June 15, 2011

Oven #1

OK, a disturbance free night of sleep and I'm feeling much more optimistic. 

Draft #1
Tested draft #1 of the solar oven out with mixed results. I modeled this one of the simplest design I could find, which probably works great in Arizona, but not in New England. It was also the cheapest design costing about $4 for the saran wrap and aluminum foil. I tried heating a cup of water but the sun kept going behind clouds and, while the water did get very warm over the course of a few hours, I'm not sure it's the most effective method. Next time I would use Plexiglas instead of saran wrap for the cover and black sheet metal for the lining, so the heat is held in even when the sun disappears for a moment. I'm not sure which oven design I'll try next, but I'll keep you updated.
From the Desk of

6 comments:

  1. StevenJune 15, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Get a smaller box to fit inside the one you have pictured. Use crumpled newspaper between the the two boxes as an insulator. You've got the right idea having the inside of the oven be black.

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  2. Ash NicholsJune 15, 2011 at 11:54 AM

    This one is two boxes, one on top of the other with insulation on the bottom half. There are so many things I'm going to change!

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  3. StevenJune 15, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    Oh. I'll just shut up now then.

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  4. Ash NicholsJune 15, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    Steve, you need to be my architect. You design while I play with the tacky glue:)

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  5. StevenJune 15, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    I might just stop by home depot tonight and see if I can't find some (cheap) stuff to make one. Here in the SW it's a slam dunk cause the ambient temps are in the 90-100's, but if the oven cooks whatever in say 2-3 hours I think I might be onto something that'll work where you're at.

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  6. AnonymousJune 16, 2011 at 2:40 AM

    Hey Ash/Steve !

    Thanks for experimenting. I am curious to see what works better, the silver or the black background ?

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete

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