ME 340Tyler CarrDavid Bilodeau

Purpose Determine the best reflective surface

for use in a solar cooker. The cooker is being designed by Engineers Without Borders as a low cost cooker for use in Peru.

ME 340 - Carr & Bilodeau

The Solar Cooker

Experimental Setup

ME 340 - Carr & Bilodeau

The different materials were mounted the exact same way on a testing surface and then placed in an insulated container. They were then placed 6 inches below a heat lamp . The surface temperature was then recorded at an exact time after the lamp was turned on (10 minutes).

Assumptions

Convection is zero as a result of the walls on the bowls

The insulation is perfect using the insulated container so q’’net = 0

α = ε, so the one with the lowest Ts has the highest reflectivity

ME 340 - Carr & Bilodeau

ResultsMaterial Surface

TemperatureReflectivity

Ranking

Tape (pink writing) 30.9 3

Tape (black writing) 36.7 5

Tape (no writing) 30.3 2

Tinfoil 32 4

Mylar 30 1

ME 340 - Carr & Bilodeau

Because of the assumptions that were made, only qualitative conclusions can be achieved. The Mylar has the lowest surface temperature and therefore is the most reflective. However, since this was for a solar cooker, it was too difficult to attach the Mylar to the parabolic dishes. As a result, the tape with no writing will be used.