Design and fabrication of a solar-powered electric stove for rural and urban communities

Date

2019

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

More than 2.2 million Ghanaian families in rural areas depend on firewood and charcoal as fuel for cooking [1]. This high dependency is taking a toll on forest resources due to rampant deforestation. “Ghana's forest cover, which stood at 8.2 million hectares in 1900, has now been reduced to about 1.2 million hectares, with an estimated loss of 65,000 hectares of forest annually” [2]. More so, Ghana has been facing energy challenges with the birth of frequent load-shedding, termed “dumsor.” This is even worse in rural areas because they do not yet have access to electricity. The problem of electricity accessibility could be solved in Ghana, benching on the testimonies of renewable energy and the technologies associated with it. Thus, the goal of this project is to design and fabricate a solar-powered electric stove. The motivation for this project is the inaccessibility of electricity, especially in rural communities and the shortcomings of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), a possible alternative. Success on this project will be defined by a simple and affordable design which will store solar energy during the day and can be used both in the day and at night for cooking. This design will go a long way to improve the lives of individuals in the country whiles safeguarding our environment.

Description

Capstone Project submitted to the Department of Engineering, Ashesi University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, April 2019

Keywords

Ghana, cook stove, solar-power, hardware

Citation

DOI