Solar food cookers use an arrangement of reflectors to concentrate solar energy on a cooking vessel. A number of innovative designs have been developed. Many of the solar cooker designs are inexpensive and easy to build.
This page also covers solar food dryers, solar stills to purify water, and root cellars for storing food.
|
Solar Cooking | |
Solar Cooking
|
![]() Plans for solar cookers and food dryers. |
Compendium of Solar Cooker Designs http://solarcooking.wikia.com/ ...
|
![]() You can even add your own comments on cookers. |
Cooking With the Sun: How to Build
and Use Solar Cookers Beth Halacy |
![]()
|
Parvati Solar Cooker www.angelfire.com/80s/shobhapardeshi/index.html
|
![]() The cooker is pictured at the top of this page on the left. |
|
|
Bill's Solar Cooking Page www.williamgbecker.com/SolarCooking.html Bill's new solar oven design 7/27/07:
|
![]() ![]()
Bills new solar oven -------->> |
Solarcooker-At-Cantinawest http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com
|
![]() |
Cooking With the Sun http://www.cookwiththesun.com/
|
![]()
(Thanks to Doug for recommending this site) |
Solar Oven Reflectors http://www.solarovenreflectors.com/ |
![]() |
All Season
Solar Cooker, http://www.allseasonsolarcooker.info/
|
![]() Jim provides a very nice set of free plans for the cooker. |
Making and Using a Solar Cooker,
Joe Radabaugh, Backwoods Home Magazine, Nov 1994 www.backwoodshome.com/articles/radabaugh30.html |
![]() |
Tracking Solar Cooker C. Alan Nichols |
|
Tony's Highly Portable Solar Jar Cooker |
![]() Perfect for heating soup, a beverage, or a hot dog! |
Solar Cooking After Dark -- A
Stored Heat Solar Cooker Full construction details... |
![]() ![]() Mik is looking for ideas on improving the prototype. Full construction details... |
Scheffler Concentrators -- Large, Concentrating Cooking
Collector with Storage Barli Development Institute http://www.barli.org/solar-storage.html
Solare brucke -- info on Scheffler heliostat designs... David Delaney article on the Scheffler heliostat cooker design...
|
![]() These
Scheffler heliostats concentrate the sun onto a fixed cooking vessel, or
onto a heat storage device that provides for cooking after sunset. |
Solar Fire Project http://www.solarfireproject.com/
|
![]() The materials are easily obtainable and the design is simple and straight forward -- the concentrators can be made with readily available materials and simple tools. The Helios collector provides about 3 KW output and temperatures up to 950C. Several potential applications are discussed. |
Constructing a Solar Cooker From an
Abandoned Satellite Dish http://www.backyardnature.net/j/solardsh.htm and another one: |
![]() Be careful! |
Fresnel Solar Cooker Design, http://www.esperlando.com/sun_energy.htm (this site has gone away, but |
![]() |
Parabolic Solar Cookers,
|
![]() The CCAT site has a number of interesting solar projects: |
Villager sun Oven Article in TreeHugger
|
![]() |
Solar Funnel Cooker as Cooler http://solarcooking.org/plans/funnel.htm
|
![]() |
Solar Wall Oven http://solarcooking.org/bkerr/DoItYouself.htm http://www.solarcooking.org/wallovn1.htm
|
![]() |
Solar Cooking -- and the Livin' I
Easy Jennifer Stein Barker How to get articles from Home Power ... |
Home Power article, issue 88 Good review of various types of solar cookers, cooking techniques, and solar cooking recopies (including a Chocolate-Mint Ricotta Mousse!). |
Roasting Coffee on Sunshine |
![]() How to build a 1200F solar coffee bean roaster. |
Home Power Magazine Solar Cooker Contest Richard Perez |
Home P![]() Report on the Home Power Solar Cooker Contest. Interesting solar cooker designs, and full plans for the winning cooker. |
Parabola Drawing Tool
|
![]() |
The Ultimate Solar Cooker
How it works:
|
![]() This type of concentrator can be built with common materials and ordinary skills. |
Some experiments with a satellite dish based, low budget
solar cooker, |
![]() (thanks very much to Juan for sending this in!) |
Sun Rocket... |
It heats water in a central, vacuum insulated, glass tube using reflectors to direct sun onto the tube. When not in use, the reflectors fold to form the hard case for the device (thanks to Jeff for suggesting this) |
Solar Food Drying | |
Indirect, Through-Pass, Solar Food
Dryer Dennis Scanlin |
Home Power Magazine article, issue 57 Very good article on solar food drying. Plans for food dryer. Quite a bit of data on how to optimize the drying process. |
Maine Solar
Primer Herb and Food Dryer Maine Solar Energy Association |
Plan for a simple herb and food dryer Courtesy of the Maine Solar Energy Association |
Best-Ever Solar Food Dehydrator Plans,
If the link above does not work try |
The dryer is the end result of a long research and testing program. Complete plans are provided for building it. More information on this design and how it was developed in the entries just below. |
Improving Solar Food Dryers Dennsi Scanlin, Marcus Renner, David Domeruth, Heat Moody - Appalachian State University How to get articles from Home Power ...
|
Home Power Magazine article, issue 69![]() Very good article from Appalachian State University on finding an optimal design for a solar food dryer. Various absorbers, reflectors, glazing arrangements etc. were tested to find what works best. |
HP57 The Design, Construction and use of an Indirect, Through-Pass, Solar Food Dryer Dennis Scanlin |
![]() A highly refined design, plans and operating data for a solar food dryer by Appalachian State University. Try the first link first, if not there, search the archieves. |
GeoPathfinder Solar Food Dryer...
|
![]() Lots of other interesting sustainable living projects on this website. |
Three Solar Food
Dehydrators - solar energy at work! Paul Wheaton, Link to the YouTube Video... Another video from Paul -- very nice design... Paul's Permaculture site... |
![]() They all look pretty easy and cheap to make and they all appear to work. |
Solar
Tunnel Food Dryer, Allen Dong, I-Tech Public Domain www.efn.org/... (pdf)
|
![]() Lots of solar dryer design
information on solar food dryers. |
Test of A Solar Crop Dryer Danish Technological Institute Energy division |
|
Build a
Solar Food Dehydrator, Eben Fodor, |
![]() Author operates www.SolarFoodDryer.com and also offers a kit for building a solar food dryer he designed. Quite a bit of information on solar food drying on this site. |
Solar Dryer for Fruits and
Vegtables Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service
|
![]() |
J R Whipple solar dehydrator www.jrwhipple.com/sr/soldehydrate.html
|
"![]() |
Solar Stills | |
UNDERSTANDING SOLAR STILLS Horace McCracken and Joel Gordes VITA Paper |
![]() |
Eliodomestico is a solar household still for the developing countries Eliodomestico is a solar still... More details on how it works... |
![]() |
Watercone Solar Still http://www.watercone.com/product.html
|
![]() "This Invention represents a conical, self-supporting and stackable Unit made from transparent, thermo-formable polycarbonate (same as water dispensers) outfitted with a screw cap spout at the tip and an inward circular collecting trough at the base. Technically speaking it is a solar still. " |
Solar Still ElPaso Solar Energy Association |
![]() ![]() The plans link gives a fairly detailed picture of a still cut in half to show the components. Probably good enough to build one from.
|
Home
Made Solar Water Distiller
http://www.thesietch.org/projects/distiller/index.htm
|
![]() The mirror is very simple, using aluminized mylar for the reflective surface and a simple and light aluminum frame that is pulled into position using tension wires.. |
Root Cellar for storing perishable food | |
BOAT IN A HOLE – Saga of a Root Cellar
|
![]() This may seem a bit silly at first, but George points out that there are a lot of boats out there that will never see water again and are just wasting away -- I'm sure they would love to have a new life as a root cellar. |
Root Cellar for Vegetable Storage Canada Plan Service Root Cellar Plan 6321 (pdf)
|
![]() |
Fridge-Less Living Mother Earth
News Finding Mother Earth News articles...
|
![]() |
Build a
Basement Root Cellar, Mother Earth News |
![]() Good use of insulation and outside venting make this look like a good design to me. |
Combination
Root Cellar and Storm Shelter www.backwoodshome.com/forum/vb/showthread.php?t=19039 |
![]() From the Backwoods Homesteading Forum |
Passive Refrigerator/Icebox
http://fourmileisland.com/IceBox.htm
|
![]() Other interesting projects on the same site. |