Hot stuff: researchers at Nottingham University test a low-energy generator that could help transform the lives of people in rural communities in developing countries. They are working to make a low-cost cooking stove that also converts heat into acoustic energy and then into electricity, all in one unit. (Image by Nottingham University, UK)

A low-cost generator with the potential to transform lives in the world’s poorest communities is now being tested across the UK and in Nepal and Kenya, reports Brian Bell of London Press Service. The Score project, led by Nottingham University, is developing a biomass-burning cooking stove that also converts heat into acoustic energy and then into electricity, all in one unit.

The two million pounds Score (stove for cooking, refrigeration and electricity) project brings together experts from across the globe to develop the biomass-powered generator. By producing an affordable, versatile domestic appliance, Score seeks to address the energy needs of rural communities in Africa and Asia, where access to power is extremely limited.

Scientists in the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Nottingham University are working on the generator’s linear alternator, the part that turns sound energy into electricity. The system uses special configurations of magnets that generate electrical energy from sound. Computer simulations of the linear alternator have proved successful and test models are being constructed in the department’s workshops.

The Nottingham researchers are working with Dai-ichi, one of Malaysia’s largest loudspeaker manufacturers, to bring down production costs through good design practice. Although the Score unit does not physically resemble the average loudspeaker, it is compatible with the Dai-ichi manufacturing process.  

Score has been invited by Dai-ichi to exhibit at the “Better City, Better Life” Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, from May to October 2010 to showcase its new advanced technology to 70 million expected visitors.

The aim of the Score project is to make a low-cost, high-efficiency generator that can be used in the world’s poorest countries. The generator has a cost target of 20 pounds sterling per household, based on the production of a million units. The generator will weigh between 10 and 20kg. The target is to generate an hour’s use per kilogram of fuel that could be wood, dung or any other available biomass material.

Dr Chitta Saha, a research assistant at Nottingham, said: “The present linear alternator design is very exciting for me because it solves many of the problems we had with using loudspeakers as alternators but can still be made cheaply. My mother lives in Bangladesh - she is so proud that I am working on such a worthwhile project that she can see will help her community.”

Manchester University, City University London, and Queen Mary, University of London, and the charity Practical Action are partners in the project, from researching engine design to the manufacture and distribution of the stove in the developing world.

The project will work with governments, universities and civil organisations across Africa and Asia, many of which have already offered support. This collaboration will ensure the device is affordable, socially acceptable and that there is scope for communities to develop businesses to manufacture and repair locally.

Mark Johnson, professor of advanced power conversion at Nottingham University, said: “I am particularly pleased with the way that the Score consortium - with partners from very different technical backgrounds - has developed into a cohesive research team. We now have solutions to the fundamental technical problems, and the first demonstrators delivering significant electrical power have been realised.”

The Score team is now looking for sponsorship to fund testing in the countries in which the generator will eventually be deployed. Germany’s Department of International Development (GTZ South Africa) has already agreed to provide funding to test the stove in southern Africa.

Paul H Riley, Score’s project director, said: “We have had tremendous interest in the project from around the world, and the Score Community - launched a few months ago - is working extremely well. This includes entrepreneurs and volunteers that adapt the stove for local use among its members.”

Practical Action, a charity that promotes the development of sustainable technology to tackle poverty in developing countries, is already leading field trials in Nepal and Kenya. It will expand the test sites when more units are made available.

Score Community member Mark Loweth in Tajikistan, central Asia, has adapted a variation of the stove to ensure it is suitable for the communities at which it is aimed. “We are very excited with the Score technology because it has the capability of bringing small-scale electrical generation to households in the developing world,” he said.

Other members of the international Score Community are investigating how a Score stove could best be adapted for their environments.

South African Score Community member Rynier Ferreira said: “We are adapting a Score stove to work with paraffin [kerosene] because many rural communities in South Africa are still highly dependent on it as a major fuel source for cooking. Adapting a stove for paraffin will increase not only the safety aspect for stoves using this type of fuel, but will give the people in rural communities the additional advantage of electricity and refrigeration.”

Nottingham University
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