Solar Cookers In The Third World PDF Download

This thesis presents the Lotus 37-I, a new unique design for a passive solar cooker with an emphasis on sustainability and cooking efficiency, and gives an overview of the technical, social, environmental, and economic implications of solar cooking. I, Alex Haney worked with Jason Wallace to complete this project in three phases: background research, design and build, and sustainability analysis. During the background research phase we researched the current state of the art of solar cooking, looked at the leading designs on the market, and gained a thorough understanding of the social, economic, technical, and scientific contexts of solar cooking. We tested the performance of the Tulsi®-Hybrid Solar Oven model over the summer of 2011. During the design and build phase, we brainstormed and formulated our own unique design based on our working knowledge of the subject and chose a design using an engineering decision matrix to weigh different options. During the final phase we analyzed the cost of our cooker design and investigated the practicality of presenting our design to the market and investigated the feasibility of attaining a patent. We found that the performance of our design, the Lotus 37-I, is comparable to other designs on the market, and, with its emphasis on using recycled material, it can provide a sustainable cooking option for the developing world. However, we did not seek a patent at this time due to the large financial investment required and the need for further design improvement.