[Stoves] Western Electric - rules for analysis of divergence

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Friends

One of the pressing needs on Planet Stoves is a way to rate the performance
of test protocols. As is well known by now the lab tests used thus far, a
combination of thermal efficiency when boiling and a simmering task, have
not been able to predict field performance. This is a pretty serious failing
and has required the implementation of measures to deal with it.

Program managers and product choosers usually only have access to lab-based
water boiling tests because that is what people have concentrated on
performing, even though there is no statistically significant correlation
between the WBT lab results and field performance. Rob Baylis presented a
paper saying exactly this at ETHOS a few year ago.  It is unlikely that the
problem is the stove.

There are rules called Western Electric Rules for deciding if the
performance of a system is within specification, and in that case I am
referring to the test method as a system. If the results of the system, a
series of lab tests on a stove does not match field use, and the difference
between the evaluation and the field is large, and variable, then the use of
the Western Electric Rules might provide a means of testing the different
test methods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Electric_rules

Regards

Crispin

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