Part 6 Solar Oven

I have finally upgraded the solar oven to a more insulated design with additional mirrors duct taped to all three doors. I put a second lining of insulation around the edges and on the bottom of the box. Adjustable  legs were added to the back to improve the angle of the box towards the sun. Now that I have a thermometer I can measure the initial temperature and the final temperature, which will give me the increase in heat. Instead of visual results I can use temperature results to test the temperature increase to estimate when my egg will be cooked.  The tests I did before the current solar oven upgrades were on sunny but cold, windy days. So far I have been unsuccessful on cooking an egg even though I have tried several times! The next steps I have in mind is to try the test indoors using a UV light due to the outdoor weather.  This will mean initial  temperatures will be at room temperature so it will also reduce snow and wind chill factors.

Part 5 Solar Oven

In the past two weeks I have tested my solar oven prototype two times. There has not been many sunny days when I am at home. I tried boiling an egg the first time and I tipped the oven on a slant towards the sun by placing it on a wooden wedge. I pre-heated the oven for half an hour before placing my egg. After 1 hour and 15 minutes of direct sunlight the egg was warm but not cooked. Several days later I tried again but this time I cracked the egg into the upside down lid of the pot. Still no luck! The egg got slightly warm but did not fry. Definitely I need to change something on my solar oven. This week my Dad and I have been working on a larger box. It will be shallower to allow more sun and I will change the type of glass and use plain aluminum foil or mirrors for reflectors. Maybe the aluminum covered insulation is not reflecting properly. I still need to find a thermometer to help test the heat.