Amazing what you find on the OUTDOORSmagic.com forum, like the
discreetly tucked-away news that MSR is working on a radical new
lightweight camping stove which will weigh in at around 100 grammes
and burn petrol, but without the need for pressurisation, so no
pumping required.
The new stove reportedly uses a radical new technology being
developed by a small American start-up called Vapore. The process
allows the conversion of unpressurised liquid fuel into pressurised
vapour using only heat rather than pressure pumps as with current
stoves.
The process uses something called a 'capillary force vaporizer',
apparently a small - from 5mm to 19mm in diameter - ceramic cylinder
that sucks in fluid using a highly porous material. Once heat is
applied to the top-surface of the cylinder, the heat vaporises the
liquid, which escapes as a stream of pressurised steam through the
top using capillary pressure.
The MSR stove using the technology is reportedly due to be
released this month and is designed to use white gas. Because the
fuel tank no longer needs to be pressurised, it can be made of
lightweight plastic and the lack of a pump mechanism also saves
weight.
It doesn't stop there though. The new stove should be very simple
to use with no pumping, priming or maintenance required, plus a
specially designed heat exchanger interface between the stove burner
and pot claims to up the overall efficiency of the stove.
In an article
on the Wired web site, Jeff Bowman, MSR's vice president is quoted as
saying: "It's like the iMac, we envision a stove that will look
different from everything out there."
Interesting stuff. More information and stove piccies
from
www.memagazine.org's article. See also www.vapore.com for more detailed information on the technology
including a video of it in action,.
Big thanks to Stove Man for breaking the story on the forum.
Richard Walker 5
