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Solar cooker
Solar cookers use focused sunlight to heat a small container of food or water. The three main types are the panel, box, and parabolic. They are cheap, reusable, lightweight, environmentally friendly, and easy to build. A panel cooker can be made in less than one hour using just cardboard and aluminum foil. A box cooker can be made with two cardboard boxes and some clear plastic. The parabolic cooker is the most difficult to build but it cooks much faster than the other two types.The panel cooker uses several flat cardboard panels to focus sunlight at a container. Aluminum foil is glued to one side of a large sheet of corrugated cardboard, which need to remain rigid in windy conditions. The sheet is then cut and folded to form a semicircular base with several vertical panels along the curved edge. Naturally, the foil sides must face inwards so that the sunlight is focused at the container. There are many different ways to fold a panel cooker, and folding patterns are readily available on the internet. Once the cooker is positioned to face the sun, the container should be move around on the base until a bright spot appears on its side. This is the point where the reflected sunlight is the most intense, and provides the fastest cooking time.
The box cooker uses two cardboard boxes, one placed inside the other, to create an insulated heating space. The container should just fit inside the inner box, and the outer box should be one inch larger on all sides. The insides of the outer box are lined with aluminum foil, and then the bottom is lined with crushed newspaper. This layer will supports the inner box and create an air gap to help minimize heat loss. The inner box is placed on this layer and the sides gaps filled with crushed newspaper, and then the inner box lids are bent and glued to seal the gap. The sides of the inner box are lined with aluminum foil and a clear lid placed on top to let sunlight in, and to prevent heated air escaping. A reflector can also be placed above the lid to direct sunlight into the box.
The parabolic cooker uses the focusing power of the parabola, which is also used to form the reflector in headlamps. It focuses the sunlight better than other cooker types, allowing for a higher temperature and shorter cooking time. This comes at a cost though, as the parabolic cooker is the most expensive and difficult type to build. It consists of many triangular segments of polished sheet metal, curved to match a parabolic form and joined at the edges to form a circular dish. A support also need to be made to hold the cooker pointed towards the sun, and another support is needed to hold the container at the focal point. While a crude parabolic cooker can be made by lining an umbrella with aluminum foil and hanging the container from the handle, it is a poor imitation and doesn't work nearly as well.
There is no perfect solar cooker and all three types have their advantages and disadvantages. The panel cooker is cheap and lightweight but takes a long time to cook. The box cooker may cook slightly faster, but is bulky and cannot be folded away like the panel cooker. The parabolic cooker is expensive and difficult to build but cooks much faster than the other types. However, cooking time for all the cookers can be greatly reduced if a black container is used, and if it's enclosed in a clear plastic bag to retain heat.
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