Two-Plate Rocket Stove

The rocket stove is an well established design for a efficient wood fire stove. During the development and testing of the Tshulu stove, by Chris Bradnum, it was noted that a overlooked problem was that many households require two dishes of food to be cooked concurrently. Utilising a diverse student body with many hailing from contexts where wood fire stoves are used for cooking, a project was conducted to develop a two-plate version of the rocket stove. Students were grouped according to experience with wood fire stove cooking. A working mechanism was developed and provided. Students were then required to design the interfacing elements of the stove.

Prototypes were then built and tested boiling water in different pots. Some valuable ideas were developed. One solution aimed to make the stove appear a bit like a typical “white-goods” item. This would potentially link to aspirations of people who would use it. Linking the two “plates” so you could slide a pot across also appeared valuable.
Further testing on the efficiency of the two-plate mechanism needs to be conducted. These prototypes will be taken by the students and donated to people who might be able to utilise them.

• Research