AVUD Stoves
AVUD micro-gasification: In 2006 Chip Energy began
making and selling the Biomass Grill. The Chip Energy products utilize the
AVUD (Another Variation UpDraft) gasification technology first accomplished
in 2004 by Dr. Paul S. Anderson and taken into commercial production with
Paul W. Wever in 2006. [More to come...]
The AVUD gasification technology is pioneered and
commercialized by Chip Energy. It is called “Another Variation UpDraft”
because it has some critical features that distinguish AVUD gasifiers from
traditional updraft gasifiers that do not function well at very small sizes.
The diagram shows the basic structure of the gasifier up to the
location of the combustion of the gases.
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- Fuel is added from hopper
onto fuel pile above grate
- Fuel is top lit with lighter
fluid
- Air enters upward through
fuel
- Hot smoke fills the
"smoke maker" above the fuel
- Air enters the "smoke
burner" for clean combustion of the smoke rising from the
smoke maker
- Used fuel becomes hot char
and keeps the in-coming raw fuel heated to release smoke (pyrolysis
gases)
- Openings for lower secondary
air help control draft
- Ash and excess char are
released after build up
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Above
the combustion zone are the many different applications of the heat (grill,
cookstove, room heater, water heater, fruit dryer, and other process-heat
divices). Therefore the final physical appearances of the whole structure can be
extremely different. But
inside, Chip Energy’s AVUD gasifier works basically the same for any
application. [For
commercial reasons, some critical features essential for successful AVUD
micro-gasification are not fully explained here.]