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DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW COST, MULTIFUNCTION, REGIONALLY APPROPRIATE SOLAR OVEN FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA
Description:
In the average Latin American country, 45% of the population is below the poverty line and 36% live in rural settings (CIA World Factbook). For these sectors, solar ovens might represent their only affordable means of cooking and sterilization. Significant research efforts in the area have developed a thorough understanding of the physics and thermodynamics of these devices as well as produced several designs with high temperatures and heat efficiency as their main design criteria. However, there is a need for design efforts with localized mass production in mind. The objective of this study is to design and develop a series of effective multifunctional solar ovens that can be mass produced at low cost using the capital, labor and materials that are typically available in Latin American nations. A multidisciplinary senior design team will conduct the study within the context of RIT's Multidisciplinary Design sequence. The student design team will: 1) review the available literature on multiple use solar ovens; 2) review the constraints imposed by resource availability in Latin American countries; 3) develop a series of oven design concepts to meet the needs of the targeted populations; 4) select a set of design concepts to develop further as prototypes based on appropriate criteria (effectiveness, efficiency, unit manufacturing costs, manufacturability, etc); and 5) determine which prototype oven designs are most appropriate for the targeted user population based on appropriate criteria. This work is expected to lead into a fully specified, low cost solar oven that can be readily used to perform a number of functions (cooking, water sterilization, food preservation, waste sterilization, etc.). The oven will be easily fabricated in high volumes from locally available commodity materials using local labor and low tech equipment and materials. The widespread adoption of such ovens can also reduce fuelwood consumption in these nations, alleviating the deforestation and soil erosion that arise from the overharvesting of this resource. Finally, by designing such ovens to be made from locally available materials using local labor and capital, a positive economic impact is made in the community. Another outcome from this project includes increased student awareness of impact of product design on societal and environmental issues.