The Hotties
Event Location: Cocoa-FL
Competition: Solar Energy Cook-Off
Division: 9-12
School: Lyman High
Team Size: 6
Lyman High
Members
- Emit – HS Sophomore
- Joshua – HS Sophomore
- Victoria – HS Sophomore
Finished Cooker
Background Information
- Lyman High has participated for the past 5 years in Energy Whiz
- This is our first Energy Whiz competition
- Recipe was inspired by the prominence of citrus all around Florida to represent local farms
First Brainstorming Gallery
First design iteration
Original design, adjusted to make better use of materials.
[sketchfab id=”295f9225e4d24bfa86665b752c39d464″]
Final Revised Design
Revised design, now more efficient and portable.
[sketchfab id=”a70c27ff4a0d413dad31c1f1c918ef2c”]
Outside Help
- Home depot staff:
- Cutting Weathershield
- Cutting Acrylic
- Recipe inspiration for Mojo Shrimp
- Tools:
- Dremel
- Jigsaw
- Box Cutter
- Drill
Design Video
Ideas
Our design was inspired by several cookers we found online. After looking through our options, we’d narrowed our list down to parabolic, box, or “hybrid.” We decided to go with parabolic as it seemed to take the most light in and trap the most heat possible. We wanted to suspend it so we could angle it to the sun and in order so after modeling a view designs, we had decided on our current design, suspended on a PVC tripod help on a longer pipe. To trap heat and maximize efficiency we used a sheet of reused acrylic bordered with the Weather Shield blend board.
Materials
- Screws
- Nuts
- Cord
- Metal pot
Parts
- Weathershield
- Acrylic
- Rope
- Food-Safe Sealant
- PVC pipe
- Corrugated Plastic Board
- Cooking Pot
Mojo Shrimp Recipe
Cooked
- Shrimp
- Oranges
- Lemon
- Salt
- Chili pepper
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Paprika
- Zucchini
- Onion
- Cherry tomato
- Rice
Not Cooked
- Sesame Oil
- Cilantro
Results
On 4/23, in a wide field and clear sky, our cooker reached a total of 257 degrees Fahrenheit located of the focal point
Great use of recycled materials for a traditional parabolic design. Really well thought out on the materials you used.
Professional and next level! Impressive collaboration. Your web page blue me away with the excellent graphics, the renderings and 3D models that you can manipulate. Way to incorporate all that you have learned in your project. Menu sounds tasty also and Florida inspired is a nice touch! Well done.
I’m impressed with the temperature you achieved with this. I also like the portability of the 2nd iteration. I look forward to seeing in person how you concentrate, trap, absorb, and then retain the solar heat to create sustained temperatures in the food. Good work!
This was way more than I expected to see! I am sitting next to a solar cooking book and was thinking that it would be too basic of a project for my upper grades but this project gave me the inspiration to take it further. I would love to show the students your solar oven and the temperature that it reached. You all did an excellent job and should feel very proud!