Hasta La Ideas

When Royal College of Art graduate Hotzu River Cheng found out that cooking fumes were a bigger cause of lung cancer than cigarettes among Chinese women, he set out to design a better extractor fan to protect them.

Most cooking extractors are simply designed to prevent the room filling with fumes but their position above the stove drags the carcinogenic gasses past the user’s face.

Called Ring, Cheng’s product blows air diagonally upwards towards the back of the stove where the fumes are extracted below face-level.

He proposes two ways of introducing the system: a new stove with extraction built in to the back (above), or a portable version that can be attached to existing cookers.

Cheng graduated from Innovation Design Engineering and his work is on display at Show RCA 2012 until 1 July.

Watch our movie tour of the Innovation Design Engineering show here and see all our stories about Show RCA 2012 here.

Here’s some more information from Hotzu River Cheng:

Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer death among women in China since 1986. However, only 10 percent of female lung cancer patients smoke. Why? The cooking fumes!

Exposure to fumes from cooking oils was an important risk factor for lung cancer. Heating cooking oil to high temperatures creates PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) through evaporation. PAHs are linked to breathing problems and lung cancer.

A British study shows that cooking in the bad ventilation system for one hour is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes. The risk of getting lung cancer increases by 2-3 times. However, only 9.4% people knew that the fumes could be carcinogenic.

The most important is, right now the range hood is designed for the room, not for the user. Most fume extractors are installed above the range, over the user’s head. They prevent fumes from spreading to the entire house, but do not protect the cook from fume inhalation.

‘Ring’ is an innovative fume extractor which is designed for the user’s health. When we cook, the fume always goes up, and we still can inhale the fume no matter how strong the fume extractor it is. ‘Ring’ can extract the fumes before it goes up. The cook will no longer need to live with the risks of cooking fume inhalation.

APPLICATION I – GAS STOVE (PATENT PENDING)

Not all the households have the fume extractors. However, they all have the stoves once they cook at home. These gas stoves have a similar feature. There is a lot of empty space inside the box. Therefore, an extractor fan is built inside the stove.

If you don’t have a fume extractor, you can use this gas stove directly as a fume extractor. However, if you already have a fume extractor, you could rotate the angle of the nozzle, it can improve the efficiency of the fume extractor.

APPLICATION II – PORTABLE DESIGN (PATENT PENDING)

This is the portable fume extractor for the aftermarket. It is easy to carry and install.

One set is for the single stove. However, it works perfectly with two sets. Square joint is for fixing. Round joint is for rotating. You can change the pipe into a longer one once
you have a bigger stove. It is a modular design. This portable fume extractor is cheap, easy to clean, and flexible.