Project Overview
Project Description
PowerUP designs and deploys affordable electric pressure cookers (EPCs) for households in sub-Saharan Africa, helping families transition to clean, modern cooking. Its current product is at the production stage, and needs refinement of two key aspects of the design: energy efficiency and usability/safety.
The proposed project aims to:
- Model and analyze energy efficiency of the current EPC design, focusing on thermal insulation, lid sealing, and heat distribution to identify improvements that can reduce energy losses during cooking.
- Redesign the lid mechanism to make it easier to open and close, enhance ergonomics, and improve safety in pressure release.
- Develop manufacturable CAD updates for the improved components and provide technical documentation that can be directly shared with manufacturing partners.
These refinements will contribute directly to PowerUP’s mission of delivering high-quality, energy-efficient cooking appliances designed for affordability, safety, and local use conditions in Africa. The outcomes will advance the goal of scaling clean cooking adoption while reducing household energy costs and emissions.
Impact
The project will contribute to enhancing the efficiency and usability of an electric pressure cooker that replaces charcoal and firewood cooking. Improving the thermal efficiency and safety of the device will reduce household electricity use and enable broader adoption of clean cooking solutions across Africa.
The expected social impact includes improving user safety, convenience, and trust in electric cooking appliances—factors that directly influence sustained behavioral change. Environmentally, higher energy efficiency will lead to lower electricity demand and reduced CO₂ emissions per meal cooked.
The basis for expecting this impact lies in PowerUP’s field experience: over several thousand units deployed across Uganda and Tanzania have shown that small improvements in usability and efficiency can significantly increase user satisfaction and cooking frequency.
Eligibility Criteria
Skills / Experience:
- Required:
- CAD modeling, rendering, and simulation
- Manufacturing/design for manufacturing
- Finite element analysis (FEA) and thermal analysis
- Desired:
- Human-centered design
- Experience in plastics design and consumer appliance engineering, particularly in energy or cooking products
- Experience with low-cost product design for emerging markets and understanding of African household contexts.
Software Proficiency:
- Autodesk Fusion 360 (skill level: Intermediate/Expert)
Discipline:
- Mechanical Engineering or Product Design
Preferred Fellow Local Experience (all projects can be completed remotely):
- Uganda/East Africa, or experience with those contexts.
Preferred Timezone (when the Fellow should be available for meetings):
- Compatibility with East Africa Time (UTC+3)
