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| NOTICE: This item is not available for sale. There are only plans available for DIY.Solar FunnelFor Plans, see: Steven E. Jones Solar Funnel for Cooking index at PESWiki.com
Each Kit contains:
Solar Funnel Cooker Kits are available at a low cost of $15 each plus $5 for shipping
and handling. I assemble the kits myself. The S&H cost drops to $3 per COOKER if
you order three or more. If you are interested, please write to me. Steven Seth Jones Thanks, and best wishes! Sterling, We are currently finishing up research for the second edition of the booklet. This booklet will be sold separately from the COOKER, and will include plans to build your own COOKER and recipes that can be used with it. We anticipate that it will be ready to ship the first part of November. Thank you for your interest. Sincerely, Seth Jones See News Release: BYU News, Feature Story: "BYU professor invents inexpensive solar cooker for developing nations" DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOLAR FUNNEL COOKER Hi! My name is Steve and I'm a professor at Brigham Young University. My research for
the past two decades has mostly been on energy and power. Two years ago I finally woke up
to the fact that half of the world's peoples must burn wood or dried dung in order to cook
their food. That's I learned that the burden for gathering the fuel wood and cooking falls mainly on women and children. Joseph Kiai reports from Dadaab, Kenya: "Women who can't afford to buy wood start at 4 am to go collecting and return about noon... They do this twice a week to get fuel for cooking... The rapes are averaging one per week." From Belize: "Many times the women have to go into the forest dragging their small children when they go to look for wood. It is a special hardship for pregnant and nursing mothers to chop and drag trees back to the village... they are exposed to venomous snakes and clouds of mosquitos." (Anna K.) Not good. And the forests are dwindling in many areas. Edwin Dobbs noted in What of solar cookers? I learned that parabolas to focus the sun's energy are in use in India. But these are dangerous since the sun's energy is focused to a point which is very hot, but which cannot be seen. Don't let children near one of these! And reflecting parabolas are expensive. I learned that BYU's Benson Institute had tried reflecting parabolas at the Altiplano in Bolivia, for cooking. But more than once the parabolas had been stored next to a shed -- and the passing sun set the sheds on fire! The people did not want these dangerous, expensive devices. Next, a solar box cooker was developed by Barbara Kerr of the United States and others. A well-insulated box holds food. A glass or plastic top allows sunlight to enter, and a reflector sends more sunlight into the box. It is safe, and that is good, but these are still expensive. The least expensive I could find cost $70, and this was made of cardboard so could not stand to get wet. Also it cooked very slowly. The Benson Institute tested this in Bolivia, and the solar box oven would not even boil water or cook eggs, unfortunately. While I was studying this problem, I thought again and again of the great need for a The first reflector was made at my home out of aluminum foil glued onto cardboard, then this was curved to form a reflective funnel. Later, I did extensive tests with students (including reflectivity tests) and found that aluminized mylar was great -- the best, most durable material I could find at a reasonable cost. This part is like the parabola, except that the sunlight is concentrated along a line (not a point!) at the bottom of the funnel. You can put your hand up the bottom of the funnel and feel the sun's heat, but it will not burn you. Next, we paint a jar black on the outside, to collect heat, and place this at the bottom of the funnel. Yes, it gets hot, fast. But not hot enough to cook yet; we need to build up the heat somehow without the air cooling it. So, weput a special high-temperature-safe plastic bag around the jar -- voila, the solar funnel cooker was born! The plastic bag replaces the cumbersome and expensive box of the solar box ovens. A small piece of wood (sticks, rope, etc. will also do fine) is placed under the jar to help hold the heat in. A Professor of Physics at BYU did not believe I could actually boil water with the thing. So I showed him: with this new "solar funnel cooker," I was able to boil water in Utah in the middle of winter! You just point the funnel more towards the sun to the south. (I laid the funnel on its side in winter and it worked fine. Tape funnel to the bucket to hold it, or put a poster-board funnel around it to hold it better.) I thought that a pressure cooker would be great. But the prices in stores were way too high for this application. Wait, how about a canning jar? These little beauties are designed to relieve pressure through the lid -- a nice pressure cooker. And the cooking time halves for each 10o C we raise the temperature. In other words, food cooks faster when we use a simple canning jar as a pressure cooker. However, you can also put a black pot in the plastic bag instead if you want. But don't use a sealed container with no pressure release -- it can break as the steam builds up! TESTS IN BOLIVIA The BYU Benson Institute organized tests between the Solar Funnel Cooker and the "old-fashioned" solar box oven. The solar box oven cost about $70 and was made mostly of cardboard. It took 110 minutes to reach water pasteurization temperature -- that's nearly two hours. The Bolivian report notes that "food gets cold every time the pots are taken from and into the oven." The solar oven failed even to cook boiled eggs, and so was not used to try to cook rice. A medium-sized Solar Funnel Cooker was also tested in Bolivia, during the Bolivian winter. Water pasteurization temperature was reached in 50 minutes, boiled eggs cooked in 70 minutes, and rice cooked in 75 minutes. The Bolivian people were pleased by the performance. So were we! WATER AND MILK PASTEURIZATION Incidentally, contaminated drinking water or milk kills thousands of people each day, especially children. WHO reports that 80% of illnesses in the world are spread through contaminated water. Ugh. Studies show that heating water to about 65-70o C (150o F) is sufficient to kill coliform bacteria, rotaviruses, enteroviruses and even Giardia. This is called pasteurization. The solar funnel cooker in the sun reaches these temperatures in about 20-30 minutes in the summer. Look at the data below, taken by BYU student Derek Hullinger, to see how well the Solar Funnel Cooker actually works. (Data available on request.) DO AMERICANS NEED SOLAR COOKERS? Hmmmm, not too many of us Americans out there gathering up sticks or dung to cook lunch with. We should be prepared for emergencies, though. A Mormon pioneer noted in her journal: "We were now following in their trail traveling up the Platte River. Timber was sometimes very scarce and hard to get. We managed to do our cooking with what little we could gather up..." (Eliza R. Snow) Now there's someone who needed a Solar Funnel Cooker! Hikers and campers will appreciate the ability to cook food and purify stream water easily. Just set up the cooker and come back in about an hour -- soup's on! No fires. No wood burning. No butane or propane or alcohol. Uses the glorious sunshine -- it's free for all to use! Here's another reason to use a solar cooker. Third-world people look to see what's in
use in America. SAFETY Safety was my first concern in designing the Solar Funnel Cooker, then came low cost and effectiveness. But any time you have heat you need to take some precautions. * The cooking vessel (jar) is going to get hot, else the food inside won't cook. Let the jar cool a bit before opening. Handle with gloves or hot pads. * Please wear dark glasses to protect from the sun's rays. We naturally squint, but glasses are important. Note the special "fuzzy" finish which is another safety factor built in. (Some solar cookers use a mirror-like finish -- cheaper, but more dangerous.) And don't stick your head down into the funnel (although that would tend to block the sun, actually). COOKING What do you cook in a pressure cooker, or a crock pot? The same foods will cook about the same in the Solar Funnel Cooker -- without burning. Potatoes, carrots, vegetables: slicing helps these to cooker more evenly and faster, then simply place in the jar and set up the solar cooker in the sun. There is no need to add water. A little butter or olive oil to add flavor, maybe. They will cook in their own juices. Yummy and vitamin-rich. MRE's: just put the MRE packet into the plastic bag and heat. The green bag absorbs the sun's heat very well so there is no need to use the black jar in this case. Real easy. (More in the Instruction Booklet in the Kit.) SOLAR COOKING ADVANTAGES Easy to purify water for safe drinking, preventing many diseases. Avoids air pollution and breathing smoke while cooking. Saves trees and other resources. Uses the sun's free energy. I've cooked many lunches with the Solar Funnel Cooker, and never burned any food. Jar easy to clean. Convenient-- food does not need to be tended much, or stirred. Kills insects in grains. Dehydrates fruits, etc. Use for emergency preparedness or just to have a nicer day. HOW TO USE THE SOLAR FUNNEL AS A REFRIGERATOR The Solar Funnel Cooker is set-up just as you would during sun- light hours, with the
exception that the funnel must be directed at the dark night sky. It should not *see* any
buildings or even trees. (The thermal radiation from walls, trees, or even clouds will
spoil the cooling effect.) At night, heat from the vessel is radiated Best wishes to all! |
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