Triangle

 

Crucible is an indoor smoker that brings the benefits out outdoor smoking to the home kitchen.

 

Kian Lad

Hi, I’m Kian. I’m a 22 year-old designer graduating from Product Design & Manufacture MEng at the University of Nottingham. PDM was always my first choice of study as soon as I came across it; the combination of traditional design grounded by engineering principles is something that I was already familiar and interested with based on my Maths, Physics and Product Design A-Levels. After 4 years on the course, I have learned a lot. I would say the most important skills I have built are setting myself expectations when it comes to design projects and understanding how to efficiently plan and use the given time to the best of my ability.

I enjoy the entire design process, but I have a particular interest in the visualization side. Taking a concept from sketches to CAD and then renders is something I find rewarding and endlessly enjoyable.

Thanks for reading, feel free to connect.

Kian Lad, MEng Product Design and Manufacture 

 
 

 

Crucible Home Indoor Smoker

One of the ways many home cooks find enjoyment in cooking is by challenging themselves to create more elaborate dishes using different culinary techniques.

Smoking food is a way of enhancing produce and provides opportunity for flavour experimentation via use of different flavoured wood chunks, chips and pellets.

However, current smoking setups have restrictions, especially to beginners, such as:

  • Being considerably complex
  • Requiring existing knowledge and skills
  • Being limited to outdoor use

Given this, the aims of the project were:

  • Balance smoke filtration technology with ease of use for non-expert users
  • Ensure easily adjustable and configurable environmental control (temperature and smoke levels)
  • Create a form factor that’s compact without compromising on a desirable aesthetic or ease of access / cleaning
Crucible Home Indoor Smoker
 

There is one existing home smoker on the market by GE appliances, however it is limited in its ability to instil a smoky flavour into its food contents and speed of smoke filtration.

Crucible is an indoor smoker that brings the benefits out outdoor smoking to the home kitchen. With 3 main systems- the smoking chamber, smoke filtration system, and pellet combustion mechanism- this indoor smoker imbues its food contents with the flavour of whatever wood pellets have been chosen. Simply add the wood pellets to the hopper and top up the water tray, then preheat and smoke. Either a preset can be chosen, or the temperature, smoke levels and duration can be set manually.

Before checking on food contents, the smoke must be cleared. The air circulation system will switch from circulation mode to exhaust mode through the movement of vent louvres and a sealing panel, allowing the smoke to quickly be catalysed and leave the exhaust as warm air.

With a fully removable interior, cleanup is simple too.

Design work

 

 

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