Solar Oven Project

A friend an I have started a renewable energy club at my College. Anyway, we were discussing some projects to do and one of the ones we voted on was solar cooking. Each of us are going to attempt building a solar oven.

I have a design I thought of. A TV dinner box painted black placed inside a larger box insulated with whatever materials avaliable (Newspaper, Styrofoam, Fiberglass, Ceramic Fiber, ect) and the top covered with a peice of glass plus mirrors or foil reflecting light into the box.

Sounds workable?

I'm going to try heating TV dinner with it.

Might be best to start with a design that's been well tested and then alter it to better fit your needs...Google "solar oven plans" for some ideas.

Take a look at this site for a some ideas..

^
Thanks

The first one on the left in that link was almost exactly what I had in mind.

I've been thinking about this for a while. My wife and I got one of those "cardboard kits" that you cover with tin foil. We've cooked a meal in it and it worked OK.

But... the thing is pretty fragile and doesn't inspire confidence.

There is a guy that takes a big, wheeled solar oven around to energy shows. It looks like the one on this page:

http://www.sunoven.com/

It is big enough that they use it to bake cookies, etc. at shows.

Now I am beginning to think of a solar oven like some people have a BBQ or a Turkey Fryer sitting outside on their deck pretty much year around. It would allow you to do some serious solar cooking! I read somewhere the other day that the heat for cooking represents some large percentage of a household's energy costs. Our home is quite well insulated and the other day my wife had cooked a casserole in the oven for a while. We have a single "great room" design for our kitchen, dining and living area. That Great Room got really hot! Apparently just from the heat from the oven.

It's been a while since I've started this thread but we got them tested today. Mine reached 110°C (230F) after a half hour. I had another class to attend after so I didn't get to see the peak temperature but it was still riseing. I think the hottest it got might have been 115°C-120°C but by the time I was able to get back to it, the sun had moved to where it was being shaded by some nearby bushes and it had already dropped back down to ambient. If it did reach 120°C, that's 250°F; really hot for something made from just cardboard, foil , newspaper, and glass.

Professer Wolf made his oven out of a pizza box and his reached about 105°C before he removed his thermometer since it was close enough to the point where it would explode.

Jason Lee's cooker, which involves a parabolic reflector, wasen't done yet so we didn't get to test that.

I didn't get any pics but I'll try to later.

I have never thought of solar energy for cooking, what a great idea.

I plan to use solar electricity and water heating on my roof when I have more income to spend on "green living".

But for a cheep way of cooking food in the summer, warming water for washing up, pre heating water for the kettle to save ££, this thread has my brain in gear.

Excellent....