Solar Cooker thread
Wed, 2006-10-04 12:09
#1
Solar Cooker thread
Wed, 2006-10-04 12:09
#2
I have been laid up for a couple of weeks after surgery so I couldnt do much.
I downloaded info about making a solar funnel cooker and made one and it works.
an old box, some kitchen foil and glue and hey presto, solar oven!
I only intend to use it to steralize soil. This morning I cooked some soil to 70 degrees c with it. and I am trying a different configeration just now.
Why do it in the winter in canada?
At the end of his article the guy (a physicist at a big university in the usa) says that one reason africans do not adapt new technology is because it hasnt been adapted here in rich countrys.
And people are cutting down all the trees and making desert conditions much worse just to cook food.
So, one way to help people is to play in our back yards with colar cookers and report to each other about our results.
My funnel cooker was made from a (too thick) cardboard computer box and kitchen foil, duct tape and glue. So far, I have got water to 86 degrees C and soil to 70 C without any special effort. No pots painted black or anything like that.
In my case, I will need to leave the cooker unattended during the day (because i work) but it would be nice to steralise a whole bunch of soil and save a fortune on potting material.
So, I will have to design some sort of tracker and something to measure temperature reached in middle of the pots every day. (some days are cloudy and I dont want any living weed seeds.
AND it is a funnel cooker (but mine doesnt look much like a round funnel!) cardboard too stiff!.
Why not a funnel with all the light going through?
and curved UP a round 4 inch wide curve to under a pot? couldnt you retain lots more heat then?
(part of the deal is to gather the heat and part is to retain it)
Anyway, if you are interested, why not make one or 2 solar cookers and fart around cooking stuff to see how hot you can go?
Another thing he mentions is that at night, on a clear night these things are super radiators and he has cooled stuff off in them (much cooler than air temperature) and he thinks they might be used as fridges in desert regions at some stage!
Worth checking out, I think.
The man is an astronomical physicist. And his cooker is designed speciffically to be as cost effective as possible and as cheap. Your design can have wings or whatever you like!
Wed, 2006-10-04 12:21
#3
Lard Tunderin Jeezus
Sounds very interesting. Would you happen to have a link handy?
Wed, 2006-10-04 13:01
#4
Damn, I forgot the link! sorry
[url=http://solarcooking.org/funnel.htm]http://solarcooking.org/funnel.htm[/url]
Thu, 2006-10-05 15:46
#5
Hey!
Thanks for this info, Brian White. It's amazing after all the reading and research I do on these matters, I had no clue what so ever that this is so readily available.
I even know some folks who are involved with the Vancouver Renewable Energy Co-op, and I still had never heard of this.
Guess what I will be trying to make this weekend!
Thu, 2006-10-05 15:49
#6
Oh ya, I forgot:
Glass of House Red for Brian White.
Fri, 2006-10-13 02:38
#7
[url=http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/LowCostDesign/photos/browse/a675]http:/...
will hopefully get you to pictures of the (extremely simple) working solar cooker that I made and beens cooked in it on october 12th.
And I have a few videos taken with the camera too. Where to put them on the web?
Brian
Fri, 2006-10-13 13:47
#8
t
Sun, 2007-07-29 22:17
#9
Anyways, I have used the solar cookers through the summer for steralising soil. (It works good for seedlings to grow in weed and insect free soil).
My solar cooker videos are at
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH48iHBGc-0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
(the first one)
and my more recent one is at
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TibpeLdS4uY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
I have high hopes that the ideas in the second video will help a lot of people.
Fri, 2007-08-17 05:33
#10
I just watched these videos -- what a great project, Brian White! Thank you for posting them here. I checked out the solar cooker link and was impressed by all the foods (in addition to the beans and potatoes in the video) that can be cooked using this method. Here's a sampling, complete with approximate cooking times:
quote:
Vegetables (Potatoes, carrots, squash, beets, asparagus, etc.)
Preparation: No need to add water if fresh. Cut into slices or "logs" to ensure uniform cooking. Corn will cook fine with or without the cob.
Cooking Time: About 1.5 hoursCereals and Grains (Rice, wheat, barley, oats, millet, etc.)
Preparation: Mix 2 parts water to every 1 part grain. Amount may vary according to individual taste. Let soak for a few hours for faster cooking. To ensure uniform cooking, shake jar after 50 minutes. CAUTION: Jar will be hot. Use gloves or cooking pads.
Cooking Time: 1.5-2 hoursPasta and Dehydrated Soups
Preparation: First heat water to near boiling (50-70 minutes). Then add the pasta or soup mix. Stir or shake, and cook 15 additional minutes.
Cooking Time: 65-85 minutesBeans
Preparation: Let tough or dry beans soak overnight. Place in cooking jar with water.
Cooking Time: 2-3 hoursEggs
Preparation: No need to add water. Note: If cooked too long, egg whites may darken, but taste remains the same.
Cooking Time: 1-1.5 hours, depending on desired yolk firmness.Meats (Chicken, beef, and fish)
Preparation: No need to add water. Longer cooking makes the meat more tender.
Cooking Time: Chicken: 1.5 hours cut up or 2.5 hours whole; Beef: 1.5 hours cut up or 2.5-3 hours for larger cuts; Fish: 1-1.5 hoursBaking
Preparation: Times vary based on amount of dough.
Cooking Times: Breads: 1-1.5 hours; Biscuits: 1-1.5 hours; Cookies: 1 hour
Fri, 2007-08-17 05:59
#11
You know what would be good? Chop up some onions and potatoes, a bit of salt and pepper and perhaps other spices you might like with your potatoes, drizzle a bit of olive oil on it, and into the solar cooker for a few hours!
Mmmmm. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
Thanks for this, Brian! And thanks for bumping it, mgregus. I didn't notice this the first time it was posted last year.
Sun, 2007-08-26 00:56
#12
Well, this is probably the last solar cooker.
I need to stop the stupid experiments and clean up the yard for good.
This one is made with a wood frame and Cob to make the curve of a parabola. It has to dry for a week first and then have kitchen foil put on the surface and then it will be mounted like a sandwich board to easily point at the sun. It has 4 times the area of the biggest of the others and should concentrate the rays of the sun to a really hot point about 16 inches above the cooker.
I just slapped the video together (just like my prototype). However, this one has real potential because you nead minimal material to build one.
I found a big problem with the cardboard solar cookers is that they are too small and they get soggy and fold under rain pressure! hopefully cob is better.
Brian
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hTLjIrj4s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Sun, 2007-08-26 06:20
#13
No experiments are stupid! And yours sound like great fun. Everyone needs a hobby, Brian. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
Sun, 2007-09-02 20:50
#14
Last one
[url=http://www.instructables.com/id/ERKOK1WF5Y3YSRE/]http://www.instructable...
Cloudy weather now in vic.
I made the big cob parabola and it worked (while i was away so I didn't get to see it happen) but no sun about now. Darn!
I put in the instructions for making a parabolic cooker on the site above. Seems to be full of technically interested people so I might get peer review. (Something I have found sorely lacking on other sites)
I might try them with the pulser pump too.
Brian
Tue, 2007-09-25 00:07
#15
I am now calling my device for making a parabolic dish a "mechanical mathematician".
More about it is coming in october on a large alternative energy site.
I think it will help start a revolution in making of large appropriate technology solar cookers in poorer countrys. Before, you needed an office with a mathematician designing your parabola, then a blacksmith to make the template and another skilled worker to make the parabolic oven.
Now all you need is 3 boards nailed together and a piece of string and some kitchen foil!
and the mathematician can be used to make any type of parabolic cooker. (there are several types).
I am pretty darn happy with this.
Anyways, if you know of some solar nutts in your neighbourhood or some natural builders (cob buildings) please let them know about this method.
Thank you
Brian
quote:
Originally posted by Brian White:
[b]Last one
[url=http://www.instructables.com/id/ERKOK1WF5Y3YSRE/]http://www.instructable...
Cloudy weather now in vic.
I made the big cob parabola and it worked (while i was away so I didn't get to see it happen) but no sun about now. Darn!
I put in the instructions for making a parabolic cooker on the site above. Seems to be full of technically interested people so I might get peer review. (Something I have found sorely lacking on other sites)
I might try them with the pulser pump too.
Brian[/b]
Tue, 2007-09-25 02:17
#16
Several years ago I attended a Solar Conference at Ukia Ca. Among the many impressive displays was a gallon jar of chili simmering merrily away in the sun. The jar was painted matte black except for a small window and the jar had a loose fitted lid. The whole wqs contained in a square cardboard box with the four lids tied open to about 45 degrees and the upper surfaces, and spaces between the lids, covered with aluminum foil. I don't recall whether the interior of the box also needed to be covered with the foil - probably wouldn't hurt.
Tue, 2007-09-25 09:44
#17
quote:
Originally posted by bliter:
[b]Several years ago I attended a Solar Conference at Ukia Ca. Among the many impressive displays was a gallon jar of chili simmering merrily away in the sun. The jar was painted matte black except for a small window and the jar had a loose fitted lid. The whole wqs contained in a square cardboard box with the four lids tied open to about 45 degrees and the upper surfaces, and spaces between the lids, covered with aluminum foil. I don't recall whether the interior of the box also needed to be covered with the foil - probably wouldn't hurt.[/b]
Tue, 2007-09-25 10:24
#18
. There is a section on the biggest solar cooker site where the author does almost all the different types. The box cookers come highly recommended despite being so simple. they require a sheet of glass or plastic over the box. The air in the box gets really hot and the heat from the air does a lot of the heating of the food.
[url=http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/]http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/[/url]
The weakness of box cookers is that they only receive the light that hits the box and any pannels above. Check out the primrose solar cooker lower on the solar cooker page. The "mechanical mathematician" could easily be used to construct a similar cooker from cob or mud or earth or cardboard pannels. With such a cooker, you would get a lot of light focused from below. You could turn your box upside down over your food over a hole in the table and convection losses would be almost eliminated! (cos hot air goes up and it aint going anywhere in an insulated box!) so in a cooker like the primrose, you might not need a glass cover at all!
That is really important. When you are designing for really poor people, you cannot assume they have access to turkey roasting bags or big flat panes of glass or even cardboard!
That was the whole point in making a cob solar oven. An outside rich world input IS needed (kitchen foil)
and someone to show people how to use the mathematician but nothing else.
Sisters can do it for themselves! Most cooking is done by women so they are at the forefront of solar cooking here and abroad.
The "mechanical mathematician" has been accepted on a couple of appropriate tech sites so I am hoping that in a couple of months field tests and results will be coming in.
quote:
Originally posted by bliter:
[b]Several years ago I attended a Solar Conference at Ukia Ca. Among the many impressive displays was a gallon jar of chili simmering merrily away in the sun. The jar was painted matte black except for a small window and the jar had a loose fitted lid. The whole wqs contained in a square cardboard box with the four lids tied open to about 45 degrees and the upper surfaces, and spaces between the lids, covered with aluminum foil. I don't recall whether the interior of the box also needed to be covered with the foil - probably wouldn't hurt.[/b]
Sun, 2007-12-02 17:38
#19
I have a new video on the "mechanical mathematician" for making parabolic curves for solar cookers.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBUbHIeXzXY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
I am looking for a new sexy name for it.
Any ideas?
Your contribution will be accknoweleged if I choose the name you suggest.
I am hoping it will be in use in hati in the coming months
Brian
Sun, 2007-12-02 18:15
#20
For those that like to simmer a tasty stew on a nasty Canadian winter day [url=http://www.betterfarming.com/2007/december/lfe.html] this, biogas, [/url] aproach might be a tad more apealing.
Brian, would have liked to see your solar cooker but U-tube generally takes too long to download for me.
Sun, 2007-12-02 22:00
#21
I actually did the video on prompting from a guy going to work in haiti. It is certainly not relevent to victoria in the winter.
But perhaps biogas is not either. It seems to compete directly with food production.
In the haiti situation, biogas might also directly compete with food production.
Easy ways to produce solar cookers would compliment food production in my opinion.
quote:
Originally posted by Bubbles:
[b]For those that like to simmer a tasty stew on a nasty Canadian winter day [url=http://www.betterfarming.com/2007/december/lfe.html] this, biogas, [/url] aproach might be a tad more apealing.Brian, would have liked to see your solar cooker but U-tube generally takes too long to download for me.[/b]
Mon, 2007-12-03 09:15
#22
I agree a solar cooker probably makes more sence for Haiti, I have never been there, but from what I hear Biomass is somewhat in short supply there.
I am curious how well solar cookers are used there. As a kid I used to live in the tropics, and it seemed that the nicest time to eat was in the evening after sunset. Would be nice if one could store some solar heat for evening cooking.
I agree using biomass for energy to some degree cuts into foodproduction. But the production of methane only extracts hydrogen, carbon and oxygen from the biomass and the rest can be cycled back into new biomass production. Probably making it more environmentally friendly then cooking over a wood fire.
Sun, 2007-12-09 22:44
#23
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKh9wGVjYro]http://www.youtube.com/watch?... is the latest and probably the last for a while.
I am putting a link to it on
[url=http://solarcooking.wikia.com]http://solarcooking.wikia.com[/url] too
Sun, 2008-01-06 01:35
#24
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
[b]No experiments are stupid! And yours sound like great fun. Everyone needs a hobby, Brian. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img] [/b]
Thank you very much Michelle for kind words at the right time. My first funnel cooker was just a copy of someone elses work. From it came the mechanical mathematician (which is getting nice reviews from engineers and scientists right now after almost 6 months in the open) and from that came the accumulating solar barbecue. (Which most people could make if they put their minds to it).
I used to think scientific and technical advances were self evident. Unfortunately this is not true. Most people just feed on whatever info is given them.
Sun, 2008-01-06 03:52
#25
I'm glad. This is one of my favorite recurring threads. I just read and don't contribute because I don't have much to contribute, but I always follow it!
Sun, 2008-01-06 04:47
#26
Boom Boom
Same here. I follow all the alternative energy threads in the hopes that I'll find a technology that's pretty well along, and affordable - I'm a pensioner.
ETA: on the other hand, Quebec Hydro's rates here are quite affordable for me. I'd like some solar-powered stuff, anyway, as backup for those rare times when there's a blackout, usually due to a bad storm.
[ 06 January 2008: Message edited by: Boom Boom ]
Sun, 2008-01-06 09:28
#27
I apoligize. I was not attacking you guys. I should have written "Most scientists just feed on whatever info is given them".
Science is supposed to be, you publish something, and other people knitpick it, build one, tear it apart and either it crumbles or is stronger.
I made the first pulser pump 20 years ago and gave away a few models to environmental institutes. They never even put them on display!
That is just sick. One on my brother's farm was still running last year, pumping water for animals. 20 years old, no moving parts,made out of scrap and crap and still working!
How valuable would something like that be in a poor african riverside village?
With the solar stuff, I asked about mounting a solar cooker to track the sun in newsgroups 6 months ago. I don't think I got one reply.
But thousands of astronomers know.
(Equatorial mount is the easy way).
So I made up my own system to track the sun.
Problem is, my system was wrong and i only realised last night. (Just a bit wrong and didn't matter for what I did last year).
BUT some smug people have seen it on the net and never said anything! They should have told me.
Now, a lot of people are checking it out and starting off on the wrong foot too!
Which means I will have to put up a couple of updates and new video's which is a total pain.
O well.
Thu, 2008-02-07 18:21
#28
Somewhere on the scientific america website they have featured one of my little videos about the "mechanical mathematician". An editor informed me today.
The Mathematician is a helper for making parabolic reflectors.
Anyways, it is one connection between babble and SCI america. (I am pretty sure this thread was my first solar cooker thing on the web).
There is a guy in ontario trying to import solar cookers from china. He just wants 1 but bulk orders are of course much cheaper and there must be at least a hundred people in Van ready to splurge!
Cheapest entry point is vancouver. Here is some of his corespondence.
If you are interested, let me know before thursday and I will send him your email.
I sent an email to Sangli and here is their reply…
Dear Ken Roach ,
Very glad to receive your e-mail with many thanks .
Yes , we are a senior manufacturer in China's solar cookers projects and you
could purchase from us directly .
At present, there is no dealer in UK or Canada , you could consider as soon as
possible ,because now the goverment supports the using of renewable energy
and many buyers are planing to do this project .
If you would like to buy one unit , we always could accept your sample price ,
$150.00/unit on FOBShanghai and after receipt of your formal order ,the extra
cost will be return to your account , in your future order , the price is
USD95.00/unit on FOBShanghai , pls. confirm .
Anyway , you could transit the goods from Shanghai,China to Vancouver ,Canada,
if you need more information ,pls. contact me and I will ask our shipping agent the
detail freight cost .
With best regards!
Betty
Jiangsu Sunny Solar Energy Co.,Ltd.
Tel:0086-515-88466990
Fax:0086-515-88466877
cell:13851089201
If anyone on this group is actually interested in one of these, it seems that they will send them here (although not as cheap as originally thought). Even at $150, they are not exactly overpriced. At $95l, they would be a bargain, IMHO. I am going to order at least one for myself, if I can get it to the Toronto area - Vancouver is 3000 miles from here! I will keep you posted as the details progress, but if you actually are interested and the initial price (don't forget shipping - I will ask about this next), then let me know.
Ken Roach
Mon, 2008-04-07 23:30
#29
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npmx28KYth4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?... is the latest on the tracking solar accumulating barbie.
I am trying to design a whole low tech manefacturing process so it is taking its own sweet time.
Cob mould for the 'satalite dish", First dish was made from an old plastic sign cut and covered with kitchen foil with skinny ribs of wood to keep its shape, equatorial mount was a kids skateboard scooter thing attached to a pallet, etc.
Today I was sick, so puttered around and did a heating test. (It is not yet set up to follow the sun) It does work, I got enough sunny spells to see that! Some people were incredibly sarchastic online about it.
I will have to pay more attention to precision on the next reflector though.
I am well on the way to designing a simple tracking system (so that it keeps heating up allday). I am pretty sure it will be accurate enough for me and lots of people in poor countrys.
I saw a thing on utube today (it is somewhere in my favorites) by a hotshot young guy who has designed and patented a way of controlling heliostats. He noted that parabolic dishes are far superior to parabolic troughs for solar concentration.
And that concentration will be very important in photovoltaics in the near future.
Anyways, finally! A day with a few hours of sunshine in victoria.
And progress too.
Brian
Sat, 2008-04-12 18:53
#30
I added 2 videos about my dripper tracker to utube in the last couple of days.
The dripper tracker works! It is very simple indeed. (Another tracker idea of mine is on solar cookers international but I couldnt make it)
Anyways, the dripper tracker might be worth looking at if any of you do volunteer work in poor countrys, Or if people are willing to spend a little time on backyard solar experiments like I do.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/user/gaiatechnician]http://www.youtube.com/user/g... is all the videos (just look at the recent stuff).
Brian
Fri, 2008-09-05 11:20
#31
Well, I am still at the solar damn cooking! I won a little prize on an internet green competition for one of my low tech trackers.
But tracking brings its own problems.
With parabolic dishes, tracking and aiming of the dish has to be so damn accurate!
In a low tech appropriate technology setting it just doesn't fly.
So I have looked for ways to introduce tollerance for human error into the system.
I have found it in the "compound parabolic dish"
Compound parabolic dishes have "acceptance angles" The sun moves at 15 degrees per hour.
You can set your acceptance angle for 15 degrees, 30 45 or more. I have made a 45 degree compound parabolic dish. This means that it can be set up to "accept" max 3 hours of sunlight before it needs to be repointed.
It is in "testing" as I type and 7 liters of water in a pot has reached 71C from 17c at the start in 2hr 8 minutes without me moving the dish!
With such a large tollerence, you can put your water in a pot in the evening (1 or 2 liters perhaps) and aim it for the morning sun. Next day, place your food in the boiling water and adjust the aim of the cooker for a couple of hours of slow cooking.
Videos are at
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eY0xh23Anc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?... for the making of the dome and dish and at
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX9Z-nsUHiA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?... optics experiment on the cheap which explains how to do your own simple optics testing before you design your own solar dish.
The 2 videos have only got 200 views combined but already both have got ratings.
I am hopeful that they are good contributions to solar cooking design and that they will help more talented people than me to step in and improve things further.
Brian
Fri, 2008-09-05 12:18
#32
ElizaQ
Brian thanks for this. It's great! Making a trying out a solar cooker was on my list of things that I wanted to do this summer but I never quite managed to get to it. I am inspired again!
Mon, 2008-11-17 01:19
#33
I won a prize in the instructables hungry scientist competition. I entered with instructions about how to make a compound parabolic solar cooker. I did not even know I was concidered as a finalist. Anyway, I placed in a cooking competition which is pretty amazing! (especially as I am a useless cook).
I really think the compound parabolic cookers can make a big difference to peoples lives but it is frustrating that so few people are willing to try it. I collected figures this time and they compared with a commercial parabolic dish cooker.
For it I also made a whole new type of mold and procedeure for making the dishes. It seems to me that environmental organizations are all about collecting money. Not actually doing anything! Environmental organisations that do research? None! Well guess what, commercial science is not doing this research either. If I do not do it nobody will!
The other news is more important that the little prize.
I have links to the utube site of a swedish guy who makes a point of light with 2 parabolic troughs combined. He thought up this idea in the 1970's and has been ignored ever since! (parabolic troughs are much easier to make than parabolic dishes).
The head of solar cookers international saw the video and wrote "this is an important addition to our knowelege". How the hell did so many people ignore this guy for 3 decades? Clearly what he did was genius level and he IS an established mathematician.
But still they ignored his work. Something is really wonky in the scientific community! I wish I could figure out exactly what it is. Is science just like religion? People obey the rules as laid down by the science priests but refuse to do their own thinking?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td_c8fIiu4M
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYzgYI9_h6s
show it and the man has lots of links starting from his youtube site.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MathRehab
Brian
Fri, 2008-11-28 10:15
#34
ElizaQ
Well I've been inspired. Yesterday we visited a new green building supply store, in a beautifully renovated barn, that's recently opened up in Meaford called Ecoinhabit. Great place and great people if you get a chance to make a visit.
So I had green on my mind and took a look over some of the threads here including this one before I went to bed. I also have bread baking on my mind as due to a broken oven have been experimenting making bread in my slow cooker and purchased and number of different locally produced flours from the 100 Mile Market in Meaford to continue with my experiments. I have contemplated building a outdoor woodfired bread oven at various points over the past year as well but never got further then just thinking about it.
I woke up in the middle of the night with kind of one of those aha moments.... bread, green, solar cooking, ovens....solar baking!
Low and behold yep you can bake using the power of the sun!
Sun Ovens and this one I discovered, the Villager Sun Oven which can bake dozens of loaves in an hour.
So I've decided to start by DIYing one of the small simple ovens with the goal at trying to figure out how to DIY a larger and possibly more permanent outdoor oven using the concepts in that large and very expensive Villager Sun Oven along with concepts of more traditional woodfire clay or stone ovens. I also think it's possible to combine the principles behind rocket stoves for those days that the sun don't shine.
I've also been contemplating building an outdoor solar collector/shed as part of our possible future home heating system based on in floor heating with water. It's based on this article here.
I've already sketched out some ideas that combine that shed with a wood drying/storage shed something that we do want because we are looking at burning wood as part of our energy system for winter months as well as for drying green wood for building projects.
It's now turned into a bigger idea of combining all this with the concept of an outdoor kitchen area or 'summer kitchen' which were typical parts of houses in days gone by. Now though, based on solar cooking, slow cooking concepts. This is also something I wish I had during those summer 35 plus degree days when cooking is just styfling inside.
This also combines basic permaculture principles which entail combining and integrating various systems to gain the widest benefit of material usage and energy flows through the homestead eco-system.
Anyways I want to thank you Brian for your inspiration. I'm going to be studying everything you've been doing over the next few months to see how it might be integrated in with my big experiment.
Fri, 2008-11-28 10:25
#35
ElizaQ
Just to add. One of the other main reasons I'm looking at this is because during the late summer preserving the harvest is just something you have to do even if you forgo making hot food to eat.
Canning in hot, hot weather is horrible as you can't get away from having hours of steaming hot water heating up the kitchen. There were some days that I have been known to just wear an apron and my bathing suit because it got so durn hot. 
Sun, 2008-11-30 16:41
#36
Hi, ElizaQ,
I am glad that you are planning something solar. Please keep your plans tentative until the new year.
I have entered the compound parabolic solar cooker and the tracking solar accumulator into the google 10 100 competition which does not really take off until january 2009. No, I do not expect to win. There will be only 5 winners and the winning ideas get promoted by google to the tune of 5 million. (The winning idea makers get nothing.) and it is really self promotion by google. But they do find prospective interested partys for non winners and that is what I am hoping for. I believe that some existing software can be adapted so that people can desigh their own active or passive solar cookers. So far truespace or blender might work.
Truespace is the leader at the moment but that may change and other software may be better.
Both are free. Anyway, I am hoping for this really soon.
Just to add. One of the other main reasons I'm looking at this is because during the late summer preserving the harvest is just something you have to do even if you forgo making hot food to eat.
Canning in hot, hot weather is horrible as you can't get away from having hours of steaming hot water heating up the kitchen. There were some days that I have been known to just wear an apron and my bathing suit because it got so durn hot.
Mon, 2009-02-16 20:20
#37
My latest solar adventure has been the search for software to help amateurs design their own better solar cookers and reflectors. This is a fairly wide field and it has not been properly researched. (A mathematics professor from Sweden told me there is lots still to be done on caustics).
I asked in forums of blender, povray, google sketchup and truespace. (all free modeling or animation programs) and they can produce realistic light effects. All forums produced responses but nothing gelled.
I wanted something easy to use where you could make your new dish or panel cooker in the program and then see how good it does over time.
I think that I have finally found something suitable. It is called "Art of illusion" It is a java program (not an applet) that is free and will run under windows, linux etc.
The user interphase is very simple too. The best part of it is the guys are so helpful! The guy who made it Peter Eastman gave me helpful answers right away and another guy put up a tutorial in my thread, and another guy (Pete) did scene files to get me started and continues to provide help.
Parabolic dishes the best shape for a solar collector? NO! and it took me 2 years to get to that answer. Art of illusion will allow others to skip that 2 year learning curve!
My first results are at
http://www.instructables.com/id/SHDDXHZFR0ZHCZX/
The scene files from Pete saved me weeks of work and learning. I added to them and they are just about ready for prime time.
Very soon, they will be adjusted and improved and become a valuable devellopment and educational tool,
Brian White
Sun, 2009-02-22 16:47
#38
The new main page for using software for solar work will be
http://www.instructables.com/id/Use_software_to_design_a_better_solar_co...
The initial response everywhere has been non existant which is pretty disapointing. Even in the solar cooking groups, nothing. solarcooking.org nothing.
One of the guys is designing an art of illusion "sun engine" so that (eventually) you just put in your co ordinates and time of year and you house or lot plan and you will see the shadow pattern for that day in your garden! For instance, you could site a greenhouse or a planter in the perfect position with this. (Or even a house for that matter).
This could be a great landscape design tool. And it is free too!
For most of those software people this is a hobby project too. I do not want them to walk away from it after giving so much help.
Anyway, hope some good comes from it.
Brian
Mon, 2009-02-23 12:20
#39
ElizaQ
Hey Brian,
Thanks for all of this. As I wrote about upthread I'm really interested in playing around with solar cooking and hopefully will get to it this summer.
You're correct on that software. I just briefly checked it out. I use Google Sketchup right now for my basic designs. The thought of being able to add a 'sun engine' into the designing process would be really helpful as much of what I am doing is based on passive solar principles. I belong to couple of permaculture disscussion groups and I know there would be interest there for this type of thing.
I could use it right now actually. I'm in the process of planning some soft structure hardscape with hedging and trees and to be able to plot the shadows as they grow to their full size would be really cool. Right now I have to just imagine. I have used actual landscaping software before which does this but I find that software quite limited in what I'm particularly doing as well as computer resource intensive and more a pain then anything else which is why I just eventually went with sketchup for ease of use. Sometimes it seems that the more basic 'free' programs are much better in terms of flexibility.
Wed, 2009-02-25 00:20
#40
ElizaQ
Oh cool. Thanks, that's wonderful. Can't wait to check it out. :D
I've downloaded the program and hopefully will get some time in the next few days to figure it out.
Thu, 2009-02-26 21:04
#41
Thank you, I will pass your comments on today and who knows, they have responded super quick in the past!
One thing I really like about art of illusion is the tiny file sizes. My scene files that contain 5 different solar cooker reflectors and makes quicktime movies of them is just over 5kb in size! (I shouldn't say my because another guy set it up for me). With the sun engine, it would just be a matter of sketching out your lot and house in the scene, typeing in date and latitude and watching the shadows for that day! Thats what I hope anyway.
(Also, the google 10 100 thing got so many entrys that they moved the judging up to till 17th march. I still do not expect to win but at least I have not lost yet!). I think we mentioned it up thread.
Thanks for the response
PS, one day later, he replied and he has said that he will try to have the sun engine ready by sunday, march first. (But no promises).
thurs 26th
http://www.instructables.com/id/Use_software_to_design_a_better_solar_co... should now work as a link. (They pulled it offline until I added more pictures). The important pics for learning are on step 2 and they are in sequence and have image notes to explain things. I have a lot of extra stuff of doubtful value in the downloadable scene files.
Please be patient as I trim and refine it.
I am learning the software too!
Brian
Wed, 2009-03-04 02:34
#42
The guy did make the sun engine but it is for version 1.7 of art of illusion.
I have 1.6 so i do not know how good it is.
It is on an art of illusion forum for download if you want. The link is in my link above in the thread.
good night
Wed, 2009-03-04 09:53
#43
ElizaQ
Thanks! I'll try to check it out today.
Sun, 2009-04-05 19:41
#44
Refuge
Alright, I have the solar panel thing going, I heat my dish water with a solar bag when I am at home during the day so I wanted to go forth to the solar cooking. I am very new at this. Was looking around for materials today and found a solar blanket made of aluminized polyethylene. It seems much more durable than tin foil so I was wondering if it would be a good or bad replacement in a solar oven.
Tue, 2009-04-14 22:00
#45
I tried solar blankets a few years back. They are not great. (You can see the sun through them). A cheap roll of gro op aluminimized plastic is far better. Mine set me back about $20 but I shopped around. They all call it mylar but perhaps most is immitation stuff but works fine. Mylar is a brand name. and the rolls are long enough for lots of playing in the sun.
In a solar oven you cannot have foil coated plastic because it will burn! (You can have an oven bag inside it because it is made for the heat). A solar panel cooker is what I think you are describing. They are not solar ovens. You can copy a global sun oven or make a "60 40 solar oven" if you want to go DIY. You can check out http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/The_Solar_Cooking_Archive_Wiki and their links on the left will take you to plans for solar cookers and solar ovens. I am currently working slowly on designing a better reflective dish shape for solar cookers and solar ovens. It is on instructables.com. I will put out a video on youtube shortly. The best reflector dish that I have come up with so far is based on rowland winston's w curved trough design. (Way better than a parabolic dish). I hope others join in. The software is called art of illusion and others and me have done most of the gruntwork. You can design a dish or panel cooker and test it against other designs.
Seriously, I have done more R and D in solar cooker design than the Kyoto Box's developer Jon Boehmer, (who just won $US75,000 for develloping a fairly cheap box cooker). (box cookers have been around for decades). So join in and maybe you will get lucky too!
Brian
Alright, I have the solar panel thing going, I heat my dish water with a solar bag when I am at home during the day so I wanted to go forth to the solar cooking. I am very new at this. Was looking around for materials today and found a solar blanket made of aluminized polyethylene. It seems much more durable than tin foil so I was wondering if it would be a good or bad replacement in a solar oven.
Wed, 2009-04-15 22:49
#46
a glass jar, opening covered with tin foil, all tightly covered by a black sock and left in direct sunlight for a while, can get pretty hot...
I'm going to try "boiling" some eggs this way.
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Thu, 2009-04-16 08:12
#47
Refuge
Thanks Brian, I will go out this weekend for the Mylar roll (or wanna be mylar!). I think I will get my feet wet with just the basics of a solar oven first, the last time I made one was when I was about 12 so I think I will get back to basics before trying out different dish shapes. But I will let you know when I decide to move onto more complex stuff. BTW thanks for videos and links, I have looked at them and can't wait till I feel comfortable exploring.
The solar panels I refered to are for electricity, but now that you mention it when I clean them during the day the water sizzles so I might be able to fry an egg on them :-)
Sun, 2009-04-26 17:09
#48
I have done a few new ways to make a solar cooker in the past but nobody has ever copyed my designs. (Guess they are too hard to make)
For instance, I made compound parabolic dishes last september and I thought they performed really well.
Anyway nobody made another so I thought I could use software to PROVE that they were better than parabolic. It took months to find the right easy to use software and it did show that they were better (but not as much better as I had hoped). The software (art of illusion) threw up some very interesting differences between parabolic dishes, hemispheres, compound parabolic dishes and winston w dishes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIRhNRk_0js is a movie based on the software that shows the differences. Anyway, thinking back on the results last night, I changed my approach.
Lets have it super easy to make! With as few cuts as possible, no complicated dish anymore but still awesome concentration of power!
I wrote up a quick "instructable" with a reference design for a new type of "compound trough" solar cooker.
If I get round to making one soon, I will probably use a 30 or 45 degree compound parabolic trough for the large trough and a parabolic or 15 degree compound parabolic for the 2 v shaped trough segments on either side of the cooking pot.
Perhaps some of you will want to play with it sooner?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Compound-solar-cooker/
I hope so!
Brian
Thanks Brian, I will go out this weekend for the Mylar roll (or wanna be mylar!). I think I will get my feet wet with just the basics of a solar oven first, the last time I made one was when I was about 12 so I think I will get back to basics before trying out different dish shapes. But I will let you know when I decide to move onto more complex stuff. BTW thanks for videos and links, I have looked at them and can't wait till I feel comfortable exploring. The solar panels I refered to are for electricity, but now that you mention it when I clean them during the day the water sizzles so I might be able to fry an egg on them :-)
Sun, 2009-04-26 20:36
#49
Refuge
Anyway, thinking back on the results last night, I changed my approach.
Lets have it super easy to make! With as few cuts as possible, no complicated dish anymore but still awesome concentration of power!
I wrote up a quick "instructable" with a reference design for a new type of "compound trough" solar cooker.
If I get round to making one soon, I will probably use a 30 or 45 degree compound parabolic trough for the large trough and a parabolic or 15 degree compound parabolic for the 2 v shaped trough segments on either side of the cooking pot.
Perhaps some of you will want to play with it sooner?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Compound-solar-cooker/
I hope so!
Brian
Thanks Brian, that one really looks more my speed. At the risk of sounding like a total idiot (and definetly showing how new I am to this), the one thing I don't get is how you get the cardboard to curve that way if it is a trough. On the other cookers there is a base that you attach the cardboard to that puts the bent cardboard into place but unless I am reading the trough wrong I don't see a base so how does the cardboard bend and stay bent? Part of the problem also comes from the fact I don't think that I read line drawings very well so I hope you will be patient with my questions and exploration.
Tue, 2009-04-28 01:58
#50
Hi, thanks for the quick reply. It is not a complete deal by any means. I just had a eureka moment and put it out into the big bad world. Left to my own devices, it might be 6 months before I do anything with the idea. In 2 days, 72 people have checked it out, including a few very committed solar cooks. So perhaps someone will make one soon. I would love it if someone else made one before me.
You do not need to back the mylar with cardboard, why not stretch it over the tubing for holding electrical wires or the stiff irrigation tubing? The primary curve in this thing could be 2 meters long and whatever width your mylar is so what you would do is duct tape it to the tubing that is in the right curve and stretch it a bit to keep it taut. You can also use old plastic sign stuff as backing.
Thu, 2009-04-30 22:46
#51
Tried a rough mock up in art of illusion and it seemed ok.
I have called it the "Kyoto trough" so that Richard B will give me a hundred Grand.
It is on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp4TWLQbYJ4
and the embed code is
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jp4TWLQbYJ4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jp4TWLQbYJ4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Tell Richard Branson!
Get him to ship the money to Victoria!