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Draft Testing Protocol for Brookhaven Workshop

TESTING PROCEDURE

  • Fuel charge is defined as 9 lbs/ft3

    • Firebox dimensions will be confirmed by the Judges on the arrival date of the stove.

    • If a team feels the 9 lbs/ft3 is too aggressive, reasoning must be emailed to the Judges before November 3rd, 2014, so it may be reviewed and accommodations made.

  • Small kindling (~3/4” diameter) 1-1.25 lbs./ ft3 or 1-2 big double handfuls

  • Large kindling (1-1.5” diameter) 1.25-1.5 lbs/ ft3 or 1-3 big double handfuls

  1. Preburn will be defined as:35% of the fuel charge weight made up of large kindling, plus an additional 15% of the fuel charge weight made up of small kindling. Therefore, the total preburn charge should weigh 50% of the fuel charge.

    1. The preburn period is considered complete once a coal bed equal to 20% of the fuel charge weight is established. Building 815 will not have use of a scale, therefore an expert Judge will make the decision when an acceptable coal bed has been established.

      1. The door may be left ajar during this period. Any modifications made during this period must stay once made for all testing periods to follow.

      2. The preburn period is intended to be quick and warm the stove.

2. Fuel charge test #1 will be defined as 9 lbs/ft3 and is to be loaded once the preburn has reached 20% of the fuel charge’s weight, or the Judge says an acceptable coal bed has been established.

  1. The fuel charge test #1 is considered complete one a coal bed equal to 20% of the fuel charge weight has been established (i.e. the full test charge fuel is consumed and the weight of the stove at the beginning of test #1 is equal to the end of the test). Building 815 will not have use of a scale, therefore an expert Judge will make the decision when an acceptable coal bed has been established.

    1. The intention of having only a short burn and not a full coal bed established is to show the potential of “cold” start emissions. A true cold start may overload the analyzers as well as the traditional filter method if the sampling period is greater than 10 minutes and/or the stove has poor start up emissions. The “warm” start is a safer approach than a complete cold start for the analyzers but still offers some interesting data for how well these stoves operate not only hot-to-hot.

3. Fuel charge test #2 will be defined as 9 lbs/ft3 and is to be loaded once test #1 has reached 20% of the fuel charge’s weight, or the Judge says an acceptable coal bed has been established.

  1. The fuel charge test #1 is considered complete one a coal bed equal to 20% of the fuel charge weight has been established (i.e. the full test charge fuel is consumed and the weight of the stove at the beginning of test #2 is equal to the end of the test). Building 815 will not have use of a scale, therefore an expert Judge will make the decision when an acceptable coal bed has been established.a

Particulate and Gas sampling

Test period #1 is to be a high burn, test period #2 is to be a low burn followed by a high burn once PM sampling is complete. Following the second addition of fuel wood, the stove will be placed into its low burn. In test periods #1 and #2, theTesto and/or Wohler particulate analyzers will be run, in addition to the standard EPA 5-trainsif the stove is scheduled to be tested in bldg. 526, following the first 5 minutes after the test charge fuel has been added. The first capture in both test periods will be 15 minutes (intended to be short in case of poor performance during reload periods which may affect sampling devices), followed by a 30 minute cool-down period for the Testo and Wohler.In test period #1, a 30 minute sampling period (second capture in high burn) will follow the 30 minute cool-down. In test period #2, a 30 minute sampling period (second capture in low burn) will follow the 30 minute cool-down. The third capture in the low burn phase will be another 30 minute period followed by the cool-down. One the third capture is complete the stove will be placed into high burn. Gas analyzers will continue to sample until all the fuel has been consumed. See Table 1 below for particulate sampling testing layout.

Table 1: Particulate Sampling Testing Protocol

1st Fuel Charge: High Burn
15 minute PM capture after 5 minutes of loading fuel charge #1
30 minute cool down of analyzer
30 minute PM capture
Let fuel charge #1 burn out, once coal bed established, add fuel charge #2 and place stove into low burn

2nd Fuel Charge: Low to High Burn

15 minute PM capture after 5 minutes of loading fuel charge #2

30 minute cool down of analyzer

30 minute PM capture

30 minute cool down of analyzer

30 minute PM capture

Place stove in high burn rate and let fuel charge #2 burn out, gas analyzers continue to run, PM sampling complete.

If the stove is tested in 526, one EPA 5-train will sample continuously over the entire test period, while the other follows the Testo and Wohler sampling procedure. Those stoves in 526 will also have gaseous emissions measured in the dilution tunnel for the entire test period. These two methods will serve to better understand traditional test methods (continuous over entire burn period) along with how different phases throughout the burn impact emissions. The stoves tested in 526 will also be placed on a scale and their burn rates will be measured. The stoves in 815 will also have gaseous emissions measured for the entire test period, however in the stack using a Testo-330.

 

Teams will be provided at the end of the day with their print outs from the Testo and/or Wohler. If the stove was tested in 526, teams will also be provide with CO, O2, and stack temperature trends vs. time trends from the rack analyzers, and estimated EPA emission numbers (lb/MMBtu, g/hr and g/g fuel).

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