Design, Fabrication and Adaptation of Electrically Powered Air Blower for Improved Wood Kiln Firin (Published)
Wood kiln firing is an age-old method of firing wares. Open air firing, the earliest common means of firing dated back to centuries ago which later graduated to downdraft firing. Considerably, besides deforestation for the purpose of fetching of firewood, which negates one of the United Nations – Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDGs), the very common problem with wood kiln firing, after drudgery, is time consumption. Potters spend awkward amount of time, energy and resources to attain and in keeping temperature constant in the wood kiln. Whereas, in the absence of adequate air, the wood kiln chamber temperature drops and smokes for short of oxygen because there is not enough air for combustion leading to a reduced atmosphere in the kiln chamber. This in turn buffs glazes among other things. The more the firing time, the more the fuel that is burnt and the more the manpower expended. Hence, the cost of production sky-rockets, thereby giving local ceramic products less competitive chance in the market due to cost. This paper was aimed at locally adapting an electrically powered air blower to channel concentrated air, in form of oxygen, to the wood kiln burner pots to ameliorate the input of time, energy and resources invested in attaining desired chamber temperature; to improve ware appearances and to cut down on the cost of production of locally made ceramic wares.
Keywords: Oxidation, bisque, buff, centrifugal, chimney, nozzle