Project #5: A more efficient pot for those who cook over wood fires and related technologies
#Status as of September, 2025
We 3D printed a pot without heat transfer fins in the 100ml size. Using the a heat gun strapped to a pipe, we were able to boil water efficiently. This is not a scientific test; it is prelude to A-B testing. Nonetheless one must sometimes "play" to design the next step.
IMG_1046.MOV
We attempted first to use a dryer hose, and that was a complete failure; the heat gun was so hot that it discolored the inside of the dryer hose. It is clear that a great deal of heat was being lost through the hose, as the discoloration fades of about 3 feet.
BTW, this small pot (we use 100ml standard test size) boils VERY quickly when put over a natural gas burner. We are learning that the temperature of the heating gas is extremely important.
Thanks to Cledden Kwanin and Ivan Urdiales, we have a computational fluid dynaimcs (CFD) simulation based on OpenFOAM. We are approaching the ability to test hypotheses with this tool.
We have a particular design based on an initial hypothesis: The faster the flow around the pot, the more the flames and hot flue gases will be "sucked" against the pot due to the Coandă effect/Bernoulli effect. Based on this idea, we have made a "fish" shaped pot (and lid) which is streamlined, with heat transfer fins.
Our initial goal is to compare this pot to a cylindrical pot.
Team Ecopot, of Rice University, did the initial work on this base on ideas from Public Invention. They are:
- Christopher J Fang
- Kaitlyn Wang
- Stephanie A. Ponce
- Concepcion C Appio-Riley
- Sana A. Mohamed
- Samuel Robedee
"Revisiting the optimal shape of cooling fins: A one-dimensional analytical study using optimality conditions" by Joe Alexandersen and Ole Sigmund.