Concentrated Cooker Team
Members: Emma Lejeune and Meghan Hilbert
This semester the concentrated cooker sub-team will look into methods for focusing more light into the cookers than the cooker glazing intercepts on its own. We are especially interested in using fresnel lenses.
Our objective is to optimize the capability and efficiency of existing solar ovens, specifically by harnessing even more sunlight than the solar ovens can inherently absorb. Solar cookers are designed to utilize primarily direct sunlight; however, in this group, we strive to find ways of using lenses and reflectors to redirect that which wouldn’t normally reach the cooker. Ideally, we want to be able to use the lenses to access more sunlight overall so it can be more efficient and reach higher temperatures. In accordance with our target community’s local culture, reaching frying temperatures could be a significant breakthrough, as it would allow for staples such as tortillas to be prepared. Since glass lenses are cumbersome and brittle, as well as expensive, this group will be looking into a more durable, more easily manufactured, and cheaper lens--the Fresnel lens.
In our second year on the ESW Solar Ovens Team, we will continue our work with the Fresnel lenses. Three semesters of research and experimentation with the lenses have allowed us to become comfortable with how they work and with what applications we can pursue.
Traveling to Nicaragua last spring and working with Las Mujeres Solares gave us a new awareness of the limitations of the solar ovens, as well as a greater understanding of the culture and daily practices of the people in Sabana Grande. These insights have shed light on how the lenses can be applied in more pragmatic and relevant ways. This semester, our main goal is to build on our work from last semester in using the lenses to cook tortillas. In addition, we plan to travel to Nicaragua this spring where we hope to communicate our ideas about using Fresnel lenses to the Solar Women.
Because we are both graduating at the end of this semester, we plan to create a detailed record of the work we have done so far. Leaving behind this record will help future students to pick up where we left off and continue the work with Fresnel lenses.