Solar Ovens
Cooking with Solar Ovens is totally Free! Solar cookers use only the sun's energy to cook all your favorite recipes. Cooking with a "Sun Oven" is much like your normal cookout except with no smoky charcoal or dangerous propane or other gases!
Picture by Czajko
Solar stoves are especially useful in places where there is little or no fuel for cooking. Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate they are great for low income people! There is no gathering wood or buying charcoal. Solar cookers are being promoted around the world for use by the poor because of their simplicity and low cost.
Basic Principles of Solar Cooker Design
Concentrating Sunlight- Sunlight needs to be
concentrated
onto the cooking area with either a mirror or some type of reflective film or metal to increase the cooking power.
Converting light to heat- The inside of the solar cooker should be painted flat black or as dark a color as possible to absorb as much of the suns rays and convert them to heat. This will increase the effectiveness of the solar cooker.
Trapping heat- In able to keep the heat trapped inside the Solar cooker it is best to seal the the cooker to keep air from circulating through the cooker. A heat resistant plastic bag or close fitting glass cover will work just fine. This is especially important for cold and windy days!
The Greenhouse effect- This effect is caused by the fact that glass allows visible light to reflect out but traps infrared thermal radiation from reflecting back out of the cooker. This greatly increases the heat trapping effect and raises the temperature in the solar cooker.
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