I've been impressed by some of the postings made by others here on the forum of improvements to stoves like the recent South African Parasafe kero stove and of modern stoves like the FSP Stove for those parts of the world for which petrol type stoves are part of daily life not a collectable or leisure activity. I saw this stove article recently in Mother Earth News. I thought modern stove developements might be of interest to others, and I therefore include it here for your reading pleasure. I found this fan assisted wood burning stove that operates without batteries or outside electricity to be particularly intriuging.
That Biolite is an interesting stove. I particularly like the thermogenerator that uses no batteries to power the fan - Excellent! Here's another woodgas stove in a video.
Speaking of wood, an interesting selection of portable camp cookers, along with quite a bit more at Zenstoves.
The Biolite looks brill.I want one! I put my name down for mail so, unless I get spammed out, I hope to place and order soon
I was rather taken by the idea that heat that would otherwise go to waste will be converted to electricity to power the fan. It is the fan that allows the stove to burn so efficiently. The article says that the stove generates more electricity than the fan needs and that the surplus electricity could be used to recharge things like a radio, GPS, or cellphone. Now that would be handy on a backpacking trip. The really neat thing about it is that in the 3rd world it can eliminate a lot of smoke from open fires. The smoke apparently has a lot of negative health impacts (as well as increasing global warming).
They're supposed to be available in the spring. Let us know if you get one how it goes. There's been something called the Sierra Zip Stove around for a while which is similar (a wood burning stove that has a fan), but the zip stove uses batteries. I've hesitated to get a stove (a very critical item) that relies on batteries and electronics, both of which are typical points of failure. The one thing on the Biolite I'd like to see is a bit of reduction on the overall weight. 15 oz (425g) is a bit on the heavy side. My Optimus Crux, an upright canister stove, weighs 10 oz (~280g) with fuel. A light stove seems worth the trouble of having to gather and prepare wood, but a heavier one is less attractive.
Tricky little buggers those TEGs..Ive melted down the connections on 2 so far .. Trying to achieve a 150 Deg.C (others vary)temperature differential between 2 ceramic plates 6mm (1/4 inch) apart .. I'd stick with batterys or a clockwork fan Nick
I'm not sure it's a simple thing at all. The bottom line is that the TEG can produce electricity from the heat of the stove. Nick, thanks for your input on TEG durability. In a backcountry environment, a stove is inevitably going to get some hard knocks. I wonder what kind of warranty will come with the stove. Unless they've overcome the durability hurdle, these stoves aren't going to be well suited for true back country use (car camping maybe, but I don't think I'd want to rely on one multiple days from the nearest trailhead).
What's wrong with the Trevor Bayliss wind up type generation? No different from pumping on a pressure stove? Cheers, Graham.
i have a Zip stove but never used it for real.finding and cutting up the small bits of wood to feed it is kind of a chore.a small solar charger would keep the battery's up and if you were on a long trip with lots of wood around and did not want to carry fuel it might be a ok stove.on some backyard tests i had to take the water pot off several times to feed the burner.but thats why the tried and true classic are still with us,they really work without a lot of add-ons and hassle
Apologies for bringing up an old thread, but the following stove has recently popped it's head up in the tech news of my free daily paper. http://www.tegology.com/ Searched the site for 'teg' an this thread seems to be the only discussion area.
I know, this IS an old thread. Yes, but how long are you going to run a stove hot enough to charge a device? I cannot see that. A solar panel, maybe, but not a stove. I have one, and quite often it only generates enough to power the fan. There is a newer version that recently came out, supposedly better. Not for me though. Ken in NC
If the techy bit is to be believed then 500 mAh is available when running. How that equates to recharging the internal 3000 mAh battery the site doesn't say, and I haven't Googled LiOn charging rates at that sort of output. But if my eFest 18650's are anything to go by in a standard mains charger then it won't fully charge while you boil water for a cup of coffee. At an outside guess you'll probably use a full cylinder to recharge the battery.
When I first read the blurb associated with a TEG I interpreted it as diverting some of the heat energy to the gas cartridge to offset evaporative cooling reducing the output during a firing session. I resolved not to spend a substantial amount of money on one to find out how it did that in a controlled manner without overpressurising the gas cart however. That issue intrigued me sufficiently to distract me from the battery charging capability. Looks like a tall, tippy design, stabilising struts notwithstanding. John
It also has an internal fan taking 250 mA of the TEG 750 capability. Assume the gentle wariming bit is for those chilly mornings.
Cold temps wouldn't help but even on a hot day the effect of evaporative cooling on the gas (especially the pure butane it advocates rather than mixtures) by reducing the vapour pressure really makes a stove flame drop off in intensity on just one kettle boiling session.
My mistake on the chilly mornings, if the temp is low enough the stove wouldn't actually work anyway due to the high boiling point. Unless the battery provides some pre heat in those circumstances. Propane cylinders readily ice over if used continuosly although not a problem so much. You can't escape the laws of conservation of energy, the heat cycle works in exactly the same way as your fridge, compress gas, cool it, let it expand and it freezes food. In this case the canister to the point the gas won't boil.
