A Solar Stove, Low Cost and High Powered

by Lincoln Kraeuter
(Jensen Beach,FL,USA)

The people of the third world that glean scraps of wood for their cooking fires can build this cheep solar stove. A parabolic trough can be scraped out of sand using a long parabolic shaped board. Direct the axis of the trough east to west. Then line the sand trough with aluminum foil. This will produce a reflector which stays in focus for several days. As the sun moves east to west the intense focal line moves west to east. But as the seasons change, the sand trough must be rescraped tilting it monthly 23.45 degrees north or 23.45 degrees south. The cooking pot can be held by a metal hook on a tripod base. This can be moved to track the concentrated focal line. Or, cook an entire meal in a trough shaped metal tray held in the focal line.Layout and cut the board to the equation: X squared equals 4PY . Where P is the focal distance. Set P equal to 2 meters placing the intense focal line slightly above eye level and the reach of children. A one meter long and four meter wide trough reflector will concentrate a surprising amount of solar energy given the solar intensity at 1100 watts per square meter and the efficiency of the foil reflector at .75 1m x 4m x 1100 watts/sq m x .75 equals 3300 watts per meter of focal line. This is scintillating hot stuff and should be handled with care.


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Very good information.
Thank you for sharing this with us and our visitors.
Is there perhaps a chance you might have some photos of this type of a cooker that you could share with us.

Nathan
Admin.