Field Portable Pocket-Stove

Commercial camp stoves currently available are too large and heavy for infantry and do not burn readily available logistics fuel. The focus of this proposal is to apply the techniques used for semiconductor manufacturing to produce a lightweight, small, robust micromachined pocket stove. The new micromachining techniques allow materials other than silicon to have sub-millimeter structures imprinted onto them. For example, metals such as copper, steel, and aluminum can have microchannels cut into their surfaces to produce a microchannel heat exchanger. These microchannel heat exchangers have exhibited heat transfer in excess of 100 watts per square centimeter. The coupling of these microchannels heat exchangers with minicombustors creates a new approach to pocket stoves.