Project Inti
Produktutveckling av en solugn
In this report the two authors, and project contributors alike, describe their work withdeveloping a solar cooker intended for usage in the developing countries of the world.Specifically, the work aims at developing a new, solar heat driven cooking device, possiblybased upon the current product. This should, in comparison to the current product, be lighter,easier to transport and to produce. Also, the new product?s production mustn?t be more costlythan today and the included materials and components must be obtainable from within theBolivian national borders where the product is currently produced. During the project, certainadvantages with a more efficient, and, above all, a more moderately priced product, werediscovered. The current product is a box model solar cooker made out of fiberglass with aplane reflector consisting of a mirror.An extensive study of theory including technical, work process together with culture- andregion oriented theory, as well as communication theory, was conducted. As a part of theanalysis, a ten day field trip to Cochabamba, Bolivia, was carried out. In order to achieve acomprehensive understanding of the regions where usage of solar cookers is at issue, theproject has included interviews with persons working in human aid organizations. Anextensive idea generation was conducted where some hundred different partial solution ideaswere created. Requirement specifications for the new product were put together. In order totest the influence of different parameters on the cooker?s functioning, a mathematical modelof the solar cooker was also set up. To validate the functionality of the ideas a number of testswere executed.For the final prototype, a box model solar cooker design was chosen. Vital material selections,as well as design improvements, were implemented, resulting in a solar cooker which, incomparison to the current model, has many advantages. Since the solar cooker will be sold topersons and organizations widely varying in solvency and since the cooker could be used indifferent parts of the world, the authors chose to recommend that it should be designed andproduced in a way facilitating production of different models.