Discover how you can build your very own solar hot dog cooker. Not only can you enjoy making delicious hot dogs using solar energy, you can also save money on electricity at the same.
You will need
• Small photovoltaic cell
• Solar motor
• Plywood
• Flaming
• Screws
• Flexible acrylic mirror
• Elastic band and pulley wheel
or
• Small plastic worm gear and large plastic gear to match
Tools
• Bandsaw
• Drill
• Router
This list of components is for the deluxe version-the automatic hot dog turner is a cool novelty, but not essential as it is just as easy to turn by hand! If you want to make a simpler cheaper version, substitute the plywood for card, the plastic mirror for tin foil, and rather than have a motor turn your hot dog on a skewer, just provide support for the skewer and do it by hand!
First of all we need to construct the parabolic mirror. The parabolic mirror collects all of the solar energy and focuses it onto our hot dog.
Have you ever tried bending a glass mirror? It doesn't work, the least you will end up with is seven years bad luck, and at worse you could end up with bloody hands.
Here we have a couple of options, the "quality-built-to-last" option, and the "cheapskate" option. The quality-built-to-last option involves buying some flexible acrylic mirror from the internet. This is often seen on auction sites in large panels as people use it for interior design, and can sometimes be found in garden supply stores as people put it at strategic locations in their garden in order for it to appear bigger.
The acrylic mirror can be bent gently without fear of breaking, and also has the advantage that it can be drilled relatively easily without fear of splintering.
If you are opting for the cheap option, you can get away with using some corrugated cardboard, covered in glue, followed by tin foil. Note that your collector efficiency will not be as good, as the surface is not as reflective. However, for a demonstration it works to a degree.
Next, you need to construct a support for the mirror - if you are building to last then use plywood and framing. A router might be useful to machine a groove which will support the mirror, if you are making the cheaper cardboard version; you just need to cut some flaps to support the "mirror".
Now we come to the drive mechanism. You can just provide a simple support for a skewer and turn your hot dog by hand.
Alternatively, if you are feeling really adventurous, you can construct a solar motor, which will turn the skewer of your hot dog automatically!
You will need
• 1381 IC
• 2N3904 transistor
• 2N3906 transistor
• 3300 µF capacitor
• 2.2 k resistor
• Solar cell
• High efficiency motor
The circuit for the solar motor is a simple circuit and can easily be assembled on stripboard. Once you have constructed the solar motor driver circuit, you are going to need to mechanically couple the motor to the skewer. You may find if your motor is powerful enough, that you can directly drive the skewer-it would be worth investigating bearings to ensure that your skewer turns as freely as possible with a minimum of resistance. It you find your motor struggles to turn the skewer, and then use a "worm drive" to reduce the speed of the motor-while increasing torque.
Learn how to build a solar panel and get to know some useful information on solar power systems, benefits and many other informative tips on alternative energy. Visit Earth For Energy today; master the true knowledge of generating free energy.
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