Atre
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
This project aims to optimise energy consumption in domestic uses. Various clay bricks are placed in our (standard) oven while it is in used to cook food, they are heated during the process, and then removed using a suitable tool and placed on the Atre structure, made also from materials that can diffuse heat, becoming a heating device. Or put inside a compartment made of a thermoelectric material, converting heat into electricity, stored and available when needed.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
Atre is a device that uses unused household energy (specially from cooking) to either store it as electricity or use it for heating.
The ambition of this project is to optimise energy consumption in the home as much as possible. I was interested in the activities that generate and consume energy and naturally turned to the kitchen and more particularly to the cooking process. Indeed, cooking food requires electricity to generate heat, but this heat is only used for this task and then dissipates, hence my desire to optimise energy consumption by transforming/recycling this generated heat.
Various clay bricks are placed in our (standard) oven while it is in used to cook food, they are heated during the process, and then removed using a suitable tool and placed on the Atre structure, made also from materials that can diffuse heat, becoming a heating device. Or put inside a compartment made of a thermoelectric material, converting heat into electricity, stored and available when needed.
Key objectives for sustainability
Apart from a compartment that uses thermodynamics (thus making it an interdisciplinary project), the rest of the system, for the sake of accessibility and sustainability, is made of clay and steel, materials with long-established thermal properties and which are extremely widespread and relatively simple to shape and produce.
Atre therefore advocates sustainable and ecological consumption, in a logic of energy and cost circularity. It refers to old ways of life, and objects such as the stove, of course, but where the energy required is not continuous but punctual. It acts as an entry point to a possible future where electronic devices and household appliances could work in a compatible way with each other, where the energy demanded for a task would be used or recycled in almost its entirety.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
This project is thought as an heating device that goes on a wall, therefore the esthetic of it as to be discreet in order fit well in a room, but also must have an identity, that is why its a structure in steel that welcomes panels in clay, the panel are visible an offers a rhythm, in the idea of a painting for example. The heated bricks that can be put on the device will make the pattern change and evolve.
It is very simple of utilisation because the only contact of heat make the device active, for both heating and transforming heat into electricity.
Key objectives for inclusion
The solution proposed here is to place various clay bricks in our (standard) oven while it is in used, the bricks are heated during the firing process, and at the end of the firing process the bricks are removed using a suitable tool and placed on the Atre structure (which as esthetic properties and fits well in an interior). The clay bricks will keep their heat for a long time and the panels of the structure against which they are placed are also made of clay, in order to spread the heat over a larger surface and make it more diffused, so the Atre project is used as a radiator at this time.
It is a system for occasional use and cannot be used alone for the complete heating of a home, but it allows an optimization of the electricity consumption and the heat production, especially in cold periods like winter. But it is also possible to use it in the summer (or when heating is not necessary). Indeed, at the back of the panel is a trap door that can contain the warm bricks, the interior of this compartment is made of a thermoelectric material that allows to convert heat into electricity and thus to recover part of the eccentricity lost for cooking. This electricity is stored in batteries within the device and will thus be available for the power supply (punctual also) of various devices.
Innovative character
Atre therefore advocates sustainable and ecological consumption, in a logic of energy and cost circularity. It acts as an entry point to a possible future where electronic devices and household appliances could work in a compatible way with each other, where the energy demanded for a task would be used or recycled in almost its entirety.
