Table of contentsSummaryContextObjectivesA brief history of the solar ovenSummaryThis project concerns the design and construction of a concentrating solar oven. The basic objective of the report is to provide information on the design and operating principles of a solar oven. The project used a parabolic concentrator and we designed the furnace in a cylindrical shape with steel for its body and a copper outer cover. To improve the efficiency of the furnace in this project, copper fins were attached inside to improve heat transfer inside the furnace. After manufacturing and assembly, we tested the oven with and without fins and a difference was noted after recordings taken at 20 minute intervals. Indoor air temperatures recorded after 20 minutes were 55 without fins and 65 with fins. During testing, the maximum temperature recorded inside the oven was approximately 173 (air temperature) and 238 (fin tip temperature); these temperatures are high enough to be used in various household applications such as cooking. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayBackgroundSolar energy is undoubtedly the oldest source of energy. It is essentially the radiant light and heat of the sun. We can, however, trace all other forms of energy used on earth back to the sun. The exploitation of solar energy has been the subject of various research for many years. We believe that fossil fuel resources such as oil and coal are limited and will soon disappear. Many scientists are working to use solar energy for different purposes. The history of solar energy is as old as humanity, and over the last two centuries this energy has been increasingly used, either directly to produce electricity or in applications aimed at satisfying different needs. needs of humanity. One such application is the production of solar ovens which could be used for many purposes. A solar oven is a structure that uses concentrated solar energy to produce high temperatures, usually for use in industry. Parabolic mirrors or heliostats focus light on a focal point. The temperature at the focal point can reach very high temperatures, and this heat can be used to generate electricity, melt steel, and make hydrogen or nanomaterials. A solar oven uses reflectors to channel and concentrate solar energy, producing heat. Solar oven sizes can vary from small to large depending on the desired heat needs. In the past, around the 7th century, people used magnifying glasses in a simple form to generate concentrated sunlight and used it at home to make wood to light the fire for cooking. However, over the years, changes and improvements in technology have led to the production of more sophisticated solar ovens. The largest solar oven is in Odeillo in the Pyrénées-Orientales in France, opened in 1970. Objectives The main objective of this project is to design and build a functional solar oven. The main objective of the solar oven design will be to generate heat from solar radiation as a high intensity energy source for high temperature processes. In this project, the goal is to produce temperatures high enough to beused in cooking applications, whether for domestic or industrial purposes. 1.3 Limitations and scope A viable option for this technology is the one to which this project will be limited; producing temperatures high enough to cause wood to burn (carbonization) and also efficient enough to facilitate cooking in homes. The constituents of a solar oven will be well documented because the economic benefits of solar ovens are enormous. However, one of the constraints to its production is the high initial start-up costs, but conversely, once started, there are few operational costs required to continue. By replacing conventional furnaces, such as electric arc furnaces and blast furnaces, with a solar furnace operating at high temperatures, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and energy consumption will be significantly reduced, greatly improving our Company. This project will discuss the subject of solar oven in detail by first giving details of other research works carried out on the subject - literature review, then listing the methodology, design and calculations of this project and se then ends with a conclusion and a discussion section. A Brief History of Solar Oven A solar oven is not actually an oven but only involves an optical system that receives solar radiation from a collector and concentrates it in a small area. In case this highly concentrated radiant energy is channeled into a cavity, high temperatures are obtained due to the heat generated. In fact, it is this cavity which is the oven and it represents a small part of the entire system, so it is not inappropriate to call solar ovens: - solar energy concentrators. The idea of ​​using solar energy to produce high temperatures is not new. In 212 BC, Archimedes is said to have set the Roman fleet on fire by concentrating the sun's rays on the ships using several hundred plane mirrors. In the 17th and 18th centuries both mirrors and lenses were used, and in 1772 Lavoisier built a furnace with a collecting lens with a diameter of about 5 feet, in which it almost reached the melting point of platinum ( 1773◦ C). After Lavoisier's work, until the beginning of the 20th century, solar ovens were completely ignored. However, in 1921, Straubel and his collaborators at the Zeiss company in Germany built the first modern reflection furnace. This was achieved with a parabolic glass mirror approximately 6 feet in diameter and a focal length of 2 feet; in the end, temperatures above 3000◦C were generated. This paved the way for the use of different sizes of parabolic mirrors. Straubel had another collaborator in the person of W. Conn, he built a 10-foot oven and it was installed at Rockhurst College in Kansas USA. This furnace is made of sheet aluminum alloy and is still operational at Convair in San Diego and is used for high temperature materials studies. Additionally, projector mirrors approximately 5 feet in diameter make good concentrators and are used in many laboratories in the United States. The largest installation of solar ovens of various sizes is in Montlouis in the French Pyrenees. Professor Felix Trombe, director of the laboratory for the study of solar energy, has six operating furnaces, made of mirrors from German parabolic projectors. They are 6.5 feet in diameter and there is also a large furnace 35 feet in diameter. The large reflector is made up of 3,500 smaller plane mirrors attached to a parabolic-shaped steel frame. To obtain a.