Your Opinion On This Solar Cooker

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on designing an effective solar cooker capable of heating 500ml of water within 30 minutes. Key components include a box structure, a metal plate with fins to enhance surface area, and folded aluminum foil to reflect sunlight. Participants emphasize the importance of using a parabolic reflector to minimize heat loss and maximize efficiency. Calculations for the size of the reflector are crucial for achieving the desired temperature, as losses occur due to the heating of pipes and radiation.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of thermal conductivity and heat transfer principles
  • Familiarity with solar energy concepts and solar cooker designs
  • Basic knowledge of optics related to reflection and focusing light
  • Ability to perform calculations for surface area and heat loss
NEXT STEPS
  • Research effective solar cooker designs and their efficiency metrics
  • Learn about parabolic reflector construction techniques
  • Study thermal conductivity materials suitable for solar cooking
  • Explore calculations for optimizing reflector size and placement
USEFUL FOR

Engineers, DIY enthusiasts, and anyone interested in renewable energy solutions, particularly in designing efficient solar cooking systems.

Muhammad Syahril
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First of all, even I did mentioned Solar Cooker, the main goal is to reach most temperature of 500ml of water in 30 minutes.

Basic information that I have is some material with different thermal conductivity. I seek for simple english language and a bit complex physics language. The idea of this design is using box (or any same priced material) as the outer or the case.

Next I'm attaching or making a contact of a metal with many fins (to increase surface area) with the box from the inside and finally the 'idk just an idea', making many folds of aluminium foil (or other same priced material) in the box with each end of box touched.

The water will be placed on a box's base sized plate (I'm thinking of a metal plate with a short wall on the sides). Refer to my nice (very very very ugly) image drawn (barely) by paint. Ugly but you can understand the concept.

Photo Labels : Black - Box , Aqua - Metal with fins (solid not empty) , Purple - Folded aluminium foil (touching metal on each side), Green - A Peaking area (can be open to place water and monitor temperature), and the Maroon - Metal plate to place water
 

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I'm sorry, but the drawing is completely unintelligible. Is this viewed from the side? The Top? Where is the sunlight coming from, and what is it reflected onto? There are probably designs for solar cookers on line, I suggest you google them.
 
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I can see what he means. The pipes are all illuminated by the sun. Spreading the water over a large area will pick up more power.
A rule of thumb is that a maximum of about 1kW falls on a Square metre of surface and that should give a clue about the area that your 500ml of water needs to cover (given the time requirement). There'll be losses, of course, if you are using such a lot of piping - partly because the pipes need also to be warmed and also, the large area will radiate (lose) an appreciable amount of IR. Using a parabolic reflector system, the losses will be less as the heated volume can be kept in a smaller space. Most solar ovens use a reflector system and can reach extremely high temperatures.
The Optics don't need to be too special as it's not actually necessary to focus the heat onto a single spot - just the 500ml container. A reflector can be made easily with papier mache´and covered with kitchen foil. You don't want wrinkles so you need to cut out thin strips which can be stuck down and still stay optically flat enough (shiny). I did this once, with an old satellite (0.5m dish) and could boil a small blackened tin of water in full sun very quickly. (No numbers, I'm afraid)
 
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Algr said:
I'm sorry, but the drawing is completely unintelligible. Is this viewed from the side? The Top? Where is the sunlight coming from, and what is it reflected onto? There are probably designs for solar cookers on line, I suggest you google them.
Sorry for lack of information, its is from the top view.
 
So to sum it up, it is better to use direct sunlight, as in parabolic reflector it will focus in giving direct sunlight towards an desired area. So my idea of 'keeping the heat' is basically bad due to loosing of heat, am I correct?
 
Muhammad Syahril said:
So my idea of 'keeping the heat' is basically bad due to loosing of heat, am I correct?
Yes. A compact shape will reduce the heat loss and you get the advantage of the gathering power of a massive reflector.
You really must do some calculations or you don't know what size your reflector needs to be. Are you ok with that?
 

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