Charcoal Stove: Step 2- The Cardboard Sketch Model

We pulled together the different ideas from our rapid sketches. We wanted our stove to have the following features: 

• A chimney or a way of reducing or redirecting smoke 
• Bottom fueling would likely be easiest- and most efficient 
• A multi-temperature cooktop / the ability to cook with low/high heat 
• An extended cook top surface that would allow you to cook many things at once 
• A simple design- with the fewest pieces possible- avoid breakage 

Below is our first cardboard draft design: 

 
Image 1: Luisa attaching to the chimney to the rear of the box- we are still deciding where the chimney feature will go. 

Image 2: The drawer space with the grate on which the drawer will sit. The grate will allow oxygen into the compartment.  

Image 3: The drawer space with the door open. The heat controlling wall is located just to the left of the door. 

Image 4: The drawer space with the door open and the drawer extended out. The heat controlling wall is located just to the left of the door. 

We developed one of our simplest designs, a single rectangular box. There is a fuel on one of the longer rectangular surfaces. The door is slightly shifted to the right. Inside, there is a small drawer where you would place the fuel. The fuel sits over some grates which serve as air vents, providing the flame with the appropriate levels of oxygen. Just next to the door where you insert the fuel is a small wall partition insert that slides in and out. The wall's purpose is to control heat flow. When the wall is open the heat reaches the surface evenly, allowing you to cook at high heat on both sides of the stove, but if you need a lower heat cook surface, you can slide the wall in, making the other side cooler. We need to determine just how the closing over of the wall will affect the temperature of the cooktop. We have yet to test it to see. We also need to think about the materials that might work well to help vary the temperature of these surfaces. We are hoping to find a way to make the box out of the fewest pieces possible; perhaps even finding a ways to fabricate the exterior out of a single piece of metal instead of piecing six pieces together. Perhaps this way we can reduce the possibility that pieces become loose or breakdown with time.