This document describes the design process for two solar oven designs. For the first design, materials included sand, cotton balls, and foam. Testing showed the sand worked well to absorb heat from the sun's rays reflecting off the aluminum lid. Cotton balls took up too much space. The second design used aluminum foil on the sides and sand on the bottom. Testing showed this design did not retain heat well. Reflection indicates better insulators like foam and felt should be used to contain heat in future designs.
2. Imagine for design #1
• Idea # 1
• Our materials are sand,cotton balls,and foam
• We needed 1,1, and 1 for our units
• The advantages were the temperature was very good
because the sand was very hot from the suns light hitting
the aluminum and it reflecting into the box.
• A disadvantage from our plan was that some of the cotton
balls were taking up a lot of room so that's why we are
going to remove them.
3. Imagine for design # 1
• Idea #2
• Our materials are sand and felt
• Total score is 4 points
• We need units 2, and 1
• The advantage of this idea is that we can cover the whole box in
aluminum foil and put sand and rocks on the bottom and the suns light
will attract to the aluminum foil which will make the box hot and the
temperature will be high
• The disadvantage of this idea is idea is if It doesn't attract to the
aluminum because the sand is taking up to much room but the suns light
can still attract to the sand.
6. Plan for design #1
Materials Units
We will use the
material by
Sand 1
We will put the
sand on the
bottom.
Cotton balls 1
We will put the
cotton balls on
top of the sand.
Foam 1
The foam will go
all around the
sides of the box.
7. Impact score for design #1
Design #1
Natural
process
Reuse Recycle
Total
score
Cotton
balls
1 point
Yes or no
+1
Yes or no
No +1
Yes or no
No +1
= 4
points
Sand 1
point
Yes or no
No -1
Yes or no
No -1
Yes or no
No -1
= -2
points
Foam
1 point
Yes or no
yes +1
Yes or no
No +1
Yes or no
yes -1
2 points
• Total score is 4 points
8. Solar oven in the sun
Time Temperature
0 minutes 25.0°c
5 minutes 46.9°c
10 minutes 47.0°c
15 minutes 55.3°c
20 minutes 46.8° c
25 minutes 55.6°c
9. Solar oven in the shade
Time Temperature
1 44.8 °c
2 41.2°c
3 36.9°c
4 34.4°c
5 33.0°c
6 31.7°c
10. Create for design #1
• Our heat score is our solar ovens maximum
temperature subtracted from the controlled oven
56.0 - 55.0 = 1.0.
• Our time score is the total minutes it took to cool
down which was 4 minutes.
• Our total impact score was 4 points.
• Our new total impact score for the solar oven is 1
11. Improve for design #1
• Our total score for design #1 was 1 the parts that
worked well were the sand and the aluminum the
sand got really hot from the suns light reflecting off
the aluminum lid and into the box which was good for
the temperature. The parts that didn't work so well
were the foam and the cotton balls the cotton balls
were taking up a little to much room and they didn't
get so hot.
14. Plan for design #2
Material Units
How will you
use the
material?
Aluminum 2 units
Put on all of
the sides
Sand 1 unit
Put on top of
the aluminum
on the bottom
of the box
15. Impact score for design #2
Design
#2
Reduce
Natural
or
process
ed
Reuse Recycle Total
Alumin
um 2
units
1 point
Natural
-1 point
Yes -1
point
Yes -1
point
-2
points
Sand 1
unit
4 points
Process
ed +1
point
No +1
point
No +1
point
7 points
16. Solar oven testing in the sun
Time Temperature
0 minutes 16.0
5 minutes 27.2
10 minutes 29.1
15 minutes 30.2
20 minutes 31.0
25 minutes 31.8
30 minutes 32.1
17. Solar oven testing in the shade
Time Temperature
1 minute 30.9
2 minutes 29.8
3 minutes 28.4
4 minutes 27.3
5 minutes 26.2
6 minutes 25.2
7 minutes 24.3
8 minutes 23.5
9 minutes 22.9
10 minutes 22.3
18. Create for design #2
• Our heat score is our solar ovens maximum
temperature subtracted from the controlled oven
32-41= -11
• Our time score is the number of minutes it took to
cool down which was 5 minutes
• Our total impact score was 5
• Our new total score for the solar oven is -11
19. Reflection
• Our design did not work well because our solar oven did not
have enough heat because our conductors (sand and
aluminum foil) was letting all of the heat out. It did not get
high scores which affected our other scores. We need to put
better insulators in our box like foam and felt.
• If we could improve our design I would put a lot of shredded
foam in the box and a little bit of sand. Shredded Foam is a
good insulator because shredded foam does not allow heat to
pass through the object which means that it will keep all of
the heat inside the box which will bring up our score.
