DIY Solar Cooker (Amateur Edition)

I made a DIY solar cooker using household materials like cardboard cartons, aluminum foil and black sheet.

This project was a part of my final submission in 1M1B Virtual Green Internship.

I have adressed how to make it in a simple manner and even made a youtube video detailing on it, please give it a watch.

Linkie - https://youtu.be/k_S3TChbKmQ?si=C7TSgR1KPhOPRf-i

Cheers !

Materials used -

1) Cardboard Cartons (square shaped would make your work easier)

2) Black Sheet

3) Styrofoam for insulation (can use Thermocol too if available)

4) Aluminum Foil / Wrap

5) Brown Duct Tapes

6) Glue (or any other relevant adhesive would work)

7) Glass Pane

8) Sharpie / Black marker and a colored pencil for markings

9) Ruler / Scale for measurement

10) Thick paper straws (to hold the reflector in position)

11) Scissors

I had bought rectangular cartons and had to resize it to make it into square shaped because with a square shaped area you get the maximum area for the heat conduction and radiation, making your work even more efficient without much work loss.

After setting up your box, cover the insides of the box with styrofoam. This includes covering the base first and pasting black sheet on top of it. After that you may cover the walls of the box with styrofoam wrapped with aluminum foil.

After following the above step, you should end up something like this. You should cover the walls properly with the insulation else heat won't be trapped in the box.

Now attach the glass pane using duct tape to one side of the box to create a flange, and attach an insulation padding (this case I used Styrofoam) to the opposite side to eliminate any gaps in the hinge.

Now take a long and big cardboard piece and paste the foil paper over it to create our reflector for the box.

Please note that I am not specifying any dimensions as such because not everyone would be using the same carton size and can just use whatever they find suitable and effective.

Now attach the reflector to the box using duct tape. Use the thick paper straw that I mentioned in the #Materials Used section to hold the reflector in place (you can set the reflector at 60 degrees to 90 degrees of angle).

Wrap the black sheet around the box to increase the heat capturing potential and can make two additional small reflector with leftover cardboard (optional). Reinforce the box with duct tape if needed.

So I bought a store bought lava cake from Domino's for this experiment and took the initial reading which was around 36 Degree Celsius / 98 Degree Fahrenheit.

Will check the results after 1 hour.

So I got a reading of 94 Degree Celsius / 200 Degree Fahrenheit which may not be much compared to what you get offered in a conventional oven / microwave but it does help in slow cooking and handy in many applications. In the end, you are utilizing solar energy which is completely free and available to everyone..

So in the end, I would call this DIY project a success 🔥🔥