, etc.).
Sustainability and manufacturability are critical to a good stove design. In researching possible
building materials, the team discovered that Haitians have access to 55 gallon steel drums used
for transporting oil and food. The Haitian people currently have a process in place for
reconditioning these barrels for creating metal art. These drums are made from 18GA coldrolled sheet steel, which was determined to be structurally capable of supporting the weight of
the largest pots identified during the needs assessment stage of the project. By using the steel
drums which are relatively inexpensive, the primary stove with the exception of the power unit
and fan could be built for under $10 using a recycled material and a skill set that is locally
available.
In order for the gasification stove to work, a fan is required. Using an inexpensive mass
produced fan found in computers worldwide coupled with a thermoelectric generator module
was determined to be the most viable solution. Thermoelectrics are a solid state power
generation technology that can directly convert heat from the stove into electricity. An initial
thermal system prototype was designed and is currently being tested. During initial start-up
there will not be a sufficient temperature gradient for power generation, therefore a rechargeable
battery pack will be needed to initially power the fan. Once sufficient temperatures are reached
the thermoelectric will power the fan and charge the battery pack for future use. The thermal
system is designed to keep the hot side of the thermoelectric module at 230°C and the cold side
at 50°C, resulting in a power output of 2.7 watts using an off-the-shelf thermoelectric generator
module. The designed power conditioning circuit includes a buck-boost converter and battery
charge IC for charging three NiMH batteries and powering a USB power module for cell phone
charging and auxiliary loads. Switching circuitry is used to prioritize the loads (fan, battery
charging/discharging, and aux power).
Testing of stove performance is critical for not only quantifying reduction in fuel use and
emissions of the advanced stove when compared to traditional stoves but also in providing a
means to quickly optimize the stove design. The team chose the Water Boiling Test (WBT) and
Controlled Cooking Test (CCT) for the basis of the RIT testing procedure. To conduct these
tests in a repeatable manner a test stand was designed and is currently being built. The designed
test stand will have the capability of measuring thermal performance of the stove as well as CO
and particulate matter emissions during the WBT and CCT. The test stand monitors fuel
consumption rates and characterizes heat losses by the use of a digital scale and multiple
thermocouples.
Conclusions:
Upon completion of initial testing, the team will enter a redesign phase to address any
deficiencies in the design. By addressing these deficiencies in the alpha prototype design it will
be possible to ensure that the beta prototype is truly ready for field testing deployment.
Field testing will be done with the help of the team’s partner organizations in Haiti. One to two
stoves will be sent to H.O.P.E. during the summer for distribution to the households in Northern
Haiti. Daily use of stoves should provide valuable feedback with respect to the utility, durability,
and desirability of the current design. Upon receiving this valuable feedback from field testing,
the team will be able to prepare a plan for future phases of the project to be conducted by future
student design teams.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:
The second phase of this project will build on the successes of Phase I. The second phase
objectives will be to
 Develop at least two additional generations of improved cook stoves based on feedback
from field testing of earlier stove generations and continued needs assessment;
 Conduct extensive field testing and observations of the two generations of cook stove
prototypes to both qualitatively and quantitatively measure the potential environmental,
economic, and social impacts of adopting the improved stove and to assess the local
manufacturing options for further design improvements;
 Develop business plans for the creation of local microenterprises in Haiti and an initiative
for broadening the stove project on a national and potentially a regional level; and
 Develop pilot projects in three communities in Northern Haiti.
To build on the success of the first phase of the project, both stove kits and fully assembled
prototype stoves will be sent to the H.O.P.E. Tech Center. AN RIT team of faculty and students
will travel to Borgne to assist with field testing. The Tech Center will assemble the units and
document issues with assembly and then provide feedback to the RIT team on areas for
improvement with techniques and design modifications for more appropriate local fabrication
and assembly. The Tech Centers will also distribute some of the stoves to the end users and
follow-up with a survey and observations for future improvements. This feedback will be
instrumental in the development of a second generation stove design. During the first field visit,
the H.O.P.E. and RIT team will also collect more extensive behavioral data associated with
cooking by the use surveys, videos, and direct observations. This data will be used by both the
Sustainable Innovation Course and Engineering Design Teams in the design of a second
generation stove and microenterprise business concept.
During the summer of the second year the local business concept and second generation of stove
will be tested. During this phase, H.O.P.E will collaborate with the RIT team to identify
strategies for replicating microenterprise models in other communities and regions across Haiti.
The goal would be to identify community-based networks which could be leveraged to support
localized capacity building and technology transfer.
During the second year of Phase II, the project team in partnership with the H.O.P.E. Tech
Center will identify three communities in Northern Haiti where three pilot projects based on the
microenterprise business will be developed. H.O.P.E. will assist in conducting user surveys that
focus on both the technology and the business structure stove adoption.
Publications/Presentations: Three technical articles will be prepared for RIT KGCOE MultiDisciplinary Senior Design during April and May 2010. These articles are published internally
to RIT.
Supplemental Keywords: cook stove, thermoelectrics, biomass, community power, third world.
Relevant Web Sites: The working project websites can be accessed at
http://edge.rit.edu/content/P10451/public/Home,
http://edge.rit.edu/content/P10461/public/Home,
http://edge.rit.edu/content/P10462/public/Home.
V.A. SUMMARY OF PHASE I
1. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DEFINITION
According to the World Health Organization more than three billion people depend on biomass
(wood, dung, or agriculture residues) primarily for cooking [1]. The practice of cooking with
biomass has decimated many ecosystems, requires an enormous amount of human effort to
gather, and creates considerable health problems that continue to plague the world’s poorest
populations. These problems are no more apparent than in Haiti, the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere. To minimize the harmful effects associated with cooking, a Rochester
Institute of Technology (RIT) multidisciplinary student engineering team in partnership with an
NGO is designing, building, and testing more efficient, cleaner, and socially acceptable cook
stoves using thermoelectrics and a simple blower. The improved stoves will significantly reduce
the need for biomass, which will help cut the alarming deforestation rates in Haiti while reducing
the time and financial resources spent on fuel. The enhanced stove will also improve indoor air
quality, thereby reducing deaths associated with respiratory illnesses. The advanced stove will
be designed with the intent of assembly in Haiti, creating jobs greatly needed to develop local
prosperity.
Haiti, inhabited by over 8.5 million people with a GNI per capita of $420, was once covered with
a lush forest but now stands with less than 4% of forested land. This dramatic loss of forested
land has been caused by the need for cooking fuel, currently more than 75% of all the energy
consumed in Haiti [2]. The deforestation caused by fuel harvesting has been well documented
and can clearly be seen in a NASA satellite image shown below of the border between Haiti and
Dominican Republic [3]. The removal of such vast sections of forests has destroyed much of
Haiti’s original ecosystem.
Haiti
Dominican Republic
Beside the destruction of vast ecosystems, deforestation leads to significant topsoil erosion that
reduces the land suitable for agricultural purposes, pushing Haitians further into poverty. Over
half of the land is not suitable for farming because of top soil loss. Farmland continues to be lost
by several percent a year due to erosion over the past few decades, making it difficult for Haiti to
feed itself [4]. Stopping deforestation is critical to Haiti’s survival.
In addition, deforestation leads to mudslides and flooding triggered by hurricanes or even small
storms, resulting in tremendous human catastrophes. Over the past several years there have been
numerous news reports of significant number of deaths associated with flooding and mudslides
directly linked to deforestation [5-8]. The United Nations Environmental Programme has shown
a strong correlation between the extent of deforestation and deaths due to hurricanes per exposed
person [9]. Haiti has a hurricane associated death rate more than three times that of any other
country in the Caribbean. In fact, hurricane related death rates on average are 4.6 greater for
Haiti than the Dominican Republic even though they share the same island [9]. This is almost
solely due to flooding and mudslides caused by deforestation from fuel gathering.
Besides the local destruction caused by harvesting biomass, wood and charcoal fuel use also has
an impact on global environment. Studies have shown that the production and combustion of
charcoal, the primary cooking fuel in Haiti, releases greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide,
methane, and non-methane hydrocarbons at rates significantly higher than the net carbon dioxide
released by unsustainable wood gathering [10]. Reducing greenhouse gases by improving stove
overall efficiency and improving combustion will reduce Haiti and other developing countries’
negative impact on global climate change.
The traditional three-stone or elevated grate fires result in incomplete combustion leading to poor
air quality causing significant respiratory deaths. Over 1.5 million deaths per year worldwide are
attributed to poor indoor air quality from the use of traditional fuels [1]. The World Health
Organization has shown that lower respiratory infections are the second largest killer after
diarrhea by environmental factors of children in the developing regions of the world [11].
Significantly reducing the particulate matter which is the primary cause of these illnesses can be
achieved by improved stove designs.
One way to mitigate these enormous problems associated with burning biomass is to shift to
alternative fuel types. As a family’s wealth grows, there is typically a shift from firewood and
charcoal to modern fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, and electricity [12]. But
because of slow growth in wealth and lack of infrastructure, modern fuels will not be readily
accessible for a large portion of the world’s population, especially as some fuel resources
become limited. Solar cooking has been seen as an option with limited success because it often
does not fit with the local cooking practices and therefore is not readily adopted. For these
reasons a significant percentage of the world’s population will continue to rely on biomass as the
primary cooking fuel.
Because cook stoves will continue to be a necessity for much of the world, especially for Haiti,
and the environmental problems continue to grow with their use, developing highly efficient,
cleaner, and socially acceptable cook stoves is vital. The focus of this project has been to build
on recent stove advancements to develop an improved stove for Haiti and other developing
nations with the goals of:
1. reducing fuel use by a factor of two or greater in order to turn the tide on deforestation
and diminish the time and limited financial resources spent on fuel;
2. creating microenterprises for assembling the advanced stoves to generate wealth and
develop local expertise for maintaining the stoves in order to improve chances of
sustained stove adoption;
3. enhancing conventional cooking techniques for traditional foods;
4. providing an electrical power source to operate auxiliary loads such as radio, lighting,
charge cell phone batteries, and small UV water treatment technologies;
5. improving the air quality for women and children, and;
6. minimizing the negative impact on the local and global environment by incorporating a
life cycle analysis in the design process.
2. PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES, SCOPE
The developed stove will improve indoor air quality, save money and time used for acquiring
fuel, reduce deforestation, diminish greenhouse gases emitted, and lead to the development of
local skills and jobs. H.O.P.E. (Haiti Outreach - Pwoje Espwa), our partner in Haiti, is not aware
of any advanced cook stove efforts in the region and firmly believes that there is a need for
developing and deploying advanced cook stoves there. The specific objectives of Phase I are to:
1. form a multidisciplinary student design team;
2. conduct of a needs assessment in collaboration with H.O.P.E, an NGO located in the
Borgne area along the Northern coast of Haiti;
3. develop a detailed technical design of an improved stove using thermoelectrics by the
student team with periodic technical reviews throughout the design phase.
4. fabricate a first generation prototype with subsystem testing.
5. test of the prototype at Rochester Institute of Technology, and;
6. modify the prototype followed by field testing in Haiti by H.O.P.E.’s Tech Center.
Completion of the first phase of the project would position future student teams and activities in
such a way that they could continue to work with H.O.P.E. in the field to design future iterations
of the stove system and ensure that the stove could be easily manufactured by local
microenterprises.
Relationship to People, Prosperity, and the Planet
Developing and deploying an appropriate and advanced cook stove to the Borgne and other
regions of Haiti has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life of Haitians. An
enhanced stove will reduce the time and resources spent on gathering fuel wood and charcoal,
allow for superior control in cooking, and potentially provide an auxiliary and inexpensive power
source for electric lighting and radios. Improving the stove efficiency by a factor of two or more
from the traditional three stone or grate stoves would have a profound impact on the planet by
reducing deforestation and emissions. Improving combustion also reduces many of the
emissions associated with respiratory illnesses that plague women and children in much of the
developing world.
By increasing cooking efficiency and reducing demand for wood, there will be a greater chance
that H.O.P.E. and others’ reforestation projects will be successful and create a more satisfying
outdoor environment for the Haitian people to enjoy. Turning the tide on deforestation will
reduce the loss of topsoil in the region. This will lessen the chances of devastating flash floods
and mudslides that have inundated Haiti over the past couple of decades. Reducing deforestation
will also improve the ability of the land to absorb water, raising the local water tables for
improved agriculture production in the region.
Additionally, the cutback of fuel for cooking will help to reduce the overall time needed to
collect fuel. This work generally falls on women and children. With the reduction in fuel
gathering time, Haitians would be able to partake in more productive activities such as incomegenerating work, reading, or studying. In addition, it is a goal of this project that the end product
be suitable for assembly by microenterprises in the regions of the world in which it will
ultimately be used. Thus, not only will the novel stoves provide the benefits mentioned above,
but will also increase the prosperity of the local region. Building local assembly and
maintenance capabilities will also improve the likelihood of the project’s being sustainable
beyond the initial deployment phase of the project. The partnership with H.O.P.E. is
instrumental in ensuring the designed stove is suitable for assembly in the Borgne region of
Haiti.
Educational Tool
This P3 project was incorporated into RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Multidisciplinary Design Experience (MDE). During this experience students from Industrial
and Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering form teams to
work on projects for a wide variety of clients, thus providing real-world business interactions.
Students enrolled in the MDE worked through a formal engineering design process to complete
their projects over two quarters. For the stove project, students evaluated their conceptual
designs against both traditional cost and productivity criteria as well as against broader
sustainability criteria. Standard methods and metrics which ignore environmental and social
externalities may not be appropriate for a project or product that was evaluated against broader
sustainability criteria. An important step forward in increasing the awareness of students with
respect to the impacts of their designs on people, prosperity, and the planet is being made since
sustainability issues have been carefully built into the design process.
In addition, for this project the student team was in communication with technical partners from
H.O.P.E. who have helped assess the needs as well as provide technical feedback on concept and
system level design, with special attention on user interface and manufacturability using local
resources. This interaction helped sensitize the students to issues of fabricating and operating a
system in an environment where the systems might ultimately be fabricated and deployed.
3. DATA, FINDINGS, OUTPUTS/OUTCOMES
Three student teams of 13 mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineers were formed in the fall
of 2009. The first team’s focus was on researching different testing options for comparing stoves
and assisting in providing feedback during stove development for the first phase and future
phases of the project. The second team focused on developing the first generation of the
combustion chamber and stove body, while the third team has focused on developing a
thermoelectric power unit thermal and power conditioning system. The teams have worked
closely together throughout the course of the project. The student teams developed a working
relationship with H.O.P.E. In consultation with H.O.P.E, the teams established the needs of the
end customer, rural families and vendors in Haiti. Multiple needs were identified and prioritized
to create an effective stove solution that would be more functional than the current stoves used in
Borgne, Haiti, while also providing economic, environmental, and personal health benefits. The
most important of these needs are: the stove is affordable, cheap to operate and maintain, fits the
existing cooking practices and cookware, transportable, is simple and intuitive to use, and
potentially provides electric power generation capability. The teams developed three sets of
project specific engineering specifications based on established customer needs and their
particular team’s projects scope. See Table 1 for a sample of the engineering specification
developed by the stove development team. The other two design projects had similar specs. The
specifications were used by the student teams along with input from project partners and
industrial representatives to guide the concept generation and final design selection.
Table 1. Sample of Established Engineering Design Specifications for Stove Design Team
Engr.
Spec. #
ES1
Source
Unit of
Measure
Marginal
Value
Ideal
Value
$
20
< 10
Fuel consumption rate at full boil
kg/hr
< 10
7.04
Time to cook typical Haitian meal
hours
1-4
1-4
minutes
< 10
5-7
kW
4-8
6
hours
> 0.5
1
kg/hr
<5
1.64
Specification (description)
Cost of final system
ES7
CN1
CN2,
CN3
CN2,
CN4
CN2,
CN4
CN12
CN2,
CN4
CN2,
CN4
CN3
Range of pot sizes
m
0.25-0.46
0.2-0.61
ES8
CN3
Capacity of water/rice for design
L
11.356
11.356
ES9
ES14
Average startup/prep. Time
Lifetime of stove
minutes
years
10
3-5
< 10
>5
N
300-700
660
Size of final stove - Height
Size of final stove - Outer Diameter
Weight of final stove assembly
System portability
m
m
kg
Y/N
<1
0.46-0.61
13-30
Y
0.5
0.48
< 20
Y
Manufactured w/ locally available resources
Y/N
Y
Y
ES27
CN4
CN5
CN5,
CN10
CN6
CN6
CN6
CN6
CN7,
CN14
CN13
°C
< 50
< 40
ES29
CN15
User controlled heat/flame intensity
Y/N
Y
Y
ES30
CN15
User controlled heat/flame intensity
Y/N
Y
<
Reference
Y
<
Reference
ES2
ES3
ES4
ES5
ES6
ES15
ES18
ES19
ES20
ES21
ES24
ES31
Time to boil 11 liters of water
Power required to boil water
Minimum required run time for simmering
conditions
Fuel consumption rate at simmer
Top/load force to collapse/destabilize
Maximum temperature of outside stove surface
Overall stove sustainability
eco-points
Combustion Chamber and Stove Design
The team researched several stove technologies including the 3-stone, earthen stoves, rocket
stoves, various gasification stoves, and jet stoves. Benchmarking was done to identify the key
means of improving stove performance. Factors that can be incorporated to improve combustion
in the design included: 1) creating a good draft, 2) insulate around the fire for a hotter burn, 3)
avoid the use of dense material around the combustion chamber to reduce warm-up time, 4)
allow air to circulate and contact all surfaces of the fuel, 5) meter/limit fuel capacity, 6) limit
cold air intake into the combustion chamber, and 7) preheat intake air to maintain complete
combustion.
The stove design team developed multiple concepts including both gasifier and direct single
stage combustion stoves. Based on feedback from technical reviews and consultation with
H.O.P.E., the gasification stove was selected for further design development. The basic concept
selected is depicted in Figure 2. For this concept, air enters the chamber between the combustion
chamber and outer wall through a single side port in the stove (A). The air is pulled in by a small
fan located at (A) which also creates the flow to push the air through the system. In the area
between the combustion chamber and
outer wall, the air acts as an insulator
between the hot combustion chamber and
the cool outside wall. The air is heated and
travels through holes in the combustion
chamber. Some air goes through the holes
at (B) (the primary air holes) where it
mixes with the burning charcoal at a
specific rate that allows for gasification.
This reaction of charcoal, the dominant
fuel used in Haiti, with limited oxygen
creates a fuel gas which rises up the
chamber and comes in contact with the air
coming into the chamber at (C) (secondary
air holes) where it is fully combusted.
Creating a fuel gas is much more efficient
Figure 2: First Generation Stove Concept
than burning everything in a single stage.
This is because if complete combustion were attempted at (B) gas coming off the charcoal would
escape before all was combusted (visible smoke) and the extra heat from full combustion would
burn the charcoal quicker than is needed. Gasifying the charcoal maximizes its burn time and the
energy that can be extracted. This two stage combustion process creates a very clean efficient
combustion because mixing the gas with air burns very cleanly. There should be negligible
smoke when the two stage process is working properly.
The air passing through the outer chamber also helps reduce heat losses through the walls. Most
heat that is typically lost through the walls in some advanced stoves would instead be captured
by the incoming make-up air and returned to the combustion chamber for this novel approach.
So minimizing side losses will be done without the need for ceramics or bricks for insulation;
therefore the thermoelectric stove with its thinner walls will have significantly less mass
enabling quicker start up times. Quicker start up times means reduced time spent on task and
smaller fuel requirements for stove warm-up. To further improve stove efficiency the first
generation stove will use an inexpensive radiant barrier to reduce side losses. Besides improving
overall combustion efficiency, improving the heat transfer from the hot combustion gases to the
cooking pot is critical. Factors that can improve this heat transfer include: 1) a large pot surface
area, 2) direct heat through narrow channels around the pot, 3) maintaining turbulent, fastmoving airflow around the pot to avoid boundary layer effects, and 4) using materials that have a
high heat thermal conductivity. The stove is designed with a skirt to fit a very wide variety of
pot shapes and sizes and still maintain narrow gaps to transfer the heat to the pot. Energy is
directed towards the stove skirt through the use of air channels.
Although stoves are readily used throughout the world, modeling the thermal performance of a
stove design is quite complex especially when determining the optimal size and aspect ratio of
the combustion chamber and the size, number and position of the first and second stage make-up
air holes. The combustion chamber design was based on stove combustion models presented by
Belonio, Bryden et al., and Reed and Das [18-20]. The designed stove should provide cooking
power of 1,250 to 5,400 Kcal/hr and consume charcoal at a rate of 1.6 kg/hr when simmering for
rice and beans, substantially less than current practices. Because the models are general and
much of the successes of stove design improvements have required experimentation, the first
stove concept was designed to allow for quick variations in combustion chamber height, hole
count, and air flow so experimental optimization can be done over the next couple of months.
Control of the air flow will provide some control over heat rates for different cooking options
(boiling, simmering, frying, etc.). The stove also allows for placing the appropriate amount of
fuel in the combustion chamber to minimize over fueling the stove, which is common practice
for a three-stone fire that requires a large pile of charcoal to start. Often Haitians will stomp out
fire on excess charcoal after cooking is done to save fuel for future use. The new stove concept
will hopefully eliminate much of this practice while minimizing wasted fuel.
Sustainability and manufacturability are critical to a good stove design. In researching possible
building materials, the team discovered that Haitians have access to 55 gallon steel drums used
for transporting oil and food. The Haitian people currently have a process in place for
reconditioning these barrels for creating metal art. These drums are made from 18GA coldrolled sheet steel, which was determined to be structurally capable of supporting the weight of
the largest pots identified during the needs assessment stage of the project. By using the steel
drums which are relatively inexpensive, the primary stove with the exception of the power unit
and fan could be built for under $10 using a recycled material and a skill set that is locally
available.
Thermoelectric Power System Design
In order for the gasification stove to work, a fan is required. The options for powering a fan
considered were to use batteries, a hand crank, or thermoelectrics. Recharging batteries in rural
areas would be challenging and the large storage capacity that would be required for several
hours of cook time required for typical Haitian meals made the battery option impractical and
unsustainable. The hand crank option could interfere with cooking practices and providing the
air flow needed for the two stage combustion would be difficult. Using an inexpensive mass
produced fan found in computers worldwide coupled with a thermoelectric generator module
was determined to be the most viable solution. Thermoelectrics are a solid state power
generation technology that can directly convert heat from the stove into electricity. In order to
generate electrical power the thermoelectric modules must be subjected to a sizeable temperature
difference across the sides of the
modules. This will be accomplished by
thermally coupling one thermo-electric
module to the combustion chamber and
placing a finned heat sink on the cold
side of the module. The fan used to
pressurize the outer cavity of the stove
will be directed towards the cooling fins
to keep them cool and capture heat
transferred across the thermoelectric, in
essence preheating the air before
entering the combustion chamber.
Figure 3: Thermoelectric Power System Design
Figure 3 depicts the basic thermal system design for the first generation power system. During
initial start-up there will not be a sufficient temperature gradient for power generation, therefore
a rechargeable battery pack will be needed to initially power the fan. Once sufficient
temperatures are reached the thermoelectric will power the fan and charge the battery pack for
future use.
The first generation of the power unit has been designed to power an existing gasifier stove,
Woodgas Campstove XL, which currently uses batteries but has no power generation option.
This stove is being used for preliminary testing until the team designing the combustion chamber
conducts testing and optimizes the first generation stove design at which point the thermoelectric
power team will make slight modifications to meet the required energy demands of the designed
stove. The thermoelectric system consists of a thermal bridge, shown in figure 3, consisting of a
6061-T6 aluminum rod protruding into the combustion chamber by slightly over 3cm. The other
end of the rod is thermally coupled to a heat spreading block where a thermoelectric module is
mounted. An aluminum heat sink is mounted on the cold side of the thermoelectric in order to
maintain a large temperature difference across the module. The thermal system is designed to
keep the hot side of the thermoelectric module at 230°C and the cold side at 50°C, resulting in a
power output of 2.7 watts using an off-the-shelf thermoelectric generator module. The designed
power conditioning circuit includes a buck-boost converter and battery charge IC for charging
three NiMH batteries and powering a USB power module for cell phone charging and auxiliary
loads. Switching circuitry is used to prioritize the loads (fan, battery charging/discharging, and
aux power).
Stove Characterization and Testing Capabilities
Testing of stove performance is critical for not only
quantifying reduction in fuel use and emissions of the
advanced stove when compared to traditional stoves
but in providing a means to quickly optimize the stove
design. Because this testing capability did not exist at
RIT at the initiation of this project, a third student team
researched into the standard cook stove testing methods
and also consulted with Aprovecho Research Center to
determine the most appropriate testing options. The
student team chose the Water Boiling Test (WBT) and
Controlled Cooking Test (CCT) for the basis of the RIT
testing procedure [14, 16-17]. To conduct these tests in
a repeatable manner a test stand was designed and has
been partially built at the time of this report. The test
stand is shown in figure 4. The test stand will have the
capability of measuring thermal performance of the
stove as well as CO and particulate matter emissions
during the WBT and CCT. The test stand monitors fuel
consumption rates and characterizes heat losses by the
use of a digital scale and multiple thermocouples.
Figure 4: Cook Stove Test
Stand for Capturing Emissions
and Monitoring Fuel Use Rates
4. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS
The project teams have successfully completed the first three objectives listed earlier for phase I
of the stove project. The teams are currently building the designed test stand, combustion
chamber, and thermoelectric power unit. The teams will be testing subsystems such as the power
conditioner, combustion chamber, and thermal bridge during March and early April with the first
generation stove testing and modification taking place throughout the spring. The stove team did
design the first generation prototype stove so several design variable such as hole count and
combustion chamber height can be changed easily for optimization studies. The team’s
industrial engineer will also be testing the usability of the prototype stove and ergonomic issues
as well as quantifying the sustainability eco-points using SimaPro life-cycle analysis tool to
contrast with the existing stove technologies. Testing will be followed by system modifications
before cook stove units are built and sent to the H.O.P.E. Tech Center for testing this summer.
For the stove project to be successful there will need to be a couple iterations of design-buildtest-redesign. It is critical that much of the testing is done in the field to better appreciate many
of the Haitian’s issues and ideas for improving the stove. Phase I of the project lays an excellent
foundation for future project phases.
V.B. PROPOSAL FOR P3 PHASE II
1. P3 PHASE II PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Overall Potential Impact and Adoption of the Project Results
Approximately half of the world’s population relies on biomass for cooking, much of which is
done using poorly performing stoves not much better than an open fire [1]. The use of poorly
performing stoves has had tremendous environmental, human health, and economic costs. This
is especially the case for Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and where 75% of
all energy consumed in the country is for cooking [2]. The use of poorly performing cook stoves
has left much of Haiti deforested causing significant erosion of fertile topsoil and creating a
perfect environment for flooding and mudslides which has plagued Haiti in recent years. Global
stove use based on unsustainable fuel gathering practices such as charcoal production in Haiti is
a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions [10]. Stoves with poor combustion and
significant particulate emissions also result in respiratory illness leading to over 1.5 million
deaths a year globally [1, 11]. Significant time and money is also spent on gathering fuel for
cooking purposes, which is devastating to much of Haiti where most live on less than $2/day.
Biomass cook stoves will continue to be a necessity for much of the world, especially in Haiti,
where access to alternative fuels is not an option. This need has become more pronounced in the
wake of the recent earthquake with the resultant mass exodus of people from Port-au-Prince into
rural areas. There is a greater strain on fuel resources requiring more efficient use of the limited
biomass available. AN RIT student and faculty team in partnership with an NGO in Haiti,
H.O.P.E, is developing improved stoves to tackle the above problems. H.O.P.E. is a project
partner that has strong community programs in Northern Haiti with emphases on health,
education, economic development, sanitation, and clean water. The proposed stove concepts
being developed by the RIT and H.O.P.E. team have the potential to reduce fuel consumption by
a factor of two, reduce greenhouse gas emission by a similar amount while improving the air
quality for women and creating local businesses.
As mentioned in the Phase I report above, the vision of the RIT and H.O.P.E. stove project is to
integrate many of the recent stove advancements to develop an improved cook stove for Haiti
and other developing nations. The second phase of this project will build on the successes of
phase I, which included: 1) developing the needs and engineering specifications for an
appropriate Haitian stove; 2) initiating the design, construction, and preliminary testing of an
improved stove; and 3) developing testing capabilities for characterizing traditional and advance
stoves for further design improvements.
Challenge Definition and Relationship to Sustainability and Pollution Prevention
The second phase of the stove development project objectives will be to:




Develop at least two additional generations of improved cook stoves based on feedback
from field testing of earlier stove generations and continued needs assessment;
Conduct extensive field testing and observations of the two generations of cook stove
prototypes to both qualitatively and quantitatively measure the potential environmental,
economic, and social impacts of adopting the improved stove and to assess the local
manufacturing options for further design improvements;
Develop business plans in partnership with H.O.P.E. for the creation of local
microenterprises in Haiti and an initiative for broadening the stove project on a national
and potentially a regional level; and
Develop pilot projects in three communities in Northern Haiti.
In order to increase the chances of success, the team will do multiple iterations of design, build,
performance test, field test, and redesign of both the stove and business model. Stove testing at
RIT will be helpful in determining fuel usage and air quality in comparison to traditional stove
practices. Field testing will help the team better understand usability, durability, and
manufacturability issues that are critical to the stove’s acceptance. The fieldwork will also help
build local expertise through the H.O.P.E. tech center, which is essential for sustainable stove
adoption. By the end of the project, the stove deployment model should be able to be
implemented in other locations in Haiti and other Caribbean and Central American countries.
To accomplish the above project objectives the project partnership will follow the process
described below, which includes two design-build-test iterations and incorporates engineering
and economic development efforts in parallel to increase the likelihood the stove technology will
be adopted. A more detailed schedule is described later.
To build on the success of the first phase of the project, both stove kits and fully assembled
prototype stoves will be sent to the H.O.P.E. Tech Center. AN RIT team of faculty and students
will travel to Borgne to assist with field testing. The Tech Center will assemble the units and
document issues with assembly and then provide feedback to the RIT team on areas for
improvement with techniques and design modifications for more appropriate local fabrication
and assembly. The Tech Centers will also distribute some of the stoves to the end users and
follow-up with a survey and observations for future improvements. This feedback will be
instrumental in the development of a second generation stove design. During the first field visit,
the H.O.P.E. and RIT teams will also collect more extensive behavioral data associated with
cooking by the use surveys, videos, and direct observations. This data will be used by both the
Sustainable Innovation Course and Engineering Design Teams during the 2010 academic year to
develop a 2nd generation stove.
During the fall of 2011, RIT will offer a new multidisciplinary course—Innovation in
Sustainable and Appropriate Technology. This course would be offered as part of RIT’s
comprehensive commitment to innovation across the curriculum and would enable a larger
number of students to participate in advancing the stove design. The course will engage students
from business, design, social science, and engineering disciplines in the analysis of field data
from the test of the first generation; ideation and conceptualization of design considerations for a
second generation design; consideration of localized (Haiti-based) manufacturability; and the
development of microenterprise business plans for the stove and complementary
products/services. The output and findings of this course would then be used by the
multidisciplinary engineering senior design teams to support their second generation design
efforts and inform second generation business plans associated with the stove.
Two RIT multidisciplinary senior design teams will be formed during the 2010-11 academic year
to develop two second generation systems using data collected during the previous summer and
the concepts developed from the special topic course described above. A second iteration of the
field testing and redesign will be done during the 2011-12 academic year to make further
improvements and to perfect a final design for full scale production and distribution.
Often technologies that are introduced in the developing world have a limited long-term
acceptance because there is little attention paid on how to best incorporate the technology into
the economic structure of the community. To this end, a team of students, selected from the
Innovation in Sustainable and Appropriate Technology course, will work with faculty associated
with RIT’s Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and with members of the
H.O.P.E. Tech Center, to develop a business model around the stove. The business model will
have three objectives: to develop sustainable microenterprises that will help build local wealth;
to ensure the stoves are well maintained, and to guarantee accelerated and sustainable adoption
of the stove technology.
During the summer of the second year the local business concept will be tested during the field
testing of the second stove generation fieldwork. Feedback from this fieldwork will feed further
improvements in the local business plan. A portion of the student team will visit Haiti and meet
with local businesses to better understand current practices and assess the needs. The team will
collaborate with the H.O.P.E Tech Center to identify local entrepreneurs who are willing test
business concepts developed for the stove and will begin to find ways to secure appropriate scale
financing for concepts which prove viable. During this phase, H.O.P.E will collaborate with the
RIT team to identify strategies for replicating microenterprise models in other communities and
regions across Haiti. The goal would be to identify community-based networks which could be
leveraged to support localized capacity building and technology transfer. .
During the second year of Phase II, the project team in partnership with the H.O.P.E. Tech
Center will identify three communities in Northern Haiti where three pilot projects based on the
microenterprise business will be developed. H.O.P.E. will assist in conducting user surveys that
focus on both the technology and the business structure stove adoption.
Innovation and Technical Merit
China, India, and several other emerging countries have been developing and implementing
improved cook stove programs for the past few decades with mixed success [12, 13]. Many of
the stove designs focus on increasing efficiency and reducing emissions by improving air flow
and reducing thermal losses. Recent stove side-by-side testing has shown that stoves with little
thermal mass and ducting to draw air into and out of the combustion chamber of the stove, such
as the United Nations World Food Programme rocket stove [14], tend to outperform stoves with
more thermal mass and no ducting. The rocket stoves are often constructed from sheet metal or
old cans and some are surrounded by insulation such as ash or pumice. These stoves differ from
many of the advanced stoves developed in the past that used clays or bricks to reduce thermal
losses. The lighter rocket stoves reduce warm-up time and operate at hotter temperatures sooner
to reduce poor combustion at start-up. Channels in these stoves help set up a strong draft that
promotes improved combustion.
Philips Research advanced the concept of improving draft one step by creating a forced draft
stove using a small fan powered by a thermoelectric generator [15]. This advanced stove has air
injected strategically into the combustion chamber to ensure excellent combustion in a two stage
burn process. Testing done by Jetter and Kariher showed that the Philips forced air based stove
had shorter cooking times, higher thermal efficiencies, and significantly lower emissions than
other advanced stoves currently available [14].
The stoves being developed by the project team integrate some of the recent stove advancements
described above to develop an appropriate stove for use in Haiti. The basic concept design for
the thermoelectric stove consists of an inner combustion chamber surrounded by an outer shell
shown in the figure below. Air in the channel around the combustion chamber is slightly
pressurized by the use of a fan that is powered by a thermoelectric module, a robust solid state
device that converts thermal energy directly into electrical energy. The pressurized air is used to
force air through perforations in the inner stove wall and into the combustion chamber to
optimize the air-fuel ratio and ensure complete combustion.
The air passing through the outer chamber also helps reduce heat losses through the walls. Most
heat that is typically lost through the walls in some advanced stoves would instead be captured
by the incoming make-up air and returned to the combustion chamber with this novel approach.
This means side losses can be minimized without ceramics or bricks; therefore the thermoelectric
stove with its thinner walls will have significantly less mass, allowing for quicker start up times.
Quicker start up times mean less time spent on task and smaller fuel requirements for stove
warm-up. A lighter system also permits greater portability of the cook stove. To further reduce
side wall heat losses radiant barrier such as a foil layer can be added to the channel.
To further improve stove efficiency, the team is looking at ways to improve heat transfer
between the hot combustion gases and the pot. A strategy being implemented on the first
generation stove is the use of an adjustable skirt to keep hot gases close to the pot at all times.
Because the transfer of heat to the pot has a profound impact on overall stove performance, the
team will explore other ways of improving heat transfer such as the use of finned pots or more
aggressive and insulated skirts. Improving heat transfer to the pot has the added benefit of
reducing emission since less fuel, hence emissions, is required.
Besides the technical challenges of improving overall stove thermal performance the project
team will continue to examine ways to reduce cost and use recycled materials. Although the first
generation stove concept does have a low cost (less than $10 for stove and $20 for thermoelectric
power unit), which is potentially accessible to vendors, further cost reductions are needed for
adoption of the technology by homeowners. Much of these cost reduction strategies are
expected to be derived from the field visits where the team can better understand what local
resources and fabrication capabilities exist.
Measurable Results, Evaluation Method, and Demonstration/Implementation Strategy
As described in the phase I report, a comprehensive stove testing plan is being developed using
standard stove testing protocols. These stove testing capabilities will allow the team to compare
the developed stove performance to existing Haitian stoves and provide the team with a means of
comparing various design parameters. Understanding how various stove design parameters
impact performance will provide the team with valuable information as the team attempts to
reduce stove cost.
Evaluation of both the stoves and the business plans will be carried by observation and surveys
used during three different field studies by the RIT as well as the H.O.P.E. Tech Center on a
more continuous basis. The field studies will allow for more qualitative assessment of the stoves
bringing in elements such as usability, ergonomics, and incorporation of advanced stoves in
traditional cooking practices.
At the conclusion of Phase II, the project team and partners will have developed at least three
improved stoves designs, done extensive field testing, developed a plan for the best way to
introduce the technology at both local and regional levels sustainably, and conducted up to three
community pilot projects in Northern Haiti.
Ultimately the project team will initiate three community pilot projects to deploy and maintain
50-200 stoves. The pilot projects will be set up using the microenterprise business plan
developed during the first year of Phase II. Surveys of the communities will be conducted after
initial introduction of the systems to document any technical problems as well as assess the
success of the business plan.
Integration of P3 Concepts as an Educational Tool and Interdisciplinary Teamwork
The prototypes will be developed over a two year period by up to four multidisciplinary senior
design teams as part of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering’s two-quarter
“Multidisciplinary Design Experience” (MDE). During this experience students from Industrial
and Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering will form teams
to work on projects for a wide variety of clients, thus providing real-world business interactions.
The teams may also attract students from disciplines beyond the College of Engineering. Our
students consistently blend excellence and entrepreneurship into this experience with over forty
teams participating per year. More details of this multidisciplinary experience can be found at the
following URL: http://edge.rit.edu. As the teams move forward with their MDE projects, our
proposed student teams will evaluate their designs against the cost and productivity criteria
which will include appropriate environmental and social externalities. Twice during the overall
MDE, each student team presents its progress to a technical panel of professional engineers from
academia and industry. The panel then scrutinizes the design and gives feedback. In addition,
for this project the student team will be in direct communication with H.O.P.E.
RIT’s President, Dr. William Destler, has proclaimed that RIT will become the country’s first
“Innovation University” by ensuring that every student will have at least one innovation
experience during their time at RIT. The president’s mission has become embodied in the new
Center for Student Innovation and Creativity, a $4 million facility for student collaboration and
for showcasing innovative student projects and work. The university has taken up Dr. Destler’s
challenge by developing innovation coursework across a number of disciplines and by
integrating innovation in the university’s general education curriculum. The “Innovation in
Sustainable and Appropriate Technology” (ISAT) course is an extension of this campus wide
effort to address topics in innovation.
The ISAT course supports student understanding of innovations needed to address the challenges
facing poor people around the world. The course encourages students from different disciplines
to engage in the conceptualization and early stage design of appropriate technology solutions for
the developing world. Special consideration is given to the socio-economic context and
sustainability of proposed systems and designs. Students are challenged to consider the scale,
complexity, viability, manufacturability, and maintainability of their designs given the socioeconomic status of their audience and stakeholders. They must consider the social, economic,
and cultural barriers to technology transfer and adoption. Overcoming these barriers is critical to
the success of the stove design project. Thus, students will be asked to develop a capacity
building strategy and training curriculum for the staff of the H.O.P.E. Tech Center.
RIT places high value on experiential learning, so much so that many of its degrees including
engineering require a number of co-op experiences. During the course of this project at least
three undergrad or dual degree students will complete summer co-op experiences. These
students will provide a bridge between academic years and senior design projects. The co-op
students will also conduct more extensive research on stove modeling and testing, business plan
development, and assisting H.O.P.E. with field testing.
The project will also be highlighted in RIT’s annual Innovation and Creativity Festival which has
drawn approximately 20,000 visitors annually from the Rochester community and upstate New
York. Each project team will also develop a poster that will be displayed for one to two years in
the college and seen by numerous visitors, faculty, and students. Both will be excellent
opportunities to educate to a broader audience beyond the classroom.
2. PROJECT SCHEDULE
Phase II activities will build upon the completion of the stove prototype and testing capabilities
developed during Phase I of this project. Twelve key tasks with the proposed schedule for the
Phase II are listed on the following page. The lead for each task is noted. Kate Gleason College
of Engineering (KGCOE) efforts will be lead by faculty, Rob Stevens and Brian Thorn, and
undergraduate student teams. Jim Myers will coordinate many of the business development
activities in partnership with RIT’s Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SCIE).
H.O.P.E. will be key partners for the field testing and pilot projects.
Task
Lead/Assist Sum 10 Fall 10 Win 10 Spr 11 Sum 11 Fall 11 Win 11 Spr 12 Sum 12
T ech centers visit and initial field
KGCOE/HOPE
testing of 1st generation prototype
Innovation Course
Myers/SCIE
2nd generation student project
teams are formed and conduct
redesign and field visit
KGCOE
Microenterprise business plan
development
Myers/SCIE
Field testing of 2nd generation
prototype
KGCOE/HOPE
Business model concept testing
Myers/SCIE
3rd generation student project
teams are formed and conduct
redesign and field visit
KGCOE
2nd generation microenterprise
business plan development
Myers/SCIE
Pilot project using 3rd generation
prototypes initiated
Myers/SCIE
Field testing of 3rd generation
prototype
KGCOE/HOPE
Pilot project monitoring and
surveying
KGCOE
Regional replication initiative plan
developed
Myers/SCIE
3. PARTNERSHIPS
There is one partnerships in Haiti that will provide local support for travel, field testing, design
critique, and community demonstrations. RIT’s business program and Center for Innovation will
be vital in developing the proposed business plans. The partners are listed below.
H.O.P.E.
www.hopehaiti.org/
Rose-Marie Chierici, Ph.D., Executive Director
228 S. Plymouth Ave.
Rochester, NY 14608
585-672-5852
H.O.P.E. has been working in Haiti for over 13 years with a focus on health, education,
economic development, and sanitation & clean water. H.O.P.E. operates a Tech Center in
Borgne as well as a permanent and mobile health clinic that serves 80,000 people in 200 villages.
H.O.P.E. will initially help the students understand lighting needs by collecting field data from
prototype units in Borgne and the surrounding rural areas. As the student team works towards a
solution, H.O.P.E. will provide critical feedback for multiple reviews during the design stage of
the project. H.O.P.E. will be invaluable in assessing the manufacturability of the proposed
design. H.O.P.E. will also conduct field testing and demonstrate the prototypes, providing
feedback for improved design. In addition, H.O.P.E. will assist in the development of the
community pilot projects. A letter of support from H.O.P.E. can be found in the next section.
RIT Center for Student Innovation
http://innovation.rit.edu
Ian Gatley, Director for Student Innovation and Undergraduate Research (585-475-4021)
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY 14623
Rochester Institute of Technology’s new Center for Student Innovation (CSI) draws on the
technical excellence of RIT’s eight colleges, while freeing innovators from disciplinary
boundaries. To help fresh minds turn new approaches into innovative solutions the CSI sponsors
workshops, seminars, innovation courses, competitions, mini-grants and pilot projects, and helps
students form interdisciplinary teams to collaborate on trans-disciplinary problems. Using
immersive visualization and collaboration technologies developed at RIT, it serves as a “hub”,
connecting facilities, companies, technologies, and innovators across campus and across the
world.
RIT Albert J. Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
http://entrepreneurship.rit.edu/
Richard DeMartino, Director (585-475-5646)
rdemartino@saunders.rit.edu
Rochester Institute of Technology
105 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY 14623
The Simone Center promotes and enhances entrepreneurship and commercialization activities
throughout the RIT community. In addition to the curriculum and other educational events, the
Center, in partnership with the RIT Venture Creations Incubator, assists students and faculty in
advancing their innovative business concepts.
C. REFERENCES
1 Rehfuess E. Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health. Geneva, Switzerland: World
Health Organization; 2006.
2 Global Data Monitoring Information System, World Bank, http://ddpext.worldbank.org/ext/GMIS/gdmis.do?siteId=2&menuId=LNAV01HOME1,
accessed 3/9/10.
3 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio,
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?2640 accessed 12/1/08.
4 Montgomery, D. Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations. University of California Press; 2007.
5 Lee, N. C. “Hurricanes, Hanna and Haiti”, Afro – American Red Star. Washington, D.C.:
Sep 13-Sep 19, 2008; 117:A11.
6 Chicago Tribune. “Floods that killed more than 1,000 blamed on deforestation, poverty”,
Chicago, Ill.: Sep 23, 2004;12.
7 Lacey, M. “2 Recent Storms Show Forests Help Blunt Hurricanes’ Force”, New York
Times, New York, N.Y.: Sep 7, 2007; A4.
8 USA Today. “Deforestation Exacerbates Haiti Floods”, USA Today: Sep 23, 2004.
9 Peduzzi, P. “Tropical cyclones: paying a high price for environmental destruction”,
Environment & Poverty Times #3. United Nations Environmental Programme,
Nairobi, Kenya: Jan 2005; 3.
10 Betts, K. “How Charcoal Fires Heat the World”, Environmental Science & Technology:
May 1, 2003;160-161.
11 Pruss-Ustun, A. “Preventing Disease through Healthy Environments”, Geneva,
Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2006.
12 Barnes, D. F., Openshaw, K., Smith, K. R., and van der Plas, R. “What Makes People
Cool with Improved Biomass Stoves? A Comparative International Review of Stove
Programs”, World Bank Technical Paper Number 242, Energy Series: May 1994.
13 Qiu, D., Gu, S., Catania, P., and Huang, K. “Diffusion of Improved Biomass Stoves in
China”, Energy Policy 1996;24(5):463-469.
14 Jetter, J., Kariher, P. “Solid-fuel Household Cook Stoves: Characterization of
Performance and Emissions”, Biomass and Bioenergy, 2009 33( 2):294-305.
15 Hegarty, D. “Satisfying a Burning Need”, Philips Research Password, Oct 2006; 28:2831.
16 Berrueta, V. M., Edwards, R. D., Masera, O. R. “Energy Performance of Wood-burning
Cookstoves in Michoacan, Mexico”, Renewable Energy 2008 33:859-870.
17 Ballard-Tremeer, G., Jawurek, H. H. “Comparison of Five Rural, Wood-burning Cooking
Devices: Efficiencies and Emissions”, Biomass and Bioenergy 1996; 11(5):419-430.
18 Belonio, A. T., Rice Husk Gas Stove Handbook. Appropriate Technology Center.
Department of Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Management, College of
Agriculture Engineering and Environmental Management, College of Agriculture,
Central Philippine University, Iloilo City, Philippines, 2005.
19 Bryden, M., Still, D., Scott, P., Hoffa, G., Ogle, D., Bailis, R., and Goyer, K., Design
Principles for Wood Burning Cook Stoves, Aprovecho Research Center/Shell
Foundation/Partnership for Clean Indoor Air, USEPA EPA-402-K-05_004, 2005.
20 Reed, T. B. and Das, A., “Handbook of Biomass Gasifier Engine Systems”, The Biomass
Energy Foundation Press, 1988.
VI. SUPPORTING LETTERS
VII. BUDGET AND BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
BUDGET
BUDGET
Budget Justification
Rochester Institute of Technology
Travel
The following travel budget is requested for the project:
Haiti Travel, summer 2010, 2 faculty/ 2 students, cost $6,000. Field testing, pilot project
initiation, further needs assessment, student culture exposure.
Room/board: 4*$50/day*5days = $1,000
Flights: 4*$800 = $3,200
Hotel in US: Layover in Miami or other domestic location 4*$150 = $600
Incidentals: 4*200 = $800
“In-country” support —logistics, translation, and transport to alternative field test sites around
Borgne = $400
Haiti Travel, summer 2011, 3 students/1 faculty, cost$6,600. Field testing, pilot business plan
initiation, student culture exposure. Breakdown is as follows:
Room/board: 4*$50/day*8days =$1,600
Flights: 4*$800 = $3,200
Hotel in US: Layover in Miami or other domestic location 4*$150 = $600
Incidentals: 4*$200 = $800
“In-country” support —logistics, translation, and transport to alternative field test sites around
Borgne = $400
Haiti Travel, summer 2012, 3 students/1 faculty, cost $6,600. Field testing, pilot business plan
initiation, student culture exposure.
Room/board: 4*$50/day*8days =$1,600
Flights: 4*$800 = $3,200
Hotel in US: Layover in Miami or other domestic location 4*$150 = $600
Incidentals: 4*$200 = $800
“In-country” support —logistics, translation, and transport to alternative field test sites around
Borgne = $400
Supplies
The following supplies are requested for the project:
* Prototype generation 2 A&B (09-10), cost $4,000. 2 projects *$2,000 in year one
* Prototype generation 3 A&B (10-11), cost $4,000. 2 projects *$2,000 in year two.
* Start-up fabrication equipment/supplies, cost $4,400 ($1,200 in year one, $3,200 in year two)
Tools needed to start three microenterprises (basic hand tools, metal forming tools, small band
saw, drill, etc.). Plus materials for first batch of stove pilot project.
* Freight, cost $2,000 For shipping prototypes and pilot project components (40 units
*25lbs*$2/lb)
*Printing (poster and documentation), cost $1,500. Manual printing, marketing, translation, etc.
($500)
Other
H.O.P.E. Tech Center in Borgne, Haiti will conduct field testing of the prototypes and
provide feedback to the teams on manufacturability and social issues related to the
design. These funds will be used, as per allowable contractual expenses as defined in
section IV.6.b.6 of the US EPA P3 Funding Opportunity Announcement,
to support the tech center staff time and incidental expenses incurred by the Tech Center
to conduct field testing and demonstrate the use of the first prototypes. HOPE Tech
Center (6 months * 2 years) $4,800 ($400/month, consulting fees).
Indirect Costs
The total indirect costs are calculated using the modified total direct cost (MTDC), which
is the total direct costs minus equipment, participant support, and tuition. RIT’s federally
negotiated (DHHS) Facilities and Administrative rate is 44.5%.
VIII. RESUMES
Robert J. Stevens, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
76 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623-5603
(585) 475-2153, rjseme@rit.edu
Professional Preparation
Ph.D. Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. 2005
M.S.
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC. 1998
B.S.
Engineering, Swarthmore College, PA. 1992
Appointments

Assistant Professor. Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Department of Mechanical
Engineering. 2005-present.

Graduate Research Assistant. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Microscale Heat Treat
Lab, Mechanical Engineering, NSF IGERT Fellow, 2001-2005.

Solar Engineering Specialist. North Carolina Solar Center, Raleigh, NC. 1998-2001.

Graduate Research Assistant. North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC. North Carolina Solar
Center. 1995-1998.

Program Associate. SunShares, Inc., Durham, NC. 1993-1995

Research Technician. GRASP, Inc., Philadelphia, PA 1992-1993.
Publications

Sandoz-Rosado, E., Stevens, R. J, “Robust Finite Element Model for the Design of Thermoelectric
Module Generators” Journal of Electronic Materials, 2010,

Sandoz-Rosado, E. and R.J. Stevens. “Experimental Characterization of Thermoelectric Modules
and Comparison with Theoretical Models for Power Generation” in Journal of Electronic Materials
Vol. 38, pp. 1239-1244, 2009

Hopkins, P.E., Norris, P.M., Stevens, R.J., “Influence of inelastic scattering at metal-dielectric
interfaces.” Journal of Heat Transfer, Vol. 130, pp 022401:1-9, 2008.

Hopkins, P.E., Norris, P.M., Stevens, R.J., Beechem, T.E., Graham, S., “Influence of Interfacial
Mixing on Thermal Boundary Conductance across a Chromium/Silicon Interface” Journal of Heat
Transfer, Vol. 130, pp 062402:1-10, 2008.

LaManna, J., D. Ortiz, Livelli, M., Haas, S., Chikwem, C., Ray, B., Stevens R. "Feasability of
Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery in Large Scale Systems" ASME International Mechanical
Engineering Congress and Exposition, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, ASME, 2008.

R.J. Stevens, P.M. Norris, and L.V. Zhigilei, “Effects of Temperature and Disorder on Thermal
Boundary Conductance at Solid-Solid Interfaces: Nonequilibrium Molecular Dynamics Simulations”
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 50, pp. 3977-3989, 2007

Smith, K., Sandoz-Rosado, E., Jno-Charles, C., Henry, C., Hermmann, E., Stevens, R.S.,
“Development of a Test Stand for the Characterization of Thermoelectric Modules for Power
Generation” Proceedings of IMECE ’07, 2007 International Mechanical Engineering Congress &
Exposition, IMECE2007-41595, November 11-15, 2007.


R.J. Stevens, A, Smith, and P.M. Norris, “Proper signal analysis and characterization of
experimental setup for the transient thermoreflectance technique.” Review of Scientific
Instruments, Vol. 77, no. 8, pp. 084901-8, 2006
R.J. Stevens, A.N. Smith, and P.M. Norris, “Measurement of thermal boundary conductance of a
series of metal-dielectric interfaces by the transient thermoreflectance technique.” ASME Journal of
Heat Transfer in March 2005.
Synergistic Activities

Teaching Experience, Multidisciplinary Senior Design (RIT), Introduction to Heat Transfer (RIT,
NCSU), Contemporary Issues in Energy and the Environment (developed this course at RIT),
Renewable Energy Systems (RIT), Design of Solar Thermal Systems (developed this course at
NCSU), Fluid Mechanics (RIT), Thermodynamics (RIT), Senior Design I&II (RIT), and Applied
Probability and Statistics (UVA). In addition to teaching at the college level, I developed and taught
courses instructing K-12 teachers how to use renewable energy as a means of teaching science,
math, and technology. I have also led training of both architects and contractors in a range of
renewable energy technologies.

Sustainability Efforts at RIT, advice vice president of RIT on sustainable energy projects for the
campus, developed and coordinate the sustainable project track for the multidisciplinary senior
design program, involved with the planning of a graduate level sustainable engineering program
offered at RIT. Advise student effort in developing sustainable Habitat for Humanity house design.

NC MSRI Coordinator, Directed North Carolina’s Million Solar Roofs Initiative, which included
organizing public awareness events and training programs, working with community groups to
develop local solar projects and initiatives, and providing technical support for the North Carolina
public on solar thermal, passive, and building science issues.

ASME K21 Heat Transfer Education Committee Member, Fall 2003 – present, Co-chair and
coordinator for several sessions, mostly student focused at the annual ASME IMECE meetings.

Energy and Environment Option Committee, Co-designed the new Energy and Environment
Option in the Mechanical Engineering Department at RIT. This new option consists of a series of
electives, co-op experiences, and a culminating multidisciplinary design experience that provide
students with exposure to a wide range of opportunities and careers associated with energy
systems, and how they relate to the environment.
Collaborators and other affiliations
i. Collaborators
Dr. Margaret Bailey, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RIT; Dr. Andres Cerranos, Department of
Industrial and Systems Engineering, RIT; Dr. Michael Klopf, Jefferson National Lab; Dr. Pamela Norris,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia; Dr. Andrew Smith,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Naval Academy; Dr. Leonid Zhigilei, Department of Materials
Science and Engineering, University of Virginia; Dr. Patrick Hopkins, Sandia National Laboratory
ii. Graduate and Post Doctoral Advisors
Dr. Pamela Norris, University of Virginia (Ph.D. advisor); Dr. Richard Johnson, North Carolina State
University (M.S. Co-Advisor); Dr. Herbert Eckerlin, North Carolina State University (M.S. Co-Advisor)
iii. Thesis advisor and postgraduate-scholar sponsor
Mr. Kevin Smith (MS student. Graduated 2009); Mr. Emil Sandoz-Rosado (MS student. Graduated 2009)
Mr. John Kreuder (MS student. Expected graduation 2010); Mr. Andrew Freedman (MS student. Expected
graduation 2010)
Brian K. Thorn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
81 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623-5603
(585) 475-6166
bkteie@rit.edu
Professional Preparation
Ph.D. Industrial and Systems Engineering. Georgia Institute of Technology. 1990
M.S.
Industrial and Systems Engineering. Georgia Institute of Technology. 1982
B.S.
Industrial Engineering. Rochester Institute of Technology. 1980
Appointments
 Associate Professor. Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Department of Industrial and
Systems Engineering. 1992-present.
 Assistant Professor. Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Department of Industrial and
Systems Engineering. 1986-1992.
 Graduate Research Assistant. Department of Management and Policy. Eller College of
Management. University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ. 1983-1986
 Teaching Assistant. Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Georgia Institute of
Technology. Atlanta, Georgia. 1980-1983
Research Interests
 Sustainable product and process design
 Design for the environment
 Applied Statistical Methods
Publications
 Briceno, C.M., Carrano, A.L., Thorn, B.K., Esterman, M. (2009). A design optimization framework
to estimate environmental impacts of design decisions in consumer products. Journal of Green
Building. Vol 4., No. 2, pp: 141-149.
 Thorn, B.K., Carrano. A.L., Plaz C.R., Wood, C.R., and Guedez, E. (2006). User-driven design of
low-cost, low environmental impact solar ovens for rural populations in developing countries.
Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Development: energy, environment and health. Vol (1). No.
1. pp:1-12
 Carrano, A.L., Thorn, B.K., and Lopez, G. (2006). An integer programming approach to the
construction of trend-free experimental plans on split-plot designs. Journal of Manufacturing
Systems. SME. Vol 25. No 1. pp: 39-44.
 Carrano, A.L. and Thorn, B.K. (2005). A multidisciplinary approach to sustainable product and
process design. Journal of Manufacturing Systems. SME. Vol (24). No. 3. pp: 209-214.
 Thorn, B.K., Carrano, A.L., Wood, C.R., and Plaz,. "Design, development and deployment of low
impact solar ovens for impoverished populations". Industrial Engineering Research Conference,
IERC 2006. May 20-24, 2006. Orlando, Florida




Carrano, A.L. and Thorn, B.K. ”A multidisciplinary approach to sustainable product and process
design”. CIRP International Conference in Manufacturing Engineering Education. June 22-25,
2005. San Luis Obispo, California.
Thorn, B. K.; A Design Tool to Assist with Selection of Product Retirement Strategy; Proceedings
of 12th Industrial Engineering Research Conference; May 2003.
Thorn, B. K., and Rogerson, P.; Take It Back; IIE Solutions; April 2002.
Thorn, B. K., Becker, M., Haselkorn, M., Jessop, S.; Closing the Loop: Design Tools for
Sustainable Products; report submitted by NCRRR to the US Environmental Protection Agency;
July 2002.
ii) Significant publication
 Connolly, T., and Thorn, B.; Discretionary Data Bases: Theory, Data, and Implications;
Organizations and Communication Technology; J. Fulk and C. Steinfeld, eds.; 1990; Sage.
 Connolly, T., and Thorn, B.; Discretionary Data Bases: A Theory and Some Experimental Findings;
Communication Research, 14, 1987.
 Connolly, T., and Thorn, B.; Predecisional Information Acquisition: Effects of Task Variables on
Suboptimal Search Strategies; Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Performance, 39,
1987.
Synergistic Activities
 Developed an RIT graduate program in Sustainable Engineering
 Co-advisor to the student team that won first prize award at the 2005 EPA P3 (people-ProsperityPlanet) competition at the National Academies with the project “User-driven design of mass
producible solar ovens for developing countries”.
 Co-advisor on EPA funded student design project to determine feasibility of storing surplus wind
turbine energy as hydrogen. 9/2004 – 5/2005.
 Co-advisor and founder of the RIT student chapter of “Engineers for a Sustainable World”.
 Developed an RIT undergraduate multidisciplinary minor in Sustainable Product Design.
 Developed professional engineering elective, Lifecycle Costing and Assessment; course first
offered Spring 2005.
 Developed professional engineering elective, Fundamentals of Sustainable Design; course offered
Fall 2002.
 Completed sabbatical at the National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery; 9/1/01
– 6/30/02
Collaborators and other affiliations
i. Collaborators and Co-editors
Dr. Andres Carrano (RIT). Dr. Michael Kuhl (RIT). Monica Becker (National Center for Remanufacturing
and Resource Recovery). Dr. Edward Hensel (RIT). Dr. Nabil Nasr (National Center for Remanufacturing
and Resource Recovery).
ii. Graduate and Post Doctoral Advisors
Terence Connolly; Eller College of Management and Policy; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
iii. Thesis advisor and postgraduate-scholar sponsor
Mr. Jorge Daccaret (MS, 2009). Mr. Christopher Wood (MS, 2007). Mr. Guillermo Lopez (MS, 2007). Mr.
Carlos Plaz (M. Eng. ,2006). Mr. Kyle Hurst (MS 2006). Ms. Marielk Mariano (MS 2005). Ms. Jennifer
Wuotinen (MS 2003). Ms. Judith Batista (MS 2000). Mr. Jeff Sciortino (MS 1998).
JAMES A. MYERS
Director, Center for Multidisciplinary Studies
Rochester Institute of Technology
A. PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
 Ph.D.—Natural Resource Economics, Michigan State University—1998
 M.S.—Packaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology—1992
 B.S.—Food Management, Rochester Institute of Technology—1985
B. APPOINTMENTS
 Rochester Institute of Technology (June 2001—Present)
Director, Center for Multidisciplinary Studies
Professor, College of Applied Science and Technology
 American College of Management & Technology, Dubrovnik, Croatia (May 1999-June 2001)
Associate Dean
 Rochester Institute of Technology (May 1999-June 2001)
Associate Professor, Service Management & Economics
 University of Delaware (September 1996-May 1999)
Assistant Professor, College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy
 Michigan State University (1993-1996)
Lead Research Analyst, World Travel and Tourism Council Tax Policy Center
Graduate Research Assistant, Michigan Travel, Tourism, and Recreation Resource
Center
 Rochester Institute of Technology (1989-1993)
Assistant Professor, Food Marketing and Distribution
C. PUBLICATIONS
i. Project Related Publications
 Myers, James and Lyndsey McGrath (2009). Private Non-Profit University Partnerships: A
Model for Capacity Building in Developing Economies. INTED2009 in Valencia, Spain.
 Jagodzinsky, Norbert, C. Romanowski, and J.Myers (2006). Attitude Change and Value
Associated with Technology Transfer. ASEE International Colloquim in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 Jagodzinsky, Norbert and J.Myers (2004). Reliability and Maintainability Courses Designed for
Mastering the Maintenance Process. In Proceedings of the 19th International Maintenance
Conference. Bonita Springs, Florida, USA.
 Myers, James (2001). The Dynamics of Service Innovation and Knowledge Management. In
G. Graglia (Ed.) Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra First Annual Conference on
Service Leadership, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Grants, Research Teams
United Nations, Global Impact Vulnerability Alert System (UN-GIVAS). Executive Office of the
Secretary General (2010). $110,000 (RIT subaward $25,000). A Visual Analytics Approach to
Understanding Poverty Assessment through Disaster Impacts in Africa. Co-Principal Investigator
on joint proposal from RIT and United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs to develop GIS based
visualization system for vulnerability and poverty assessment.
World Bank, Western Balkans Energy Efficiency and Energy Consumption Survey (2009). $50,000.
Principal Investigator for the American University in Kosovo on proposal to conduct first national
level survey of household, commercial, and public sector energy consumption in Kosovo.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Rochester Regional Clean Energy
Education Partnership (2008) $684,962. Principle Investigator on proposal to develop a regional
education and training initiative for installers and developers of photovoltaic, solar thermal, fuel cell,
and small scale wind power systems.
D. Synergistic Activities
i. James Myers, Ph.D., is a teacher, researcher, and administrator working to address global
challenges in the development of natural resources and related infrastructure services. His
curriculum development and outreach efforts are in the fields of energy, food, and water resource
economics. Much of his work has focused on project implementation in the developing world.
ii. Myers is currently Director of RIT’s Center for Multidisciplinary Studies in the College of Applied
Science and Technology. The Center’s programs reflect an interdisciplinary approach to education
and problem solving. New programmatic areas combine study of emerging technologies with
existing disciplines to yield customized degree programs for individuals and corporations. Over
90% of the students in the Center’s programs are supported by corporate tuition assistance
programs or are enrolled in a customized corporate program.
iii. Previously Associate Dean of the American College of Management and Technology in Dubrovnik,
Croatia—an RIT program. Successfully authored and administered USAID and USIA grants
involving education and retraining initiatives in the transitional economies of Croatia, Bosnia
Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Created and implemented a comprehensive distance learning
program linking RIT faculty with Croatian students. Program enrollments increased from 300 to
over 700 students during this time.
iv. Current teaching appointment is as Professor in College of Applied Science and Technology in
M.S. degree program in Service Management and in the College of Liberal Arts, Department of
Economics. He teaches courses in natural resource economics, environmental accounting and
finance, and infrastructure development.
v. Since 2002, he has received grants and foundation awards totaling more than $5 million.
E.
COLLABORATORS
Robert Stevens, Ph.D, Rochester Institute of Technology; Brian Bowen, Ph.D., Rochester Institute
of Technology/American University of Kosovo; Brian Tomaszewski, Ph.D. Rochester Institute of
Technology.