The 3 Main Kinds Of Solar Oven Designs
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In most 3rd world places, where electricity and other fuel sources are hard to come by, solar oven designs have been used. Not only are they effective in cooking food, but also for water purification in sunny countries like Sudan.
With energy supplies coming under threat, first world countries should get more involved in using solar cooking in households. The nice thing about a solar cooker is that is uses an abundant fuel source - the sun - so it helps to conserve the non-renewable sources of energy. Though it takes about 4 times longer than conventional ovens, it is worth the wait if you think how much it is benefiting the environment.
There have been a variety of unique solar oven designs thought up, but they can be categorized in three shapes: parabolic, panel, and box cookers.
Parabolic Shape:
With the parabolic shape, reflective metal alloy is put into a bowl-like shape, where the sunlight is then focused on a single point. The advantage of this type of design is that it efficiently uses the sun's energy to cook food in the shortest time possible. The only drawback is that it is usually a fixed structure that is hard to transport, and it is the most expensive of the three.
Panel Design:
This shape usually is in a bowl-like shape, and direct the sun's energy to one area. But it differs to a parabolic cooker in that it is put together with a number of reflective, flat panels and is less rounded.
The advantage of the panel shape is that it cheap to build, it can be folded away when not used, and therefore it is great for traveling. It may not be as effective as a parabolic design, but you can simply make one by shaping one of those foldaway windscreen blinds into parabolic shape.
Box Shape:
The third type, a box cooker, operates rather differently to the parabolic and panel cookers. Instead of reflecting light to a central point, it absorbs, traps and intensifies the light to create heat.
What makes the box cooker appealing is that is really easy to make - the simplest design requires a cardboard box, a piece of clear glass or plastic, and tin foil - and it can cook a large portion of food at a time.
What's great about most solar oven designs is that they can be built from everyday materials in a few short hours. Like a conventional oven or stove, they can be used to prepare anything - such as roasted meat, steamed vegetables, rice, fried eggs, and baked bread. And since a solar cooker is used outside, it will not heat up the kitchen and place stress on your cooling system.
And since over two-thirds of Americans (according to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey) cook food on a daily basis, just imagine how much power we could save if more of us used solar oven designs during the sunny months.
So why not solar cooking out for yourself. You really have nothing to lose. If you are not willing to spend money on a professionally made design, why not build one at home with the kids - the internet provides a whole host of free blueprints and instructions, so try it out and have fun saving power.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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