Engineering Design Solar Cookers

Why Solar Cook Simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food without consuming food Used in third world countries Provides way to pasteurize water

Advantages of Solar Cooking ¼ of world suffers from fuel scarcities Families have to be eat each day Time is spent gathering fuel Fuel is expensive Cook more nutritious food Heat and pasteurize

Where to Solar Cook Can be done anywhere Most practical in climates that are dry and sunny at least 6 months

Types of Cookers Box Cookers Panel Cookers Parabolic Cookers

Panel Cookers Sunshade Cooker

Box Cookers Minimum Box Cooker Easy Lid Cooker Inclined Box Cooker

Parabolic Cookers

How Solar Cookers Work Basic Principle: Sunlight is converted into energy Dark surfaces get hot; Pots should be dark, shallow, and made out of thin metal Both Panel and Box cookers work by trapping heat.

Building Your Own Passive Solar Oven Following the instructions provided, build your Solar Oven

Materials Cardboard Posterboard Foil Brass fasteners Bamboo stick

Tools Ruler Scissors Utility knife Glue Tape Pattern pieces – “T”, parabola, collector ****FOLLOW ALL SAFETY RULES

Pattern pieces

Tools

Station Setup

Process 1) Use a pen or pencil to trace one “T” and two parabola templates onto your cardboard. 2) Cut out the “T” and parabolas. (Make sure you mark the location of the holes on your parabolas.) 3) Mark the fold lines on the “T” to form your box.

Process 4) “Score” the fold lines. (Scoring means cutting through the top layer of material to make it easier to bend.) Holes for collector 5) Fold your box in the opposite direction of the score marks, and tape it together. Poke two small holes to attach your collector to your box. Holes for collector

GET MATERIALS – Posterboard 6) Use a pen or pencil to trace your collector template onto a piece of posterboard. (Begin at the corner! Four collectors should be able to be made from one posterboard.) 7) Cut out your collector.

GET MATERIALS – Aluminum foil 8) Spread glue on one side of the collector. (Use a piece of scrap material to spread with.) Lay the aluminum foil on the collector and spread it out. 9) Fold over the excess foil or cut it off. Tape down the folded edges. 10) Attach the cardboard parabola to the collector. These must be lines up correctly or they will not fit together properly. The longest side of the collector should attach to the curved side of the parabola.

GET MATERIALS – 2 brass fasteners 11) Get two brass fasteners from Mrs. J and attach the collector to the box. (The fasteners go through the lower hole of the parabola. The upper hole is used for cooking. 12) Use a wire coat hanger or cooking skewer to secure the hotdog or marshmallow to the cooking chamber of your oven.

GET MATERIALS – 2 brass fasteners 13) At home, cover the collector with clear plastic wrap to reduce wind and improve cooking. 14) Place in direct sunlight for approximately 45 minutes, keeping the collector directed at the sun.

Research Math Aplications

Panel Cookers Box Cookers Parabolic Cookers