ECE.09R – Solar Flames

• Rami Abu Alkheir
• Francis Dawood
• Hassan Hassan

Cooking food is what made our civilization become what it is today. Yet in many places in the world, people don’t have access to clean and safe cooking fuels. In countries or locations where access to grid tied energy systems is limited, people need better alternatives to cook. We have designed an electrical system for an insulated solar electric cookstove (ISEC), which alleviates these concerns. We have identified a set of power resistors that can be used to heat the device. For safety, we have integrated a thermal control system where the user can adjust the setpoint and ensure the system maintains a safe temperature. To increase convenience and affordability, we added a battery to store energy so the user can operate low power home appliances and charge mobile devices. We also integrate a system to monitor the devices usage, a cook counter, this feature can assist with these stoves being funded by aid agencies and carbon credit schemes. We have tested and demonstrated that these features work and satisfy our customer needs. In addition to the work above, we were asked to look into maximizing the power output of the solar panel. From a preliminary perspective, we have built a simple buck converter, but have not optimized the power output of the panel.