Open-Top Kiln Hood: Open Design Disclosure for a Hood Over Any Open-Top Kiln or Pile Burn

This open design disclosure describes a hood and flue that collect the gas and smoke from an open-top kiln (OTK) of any shape, or from a pile burn. With the gas in a flue, operators can measure gas temperature, composition and flow, burn the methane and other gases that leave the fire unburned, clean the gas, or use its heat. The hood and its support are separate parts. A frame of posts, a crane or boom, cables, a building or a shipping container can hold the same hood. The document gives: the hood geometry as ratios to the width of the kiln mouth; a dimensioned example of a pyramid hood on four posts over a 2 m cone kiln; steps to build and use the hood; variations: cone, pyramid, hip, gable and pent hoods; skirts, lips, awnings and push-pull air jets; dampers, fans and eductors; burners, heat exchangers and filters; sensors for digital MRV; examples of a hood fixed to a 20 ft shipping container, over a cone kiln and over a rolling hopper kiln (the Tumbler, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23423705); cautions for pile burns, spill at start-up and carbon monoxide. Appendices summarize published emission data, carbon-standard defaults and questions to ask about air rules. All dimensions are design assumptions, not test results. Published to place this design in the public record and to make it free for anyone to use, under CC BY-SA 4.0.