Rocket scientist designs a pot that will cook food 40% faster and save energy
Conventional pans cause a plume of heat to flow out around them and much of the heat is lost. The "flare" pot, which was deloped by Dr. Thomas Povey, engineering professor at Oxford University, hosts a stream of indentations around the sides of the pot which pull much of the heat back in towards the pan.
The idea came to Povey on a mountaineering trip, when he realized how much fuel was being used to boil his water at high altitudes. This is similar to the technology used to dissipate heat in jet engines; the fins absorb much of the previously wasted heat flowing up the sides of the flat pan. The pan also distributes heat more evenly so less energy is required and you can cook food faster with the same heat output.
Povey teamed up with UK kitchenware manufacturer, Lakeland, to distribute the new design. It is made from stainless steel and aluminum and can reach cooking temperature around 34% faster, using 28% less energy than conventional cookware.
“I do a lot of work on cooling systems for jet engines, which can be thought of as a heat-exchanger,” Povey says. “It’s the same kind of problem but in reverse. In jet engine parts we struggle to keep parts cool, and the heat exchanges inside those parts are designed to take as much heat out as possible. By putting a carefully designed heat exchanger on the outside of a pan we increase the flow of heat from the flame to the pan, and can control how evenly the heat enters the pan.”