Prospect of Solar Oven to Reduce Fossil Fuel Energy

Consuming In Indonesia

Fatahul Arifin
Staff of Mechanical Engineering
POLITEKNIK NEGERI SRIWIJAYA
Jalan Srijaya Negara, Bukit Besar Palembang 30139
INDONESIA
Email: farifinus@polisriwijaya.ac.id
farifinus@yahoo.com

Abstract people in this country use shine sun only to dry

Indonesia is a country that placed in equator.
God bless this country which is shined by sun a
long year. Sun shine is cheap energy and can be
used for cooking. However, this energy is not
used maximally, especially for cooking. Many
people used fossil fuel to cook their meal. They
only believe that fossil fuel is only energy can be
used. So, the writer wants to inform to the
Indonesian, especially to housewives that they
can use alternative energy such as solar energy.
In this paper the writer give information about
type of solar oven that can be made with simple
material and simple form. Moreover, the
important thing of using solar energy is reduce
the fossil fuel energy consuming.
Key words: solar energy, simple, parabolic,
cooker
1. INTRODUCTION
Our society is always developing from
time to time. Nothing is static, all are change. One
of changing is energy needed. Energy is
considered necessary in all sectors such as
cooking, lighting, running vehicle, etc.
A lot of energy are able to be used such as
wind, water, fossil fuel, bio-mass, bio- gas and
solar energy. However, only a few are used such
as fossil fuel and natural gas. As we know that
both of these energy is un-renewable. Because of
that we have to find alternative energy. Indonesia
is placed in equator. God bless this country which
is shined by sun a long year. However, many
the clothing. In this paper the writer wants to
inform that the shine sun can be used as energy,
especially to cooking.
2. BACKGROUND
The sun is a constant source of energy. Each day,
the sun bathes the Earth in unimaginable amounts
of solar energy, most of which comes in the form
of visible light. All over planet Earth, sunlight is
the by far the most important source of energy for
all living things. Without it, Earth would be
lifeless. Sunlight can be a practical source of
energy for such everyday jobs as cooking, heating
water, or warming up homes. The challenge is to
find ways to transform sunlight into useable heat.
The most efficient way to use heat from sunlight
transforms sunlight into heat is to shine lots of
sunlight onto a dark surface. Dark surfaces absorb
most of the visible light that falls upon them, and
reflect very little. Visible light that is absorbed
this way usually causes the dark-colored surface
to warm up. Of all colors, black is able to absorb
the most light, and produce the most heat.
Most of people are familiar with what happens to
a dark-colored surface when sunlight strikes it, it
will get warm. But without a little help, there is
not enough heat produced to cook foods. To
produce enough heat for cooking, it is necessary
to shine additional sunlight from a wider area onto
the black surface. This is easy to do with mirrors
or other reflective surfaces, or with glass or plastic
lenses. All the material can be united became the
tool that is called solar oven.
3. TYPE OF SOLAR COOKER the door is a little bigger than the pan is going to
put inside.
3.1. Simple solar cooker (SSC)
Table 1. Time to cook using STC
(www. solaroven.com)
The simple solar cooker is made with
cardboard or triplex and aluminum foil, and one
Time Sky Temperature
of reflector (mirror or aluminum foil). Styrofoam No. Food
(oF)
minute Condition
or cloth or newspaper can be used as insulator. Chicken 25 -30 Clear sky 225 -250
The aluminum foil is used to gather sunlight. The 1 breast
foil-covered panels of the oven reflect sunlight w/BBQ
into the cooking chamber, which is painted black. Apple 45 - 60 Clear sky 350
Heat is produced when the concentrated sunlight 2
pie
is absorbed by the black surface of the cooking Browni 240 Really 200
3
chamber. The heat is contained inside the es cloudy
chamber with the help of insulation, and a clear
plastic oven bag. The size of this SSC design by Figure 2 STC (www.solaroven.com)
the writer is 60 cm length, 40 cm width, 30 cm
height. The maximum temperature is 120 oC in the
chamber of the stove.

Figure 1 SSC (Autor)

3.3. Double-Angled-Twelve-Sided
(DATS) solar cooker

3.2. Solar Cooking Table (SCT) Double-Angled-Twelve-Sided (DATS)

The following describes how to make a
solar oven that is proven to work in an inventive
way, cooking from the bottom! On a bright sunny
day, this cooker can reach temperatures in excess
of 350 degrees Fahrenheit. SCT cooks from the
bottom, with the help of some easily constructed
solar troughs, 2" rigid foam insulation, and some
home made triple pane glass panels, a little
silicon, some deck screws, and a lot of fun
ingenuity.
Some of the first things that have to take
into consideration before building this oven are
the following; the glass- it should be tempered,
but standard plate (window) glass will work,
however, our cooker actually got so hot that the
center pane broke due to the extreme heat! The
height of this oven is designed approximately
three feet. Last and most importantly the size of
solar cooker employs 24 small reflective panels to
concentrate extra sunlight to compensate for the
heat loss from not using a plastic bag. DATS
cooker design is similar to a deep-focus parabolic
cooker, but instead of using a true parabolic
curve, multiple flat panels concentrate sunlight
onto the cooking pot. Two reflective surface-
angles, 45º and 60º, are used so that a bend can be
introduced in between for structural rigidity to
hold the cooker’s shape. This structural rigidity
allows for DATS cooker to be constructed out of
cardboard material. The DATS cooker, tested in
Shanghai, reached a maximum temperature of
140ºC (284ºF) inside an empty black cooking pot,
on a clear sunny day with 21ºC (70ºF) ambient air
temperature and a slight breeze. Eggs became
hard-boiled in 30 minutes and two cups of rice
cooked in 95 minutes. The cooker should be re-
positioned every 45 minutes or less for better
efficiency. A simple supporting structure, made
out of bamboo or wooden sticks, is built-in as an
integral part of DATS cooker to support the
cooking pot at the desired cooking position.
DATS cooker is held rigid by a string, which links
all twelve 45º-panels together at the bottom end.
The string is made taut by twisting in the loose
string loop around a short stick. The tighter the
string is, the better DATS cooker holds its shape.
If needed, a small gage string, tied across two
opposite panels, at 3:00 o’clock and 9:00 o’clock
position, can be used to pull in any slack in the
cooker shape due to gravity. By loosening the
string and removing the cooking pot supporting
structure, DATS cooker can be folded up for
storage or transportation.
Construction
The size of 12 rectangular pieces is 24cm x 61cm
each. Make a straight fold at 24cm distance from
the small end of the panel. Punch a hole in each of
the two “ears” at the narrow end of the panel, as
shown, and fold the ears away from you.
Figure 3 DATS
(http.//solarcooking.org/plans/DATS.html)
3.4. Butterfly solar cooker (BSC)
BSC is made with 2 plates which is like
wing of butterfly. The reflective square area of the
butterfly parabolic solar cooker is 1.5 square
meters. The heat output is rated at 800 watts. To
work efficiently, the butterfly design solar cooker
should be adjusted approximately every 30
minutes to track the sun. This only takes a few
seconds using a convenient screw mechanism.
The butterfly solar cooker's weight of 50 kilos is
an advantage because it provides stability in
strong winds.. The butterfly solar cooker has two
cast iron wheels which means it can be moved
easily. The design life of the butterfly solar cooker
is 20 years. If there is any loss of reflectivity, the
reflective tape can be replaced. The only
limitation on the use of the butterfly solar cooker,
aside from rainy and overcast days, is where
housing is so crowded that there is not sufficient
room for the solar cooker to receive direct sun
light during the day. Most village and rural
housing in east Africa apply this type of solar
cooker.
Figure 4 BSC
(http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Cookers_
International)
3.5. Concentrating cooker (CC)
This model of solar oven produces higher
temperature (about 400 ºC). However for its
proper working, it needs mostly the direct
radiation and thus requires some frequent (15-45
minutes) tracking (manual or automatic).
A hot box can work (bake and cook), even under
some partial sunny climatic conditions, and takes
1- 3 hours. Although food cooked slowly is good
from nutritional point of view, for some users it
may not be as tasty and some also like to have
fried food and food cooked in a short time. For
this a concentrating cooker is used. Here solar
radiation is received by a reflecting (parabola or
cylindrical) surface, and is reflected at the focal
point where the food to be cooked is kept. In
different models, the focal point could be either
inside or outside the parabola. In addition, the
parabola can be fixed and the focal point movable
or the focal point can be kept fixed while the
parabola is movable.
Figure 5 CC (http://solarcooking.wikia.com)
4. DISCUSSION
In this part, the writer attempts to explain
the minimum energy needed to boil drinking
water. The formula that is used to calculate the
energy need to boil the water is:
Q = m.c. ∆T …….. (1)
Where:
Q : Heat (energy)
m : (mass) = V. ρ
ρ : density of water = 103 kg/m3 = 1 kg/l
c : specific heat
∆T : temperature change
As we know that human need to drink 2.1 liters to
2.8 liters per day (Suprihatin, Kompas 2004)
The temperature minimum water before boiled is
28 oC, and the boil water is 100oC.
The specific heat of water is1 kcal/kg.oC.
So, minimum energy is needed to boil the water
for a man/day is:
Q = 2.1 x 1 x 1 x (100-28)
= 151.2 kJ
According data a number of people of Indonesia
is 220,953,634. So, we can imagine that the
minimum energy consuming in Indonesia is about
33,408,189,460.8 kJ or 33,408 GJ. If Indonesian
use solar oven is assumed 30 %, so energy from
another sources can be save is about 10022.4 GJ
per day.
5. CONCLUSION
Principal of all type of solar cooker are
reflecting the sun shine as energy. The good shape
of solar cooker is concentrating cooker. It collects
the sunshine in one spot area that produce higher
temperature is about 400oC. However, it still need
move to good position to accept sun shine even
manually or automatically. All type of solar
energy can be applied in Indonesia that is shined
by sun in a long year.
Actually, solar energy can be used to
cooking. However, solar energy still unfamiliar by
Indonesian, they still used kerosene to cook their
meal or boil the water. If 30 % Indonesian have
used solar energy as energy for cooking, we can
be saved fossil fuel is about 3658176 GJ in a year.
REFERENCES
Devos X, The Solar Cooking Table,
www.solarcooking.wikia.com, retrieved 20 Juli
2008
Fatahul Arifin, 2008, Disain dan Prototipe
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Tunggal, Prociding Seminar Nasional
Hasil Penelitian 2008, page 155 – 162,
Bogor, LPPM Universitas Juanda
Giancoli, D, C, 1985, Physics: Principle with
applications, 2nd edition, New Jersey,
Prentice-Hall, Inc
Suprihatini, Dr, Ir, 2004, Kompas, 7 Januari2004,
http://digilib.ampl.or.id/detail/ detail.php?
row=9&tp=artikel&ktg=airminum&kd_li
nk=&kode=116, Retrieved 24 Juli 2008
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……., http.//id.wikipedia.org/wiki/daftar propinsi
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