Every year, form IV students choose a subject and create a project focusing on that subject. As the resident physics teacher, I was charged with assisting the physics group. To begin, we brainstormed possible projects. By end of the brainstorm it was a choice between making a radio, making a wind turbine or making a solar dish cooker.

This year, our school has been focusing on environmental issues, and the students whittled out the radio. My students wanted a fresh and new project to pursue, and two years prior, students had made a wind turbine. At the end of the brainstorm, the physics group decided to build a solar dish cooker as their project.

The Solar Dish Cooker with the Physics Group

The first step was calculate the size and shape of the solar cooker we wanted to make. To capture enough solar energy without making the cooker's transport burdensome we decided on a 1m diameter. Using the concave mirror formula 1/f = 1/u + 1/v, the students calculated the length of each metal panel to be about 64.5cm. With the dimensions prepared, it was time to bend the rebar into a circle with a 1m diameter.

Students presenting the ring we bent in my courtyard

Next, we prepared the panels. The panels need to be made of a highly reflective material, and so we decided to use the local metal roofing material.

Students preparing to cut the panels from the metal roofing

Rashid, Ali and Jamal (clockwise from the left) cutting the panels

The panels have groves in them as a way to funnel water. However, the panels of the solar cooker need to be flat. So our next task was to smooth those panels.

Yussra smoothing a panel

Then it was on to putting holes into the panels and connecting them together.

Asha and Yussra connecting the panels

The fully connected solar reflector

After completing the solar reflector it was time to make the stand. We had left over rebar, so we made the stand out of it. We enlisted the help of the local welder to connect the stand together.

Fatma cutting the stand

Finally, we connected the solar reflector and the stand together

Solar Reflector connected to the stand

We're done!

Our completed solar dish cooker

Unfortunately, we completed the project in the midst of the rainy season. So we haven't had a chance to really test out our cooker.

-- Mike