Harnessing the Power of the Sun Using Solar Ovens

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine if dimension/volume of a solar oven has an effect on its ability to achieve higher temperatures. Methods/Materials I built two solar ovens with identical construction, but different dimensions. One oven was 1 cu. ft. in volume with a 1 sq. ft. glass lid. The other was 8 cu. ft. in volume with a 2 sq. ft. glass lid. A third oven was created by placing a shelf in the second oven reducing its volume to 4 cu. ft. while retaining the 2 sq. ft. glass lid. The ovens were placed outdoors side-by-side on concrete with average ambient temperature of 71.9 degrees F. A thermometer with three thermocouples was used to measure temperature. Two testing configurations occurred: ovens sitting flat with sun at an angle and ovens tilted so glass lids pointed directly at the sun. Results The oven with 1 cu. ft. in volume and 1 sq. ft. glass lid area heated up to the highest temperature followed by the oven with 4 cu. ft. in volume and 2 sq. ft. glass lid area having the second highest temperature. Oven with 8 cu. ft. in volume and 2 sq. ft. glass lid area was not able to heat up to as high a temperature, therefore, having the lowest temperature. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion is that bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to solar ovens. The surface area of the glass lid in relation to the volume of the oven is the important factor. Solar ovens with a volume equal to or less than the surface area of the glass lid can achieve higher temperatures.

Competition history

• CSEF 2016 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1719

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Physics and Astronomy projects
• CSEF Physics and Astronomy projects
• Every CSEF 2016 project