Solar Community Cooking System

EnergieSolar has developed a Solar Concentrator type solar cooker (aperture area 8 sq. m.). This is an efficient design of solar cooker, where temperatures of over 300°C can be reached. This contributes to speedy cooking. There is no need to wait for hours after keeping the utensils in the sun. Our cooker uses utensils containing thermic fluid so as to transfer the heat into the kitchen cooking area.

Our Solar Concentrator type solar cookers are easy to install, operate and maintain. This model is suitable for urban, rural, tribal areas for the use in households, community kitchens, hotels, hostels, remote campuses and the like.This system is suitable for cooking food for 80 -100 persons daily.

Salient Features

• · Cooking possible in the kitchen
• No need to stand in the heat of the sun
• Once set in the morning, tracks sun automatically
• Cooks faster than other types of solar cookers
• Could be used like a regular gas burner on a kitchen platform
• User friendly, easy to move and clean
• Safe to operate and durable
• Effectively useful from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset
• Uses highly reflective surface to increase efficiency
• Useful for urban, rural as well as tribal areas for use in community kitchen, hostels, hotels, remote camps and the like

Major Components

The major components of the Scheffler dish cooker will be as below:

Reflector: It is part of a parabolid dish made of reflecting sheets supported on suitable rings for holding them in a fixed position. The sheets are joined together and tied on the support in such a way that they automatically form the parabolic shape. The structure and frame of the bowl is made strong so that the reflectors do not get deformed while turning it in various directions.

Reflector Stand: The reflector stand is made of mild steel having proper painting for better durability. The stand is designed based on the latitude of the place where the cooker is to be installed. It supports the reflector and allows it to rotate around the polar axis. The polar axis is the axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the Earth.

Tracking Mechanism: The tracking mechanism works with the help of a counterweight, which is raised every morning as we manually make the reflector face the sun. Once the weight is raised, its downward motion is controlled with the help of a pendulum clock mechanism, which controls its angular speed to one revolution per day, which is the speed of rotation of the earth about its own axis.

Secondary Reflector: This is the reflector placed below the vessel inside the kitchen platform. It reflects the sunrays concentrated on to its surface by the main reflector, which is automatically tracking the sun. The secondary reflector is made of aluminum foil pasted over a structure, as we need to replace it every now and then since it gets dirty due to spilling of food while cooking.

Technical Specifications

• Material of main reflectors : Aluminium or acrylic mirror sheets of thickness
  depends on choice of the material
• Material of secondary reflectors : Thin aluminum foil used for food wrapping
• Reflectivity : above 80 %
• Size of focal spot : 150 mm approx.
• Focal length (main reflector) : Approx. 10 m
• Dimension & Shape : 3 m x 4 m elliptical parabolid
• Surface area of reflector : Approx 7 sq m
• Tracking of the sun : Automatic
• Cooking Vessel : Any vessel we regularly use (will be better if the bottom of the vessel is blackened)
• Power availability at cooking pot : Above 2.0 kW (with over 600 W / sq m
  Direct / 750 W / sq m total solar isolation available on reflector
• Thermal efficiency : Over 30%
• Life : More than 15 years
  (1) Metallic structure - It can with stand high wind speeds (foundation and grouting is necessary)
  (2) Main Reflecting mirrors - Minimum 5 years