4 dishes compared and conclusions

[DragnGo]

you say that you want to make a stationary mirror that can reflect enough light to be used as significant heat, regardless of how the sun moves day by day. I can stretch my creativity there. But where I am dumbfounded is how do you make up for the movement of the sun on a SEASONAL basis?

[gaiatechnician]

Seasonal adjustment can be done by hand. There is a much larger margin for error with the new dishes, than with parabolic, so once a week small adjustment should be fine. Things have moved on. With the solar design t-square I made clam shaped model dishes. Unfortunately nobody has compared any of the dishes for real yet. In Haiti, for instance, the compound parabolic and winston W should be much better and safer than parabolic dishes for solar cooking.

But there are none there.

[gaiatechnician]

The videos seem to show that a tighter than parabolic curve will allow you to cook for longer periods without moving the dish. You should also not that the curve I made is NOT deep parabolic.

[bg0821]

this was interesting gaiatechnician. Yes I saw your past video with the movement of light across the shape of the compound parabolic with the laser pointer and difference. I just made a parabolic shape with a satellite dish and extensions on it to follow the curve of the dish. I want to cook with it. started as a 20 inch and became a 40 inch diameter.

[gaiatechnician]

I would say, go for it, perhaps just make the next part of the curve a little tighter. Note that the shapes I show are for the "pot covered in a turkey bag" type solar cookers. I used a 7 liter pot with my compound parabolic. 7 liters of stew! would be a nice cooking day, I think. The 7 liter pot works fine to bake potatoes. I put them on a tray in the top half of the pot with a little water in the bottom so they get steamed a bit. And the curled up 2 leaf dish? Anyone want to design it?

[bg0821]

I'm not making the next part of the curve tighter because it isn't a deep parabolic shape rather just a flatter type of dish so as to just follow the curve works well. I like solar cooking . a 7 liter pot will make a lot of stew I like chicken stew with potatos and veggies in there. yum

[bg0821]

I should also say that the curature is followed correcly cause it is made of plexiglass the extension that is molded in the oven to form the origional shape of the dish. so as to keep the right curvature.