biolite battery-free woodgas stove

MustardMan

MustardMan

Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
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Just came across this pretty cool woodgas stove. Most woodgas designs use a small fan and a battery to power it, but this stove uses a thermoelectric system to drive the fan using the heat from the stove. There's even the potential to use the excess energy to charge a phone or an ipod. Very nifty. A bit heavy in its current version, but still a cool idea, especially for extended trips where you don't want to have to carry your fuel.


[youtube]JmHCIBvI6vE[/youtube]

http://biolitestove.com/BioLite.html

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2010/04/08/biolite-camp-stove-burns-clean-charges-gadgets/
 
Very efficient. The concept is really terrific. The idea of using the heat to operate the fan and not having to carry batteries to run the fan is a simple yet great idea.

I would like to get one but I may wait for the smaller version which will be under 1 pound. Thanks for the links.
 
I never liked the idea of carrying batteries...I'm glad somebody figured out a solution. I'll also wait for the weight to come down, but as it is I use a homemade "Nimblewill Nomad" stove that weighs 14.6oz....
 
That's slick. I, too, will wait and see it the future versions of the design offer anything a bit smaller and lighter. I'll be keeping my eye on this.
 
I'm actually thinking about building a cheap knockoff version - use standard woodgas stove plans, but replace the battery powered fan with a TEG module. They are relatively inexpensive and easily available from electronics component suppliers.
 
Now that's just cool! I can't wait for them to clean up the design and lighten it up. That may be the ultimate long term backwoods stove!
 
Woodgas stoves are generally pretty noisy - after all, they have a fan with moving blades, to force air into the chamber. The benefit is that they burn way hotter and way more efficiently than many other designs.
 
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