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Webinars

Webinars supporting the 4th Wood Stove Design Challenge

AGH in association with the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) is hosting a series of webinars to support the next Wood Stove Design Challenge, scheduled for November 2018 on the Mall in Washington DC . The webinars are helping to build a community of stakeholders interested in this technology competition and introduce various experts on relevant topics.

Power Conditioning and Liquid Cooling for Thermoelectric Stoves, Wed, Dec 6, 2017 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST

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Power conditioning and liquid cooling are two critical design issues for thermoelectric generators on wood or pellet stoves. Our first speaker, David Nemir, will provide an overview on how to maximize power output using power conditioning, e.g., voltage buck/boost technologies. Our second speaker, Doug Crane, will discuss liquid cooling solutions for wood and pellet stove applications. This webinar is designed for teams seeking to compete in the 2018 Stove Design Challenge or anyone interested in developing a thermoelectric stove.

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Speakers:

  1. David Nemir: David Nemir is president of TXL Group, Inc. (www.txlgroup.com), an El Paso Texas manufacturer of thermoelectric generation devices and support components. David was formerly an electrical engineering professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and presently leads an effort at TXL to develop the next generation of high performance thermoelectric generators and conditioning electronics.

  2. Doug Crane: Doug most recently was the Director of Thermoelectric Engineering at Alphabet Energy, Inc. Before that, he served as Principal Engineer of Thermoelectric Systems at Gentherm. Doug has authored multiple patents, book chapters and peer-reviewed papers in the field of thermoelectrics. He was the principal investigator for the DOE’s Automotive Waste Heat Recovery program at Gentherm. Doug holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. There, the subject of his work was simulating thermoelectric waste heat recovery from an automotive cooling system. He is currently the CTO for Lon Bell Consulting.

The Transition to Cordwood Stove Testing, Thurs. 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST, October 26, 2017

Play the recording >> Download the slide presentation >>

EPA has always certified stoves used cribwood - 2x4s and 4x4s – not the fuel that homeowners use the operate then, which is cordwood. This webinar will lay out the background and the need for cordwood testing and delve into the complexities of designing a test method that has the most relevance to consumer heating habits. We will also hear a European perspective on cord wood testing, including the summary of the extensive BeReal cord wood round robin testing program.

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Speakers:

  1. Adam Baumgart-Getz, Group Leader for EPA's Innovative Programs and Outreach Group

  2. Lisa Rector, Senior Policy Analyst, NESCAUM. She will talk about the state and local regulatory agencies, along with industry representatives, who are working together to develop recommendations to inform the promulgation of a federal reference cordwood test method for wood stoves. Currently, no test method exists. Using data gathered from use patterns and research, NESCAUM has developed a one-day protocol that can address key use patterns and be used to improve device characterization.

  3. Les Sig Anderson, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark will discuss European stove testing from national test methods to the joint CE-label type test. Is the type test representative to real life operating conditions and does the test outputs connect to air quality and potential health impact modeling ? The newly commissioned beReal test method gives some of the answers but can it supersede the existing CEN type test methods ?

Thermoelectric Generators for Wood Stoves. May 18, 2017

The presenter for this technical webinar is Gerard Campeau of Thermal Electronics Corporation. His company has supported development of a wide variety of thermoelectric generators including the 10 to 30-watt cook stove device pictured below, 25 to 500-watt devices for remote oil and gas wells, and a 100 to 250-watt device for pizza ovens. Mr. Campeau’s presentation covers a variety of technical issues related to the application of thermoelectric generators for wood stoves. Copy of slides only.

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Automated Wood Stove Webinar,  June 29, 2017

Automated wood stoves use sensors to control the primary and secondary combustion air, maximizing efficiency and minimizing emissions at each stage of a fire. The optimum sensor, an oxygen sensor, is what ensures that automobiles get the right mix of fuel and oxygen at all speeds. For stoves, automation allows operators to “load and leave,” and not worry about adjusting the air, and prevents stoves from smoldering.

Webinar slides only (pdf)

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Speakers:

  1. Dr. Ricardo Carvalho works at the Thermochemical Conversion Energy Laboratory in Sweden where he works on designing test methods to evaluate and optimize the real-life performance of wood stoves, through better control of the combustion air regulation.

  2. Scott Nichols is owner and president of Tarm USA Inc. Tarm introduced Americans to the first bulk fed residential pellet boilers, lambda controlled wood boilers, and the first fully automatic wood pellet boilers.

Thermoelectric Wood Stove Webinar,   September 21, 2017

In this webinar, the first speaker provides an introduction to thermoelectric generators and describes their application in the oil and gas industry. The second speaker provides a more in depth discussion of thermoelectric principles, implications for wood stoves and additional examples of how thermoelectric generators can be used to generate electricity.

Webinar slides only (pdf)

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Speakers:

  1. Adam Lorimer spoke on Thermoelectric Heat Recovery - Lessons Learned from Eight Years Developing Oil and Gas and Automotive Applications. He discussed important technical considerations for developing thermoelectric systems considering materials, thermal resistance matching and power conditioning. Adam Lorimer is Vice President and Co-founder of Alphabet Energy.

  2. Professor Jeff Snyder spoke on Thermal and Electrical Design Considerations for a Thermoelectric Generator. His current research focuses on thermoelectric materials and engineering of thermoelectric devices. Dr. Snyder is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University.

Click here to sign-up for our free monthly newsletters, which has announcements of future webinars.

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