Free Vegan Solar Cooking Demo
Posted by eganvay on Jul 02, 2008 · Member since Jul 2008 · 3 posts
Hello,
This weekend I'll be giving a free solar cooking demo in Maynard. (30 min weset of boston)
My solar oven gets lots of attention, and gives me a great opportunity to talk about
sustainablility and vegan living.
check out the hardware at:
www.YogaWithJohn.com/solar-cooking
hope you can come !!
john
That looks cool - I wish I could see it, but I live in out-of-state :(
Good luck!
Question: on an average sunny day, lets say sun is perpendicular to horizontal, what kind of temp could you maintain in that oven?
VF - you're such a scientist ;D
VF - you're such a scientist ;D
That's what I was thinking! ;)b
Question: on an average sunny day, lets say sun is perpendicular to horizontal, what kind of temp could you maintain in that oven?
Actually, I was just wondering the same thing. I noticed that the mirros seemed to be angled in the wrong direction, so instead of sunlight hitting the mirrors and being directed into the oven, they are angled outward so that sunlight reflects away from the oven. So I was just curious how this works.
It seems logical to think that it would work much better if the mirrors where kept in the same orientation, but the oven was then repositioned to a point ABOVE the mirrors, then it would work like a solar trogh.
Here is a picture of a solar trough:
And here is a diagram of how a solar trough works, the oven would be located at the focal point of the reflectors:
Question: on an average sunny day, lets say sun is perpendicular to horizontal, what kind of temp could you maintain in that oven?
Actually, I was just wondering the same thing. I noticed that the mirros seemed to be angled in the wrong direction, so instead of sunlight hitting the mirrors and being directed into the oven, they are angled outward so that sunlight reflects away from the oven. So I was just curious how this works.
I was thinking the same thing, so I drew it out on paper. Looks like the reflectors should work fine at angles steeper than 55 degrees or so. Though you are maybe only doubling the amount of light into the oven... maybe more though, it just depends on the size of the reflectors.
The real benefit to a solar cooker is that it capture heat energy from the sun, well duh. The same with a solar trough, but there the energy is converted to electricity and you want the maximum efficiency. The solar cooker just has to be efficient enough to heat food (again with the well duh). Solar troughs are aligned so that the rays from the sun are entering perpendicular to the opening. As the sun moves earth rotates, the sun's position relative to opening of the trough moves. To keep max energy transfer, the trough has to be repositioned. The solar cooker can be positioned so the sun's energy will be absorbed well enough and long enough to cook food. It doesn't have to be repositioned, it just has to stay hot. The collectors will refocus some of the rays, all of the time. All of the rays some of the time would result in food that is very well heated for a short period of time.
the temps...
solar cooker - 180 degrees F
solar trough - 750 degrees F