Designing a Solar Oven

By Prithvi Senthilkumar

Monday, May 20, 13

Imagine for Design 1• Idea #1

• Our materials are dark cloth and cotton balls.

• We need 1 unit of dark cloth and 2 units of cotton balls.

• The advantage of this idea is that these materials will have a small or medium impact on the environment and the colors of the materials will affect how much heat it absorbs.

• The disadvantage of this idea is that the dark cloth is processed and has ink so it is not completely environmentally friendly.

Monday, May 20, 13

Imagine for Design 2• Idea #2

• Our materials are light colored cloth and colored shredded foam.

• We need 1 unit of light colored cloth and 2 units of shredded foam.

• The advantages of this idea is that shredded foam will be a good insulator and it will keep the heat inside.

• The disadvantages of this idea is that the foam and the cloth have been processed so it affects the impact score.

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for Design 1Top view

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for design #1Side view

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for design #1

Material Units We will use material by

Cotton balls

Dark cloth

2 unitsGlue the pieces on the side of

the oven.

1 unit Place it on bottom.

Monday, May 20, 13

Impact score for design #1Design

#1 ReducedNatural

Or process

Reuse Recycle

DarkCloth

CottonBalls

1 unit Process Yes No

2 units Process No No

Points

2 points

7 points

Our total impact score is 9 pointsMonday, May 20, 13

Solar oven testing in the sunTime Temperature

0 min.

5 min.

10 min.

15 min.

20 min.

25 min.

25 C

52.4 C

52 C

54 C

55.7 C

54.6 CMonday, May 20, 13

Solar oven testing in the shade

Time Temperature

1 min.

2 min.

3 min.

4 min.

5 min.

6 min.

7 min.

47.7 C

41.9 C

36.7 C

34.8 C

32.7 C

31 C

Monday, May 20, 13

Create for design #1• Our heat score is our solar oven maximum

temperature subtracted from the control oven. 56 C - 55 C = 1

• Our time score is the number of minutes it took to cool down which was 4 minutes.

• Our total impact score is 9.

• Our total score for the solar oven is -4.

Monday, May 20, 13

Improve for design #1• The total score for our first solar oven was -4 points.

• The parts of our solar oven design that worked well was the dark cloth on the bottom because it absorbed the heat.

• The parts of our solar oven design that did not work well was the cotton balls on the side because they were light and they didn't absorb much heat.

• We are going to try improve our heat score.

• We will improve our heat score by getting dark foam and shredding and putting felt on the bottom because felt and foam are good insulators.

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for Design #2Top view

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for Design #2Side view

Monday, May 20, 13

Plan for Design #2Material Units

How will you use the

material?

Felt 1 unitWe will leave it flat. Covers the inside of box.

Colored foam 1 unitWe will leave it flat, covers the inside of box.

Black foam 1 unitWe will leave it flat. It covers

the edge of box.Monday, May 20, 13

Impact score for Design #2

Design #2 Reduce Natural/

process Reuse Recycle

Felt

Colored foam

Black foam

1 unit Process No No

1 unit Process No Yes

1 unit Process No No

Total points

4 points

2 points

4 points

Our total impact score is 10

Monday, May 20, 13

Solar oven testing in the sun.Time Temperature

0 min.

5 min.

10 min.

15 min.

20 min.

25 min.

30 min.

16 C

25.9 C

27.9 C

28.5 C

30.3 C

39.1 C

40.4 CMonday, May 20, 13

Solar oven testing in the shade

Time (minutes) Temperature1 min.2 min.3 min.4 min.5 min.6 min.7 min.8 min.9 min.

10 min.

31.9 C26 C23 C21 C

19.7 C18.8 C18.7 C17.7 C17.3 C17.1 C

Monday, May 20, 13

Create for Design #2• Our heat score is our solar oven maximum

temperature subtracted from the control oven: 40 C - 41 C = -1 C

• Our time score is the number of minutes it to cool down which was 4 minutes.

• Our total impact score was 10 points.

• Our total score for the solar oven is -7 points.

Monday, May 20, 13

Reflection• Our improved design did not work well because the impact

score was higher and our heat score went down. Foam and felt are good insulators but we placed them in the wrong place and also they were flat. The materials we changed were the dark cloth to felt and the cotton balls to the foam. The materials were good insulators because they are thick and they keep the heat in.

• If we could improve again, we would cover the whole inside of the box with felt and we would shred the foam and tape it inside. We would do this because we need to cover the inside of the oven with a good insulator and shredded is better than flat because it fills more space.

Monday, May 20, 13