DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW REFLECTIVE MATERIAL AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO VARIOUS TYPES OF SOLAR COOKERS IN LOW PRICE RANGE

Abstract

The author has commercialized several products of solar cookers mainly as educational tools for school children in cooperation with an aluminum foil company, a carton case company and a trading company. In 2013, we developed a multi-layer film to be used for reflective material for solar thermal applications. By attaching the film to the corrugated plastic board with a special technique, we made tough, light-weight and less expensive material for the body of a panel type solar cooker which was originally made of corrugated cardboard. We have used it for the field research to verify its compatibility for the use in Ethiopia and obtained many fruitful responses from 30 families. After a few modifications requested from the Ethiopian people, we have commercialized it in Japan. Main customers are schools and NPO’s. Recently we designed a concentrator type solar cooker with the same material. The prototype model is 1.1m in diameter for the practical cooking power and has polyhedron surface for the safety and its total weight is less than 10kg including the supporting parts. While most of the existing concentrator type solar cookers are in the high price range, ours will feature the challenging price in the market.