PARABOLIC SOLAR COOKERS ---MY EXPERIENCES

Dr N K SRINIVASAN [Pleasanton,CA and Camp: Bangalore,India] Nearly half of the world population uses firewood as the fuel for cooking their daily meals. The environemental damage is enormous.Further firewood is getting scarce;women walk several kilometers in some countries to gather wood. In India and elsewhere, natural gas or petroleum based gas , liquified in cyclinders, are used.They are polluting and also getting costlier, in small towns and in big cities. Solar cooking is a simple, effective means to cook,to pasteurise water ,especially in tropical regions. The technology is simple,easy to understand and easy to use. Many excellent designs have been developed over several decades.Simple designs using local materials --for instance cardboard boxes and aluminum foil--have been succuessfully used in many third world countries. My experiences relate to introducing and using solar cookers in India...in small villages and hamlets around BANGALORE, the high-tech IT capital of India. These villages are at a distance

of 100 to 200 kms, where children study in poorly equipped schools and/or live in small orphanages run by religious institutions with limited resources.

Solar cooker designs---Why parabolic cookers? Let me give a brief introduction to solar cooker designs---to relate my experiences and discuss the trends in recent years. Basically solar cookers are of two designs: BOX COOKERS AND PARABOLIC COOKERS. Box cookers are simple boxes --well insulated and a glass or plastic [acrylic]window through which sun light enters the box. The sheets and the cooking vessels get heated up.The insulation, at the bottom and the sides,prevent loss of heat.The glass glazing helps to trap the heat---the familiar 'green -house effect' --the heat rays or infra-red waves do not pass through the glass...the cooking pots get heated up slowly and may reach 100 C in about an hour.. Barbara Kerr and others [Solar Cooking International or SCI]popularised this box cookers for use in third world countries using inexpensive carboard boxes and aluminum foil. Panel cookers are open [no box]and use aluminum reflective panels to reflect the sun light onto the cooking pots.The

pot is wrapped in plastic bags.

These are less efficient

but serves well in tropical,arid zones and have been extensively used in refugee camps in Africa and elsewhere. Typically both box cookers and panel cookers require 2 to 3 hours to cook most of the food items. Parabolic Cookers developed in India and other places

since 1950's ,use a reflective mirror shaped in the form of parabola. The rays are focussed at the focal point [or a circle], just like a magnifier is used to focus to burn paper. The temperature reached are around 300 to 400 C and the heating is fast.You can do boiling and frying in a matter of a few minutes---almost like your stove-top. Let us remember this basic fact: While box cookers enable slow cooking [over several hours], parabolic cookers are fast and can reach much higher temperatures.[Box cookers reach between 120 to 200 degrees C.] Parabolic cookers come of age! For several reasons, parabolic cookers were not widely used or popular until recent years. In modern designs,

parabolic cookers use either polished [anodised] aluminum strips or aluminised coating on plastic [mylar] film. They have simple means of tilting the parabola to focus the sun's rays. The design allows for two levels for the focal point where you keep the cooking pots or frying pan.In one, the parabola is deep and the focal plane is inside the parabolic dish. In another, the parabola is shallow, like the TV antenna dish, the focal point is quite far from the dish and can be easily reached.Both are available in commercial models. For instance,SK-14 , a design from Germany, has a deep dish while Cantina-west "Sun Burner' has a shallow dish.
Several manufacturers, big and small, have emerged in recent years in India,China, Germany, USA and other countries.[ I get my solar Parabolic cookers from Tiny Tech Industries, Rajkot ,India. These cookers are moderately priced for Indian users and ruggedly built and uses anodised aluminum strips.][ I am not advertising for any

company but indicate typical ones .] My Experiences We decided to use parabolic cookers, because box cookers are slow and we need to prepare lunches for school children or

orphanage/old-age home inmates by 12 noon. Further we need to cook for about 50 persons...Box cookers would be bulky or large numbers would be required. Let us note that box cookers are ideal for family use---to cook for 4 to5 persons.Large box cookers become bulky.Furthermore they are slow cookers. Parabolic cookers can be scaled up easily , with large dishes and can cook for a community: " Community Solar Cookers" we have used are typically 5ft dia dishes and can cook for nearly 30 to 50 persons.See the description below. Whistle Blowers! In India, use of pressure cookers are common.So we wanted to employ pressure cookers---mainly to cook rice,lentils, vegetables and others---in large quantities.Pressuer cookers are more efficient, less heat loss and above all --"Whistle blowers" . When the cooking is done, you get whistle from the high pressure release valve...you wait for three whistles before taking out the pressure cooker from the focal point grill. Fortunately pressure cookers of capacity 10 to 20 litres or 10 to 20 kg total weight are available at low cost.Typically they cost Rs 4000 [$80/=] and readily available in cities. [They are used in industrial kitchens in India. We found one manufacturer right in Bangalore.!]

the pressure cookers became the most useful cooking pots for our cookers...They are easy to use for large quantities of food.They can be painted black outside to absorb more heat, but we left it without black paint. Our Investment for one unit To provide the solar cooker with pressure cooker for any institution [schools for mid-day meals, orphanages, old-age homes, small hostels/dormitories]our investment is as follows: Cost of large " Community Solar cooker" --- Rs 15000 [US$ 300] Pressure cooker [18Kg capacity] ---- Rs 4000 Additional cooking pots,frying pans Rs 1000 $ 80] $20

[Some assembling time is required at the site, using two men for just two hours..] Our Team Experience So far our team has provided this unit at several places: 1 Orphanage at Kala Aandhi, near Chickmagalur, Karnataka [200 km from bangalore] run by Aim for Seva; 2 A school near Tavarikere, about 150 km from Bangalore--sponsored by local Rotary Club, 3 An old age home at Pavagada , run by Sai Seva Society,Pavagada

4 Mathru School for the Blind, new campus at Srinivasapura,near Yelahanka old town. Many such units are being planned and executed now. Our team includes senior citizens and junior ones---young volunteers from 'Youth for Seva',Bangalore. The team members include the following persons: --R S Kalawar , our team leader [ex-member, Indian Railway Board] --Dr N K Srinivasan ---that is myself, [ex-director, DRDO] -- S Ramjee ---an electronic engineer...Prop: Ramjee Electronics ---Prasanna Kumar ---Ex scientist, NPL, Delhi--Rotary club member ---N Subramanian--- Ex-executive--UNESCO ---Members of Youth for Seva---voluntary org in Bangalore. There are several other donors and well-wishers who have helped us along the way. We can only appeal to more sponsors for giving these solar cookers for the needy institutions in India. ----------------------------------------------------------------------