And the oven was created

So we decided not go with a hexagonal base but instead went with a very simple yet complicated design. We took two pieces of plywood and made slots on both of them to house them perpendicular and inside each other. This is one of the most structurally sound and minimalistic design that we came across. We also made the base of the oven tapered (narrow at the top and wide at the bottom) so that we won’t have any turning problems. We mounted the oven on a lazy Susan. The whole structure was still heavy on the back (the end with the window and mirrors) so we used four wheels on the front to balance the weight out. We also added two more wheels on the front at the base of the window as a support and also for mobility purposes. We also added two more mirrors, one in the bottom and one in the front, for more sunlight concentration inside the convection chamber. 

The feat and epitome of recycled engineering

We also tested the oven one moderately sunny day and the oven reached a max temperature of 85°C when the atmospheric temperature was 25°C. The temperature inside the oven rose by about 10°C every 10 minutes until 60°C and then 10°C rise by every 25 minutes until it reached 85°C. After the point the sun decided to disappear behind the clouds. We also did another round of test on a slightly sunny day (atmospheric temperature: 21°C) and the results were similar. The sun again was lost after getting the temperature to about 68°C. We did a calorimeter test with a insulated coffee cup and the water received 3.6KJ in 8 mins. It was an error on our part because we should have used a conductive container to house the water instead of using an insulated cup. We also tried cooking some makkara. They were done, not well done, but they did smoke and were tasty (on the other hand makkara are tasty even when they are raw). 

Enhanced for mobility

The oven really depends on sunlight (surprise, surprise) and we are not having so much of it anymore so we haven't seen good temperatures. The contraption could still be used as a cooker when the sun is at its fullest and it can doubled as a food dehydrator when it can't be used as an oven. Just for fun we put 100ml of algae sludge from another students project to test the dehydration capabilities of the oven and after an hour 25ml of water was dehydrated. It was not a bad result, considering there is not fan installed in the oven to draw out the moisture.

So with the final days of summer drawing to an end, we reflected on what we had accomplished and how well we did. In the final post we will discuss what we would have done differently if we could start over again.