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How Solar Ovens Work

Solar ovens harness the sun's energy to maximize the efficiency of their cooking process. See the explanations below or follow the link at the bottom to learn more about the basic principles of solar oven cooking.

Purpose
The basic purpose of a solar oven is to heat things up - to cook food using the free energy of the sun without having to cut, carry and burn wood or obtain other fuel.

Maximizing Sunlight
The energy of the sun heats the interior of a solar oven. Sunlight, both direct and reflected, enters the solar box through a glass or plastic top. The more directly the glass or plastic faces the sun, the greater the solar heat gain. Single or multiple reflectors can be added to bounce additional sunlight through the glass to increase internal temperatures.

Heating the Oven
Inside the oven, the sunlight is either absorbed by dark pots and a dark absorber plate underneath the pots or passes back out through the glass or plastic top.

This is known as the Greenhouse effect. The sunlight which is absorbed by the pots and the absorber plate is converted into longer wavelength heat energy that radiates from the interior materials. Most of this radiant energy, because it is of a longer wavelength, cannot pass back out through the glass or plastic top and is therefore trapped within the enclosed space. The sunlight is either absorbed by the materials within the solar oven, or, because it doesn't change wavelength, or, passes back out through the glass.

This heat input causes the temperature inside of the solar oven to rise until the heat loss of the cooker is equal to the solar heat gain. Temperatures sufficient for cooking food and pasteurizing water are easily achieved.

Find out more
For more information on how these solar ovens work including further explanations of heat principles, materials used, design, proportions, operation and important cultural factors, please visit http://solarcooking.org/sbcdes.htm.

Adapted from "Principles of Solar Box Cooker Design" by Mark Aalfs at http://solarcooking.org/sbcdes.htm.

Solar Ovens