Types of Solar Ovens

The available designs of solar ovens fall into three main categories: the box, parabolic, and panel designs. The feature common to each oven design is the shiny reflective surface that directs the sun’s rays onto a dark cooking vessel. Each category has advantages when compared on their heating ability, ease of construction, ease and safety of use.

Pictures of solar ovens available on the internet show the variety of ovens designed to focus the sun’s energy to heat and cook food.   I have selected one picture of each type of cooker to display here.  These photos are from the Photo Gallery of the Solar Cooking Archive; use the links to visit them for many more photos and information on solar cooking.

The last of the four pictures is a picture of my own solar box cooker, made using the instructions written for this website.

Figure 1:  Solar box cooker

Box cookers.  Box cookers are the most common type made for personal use. Despite the name “box” cooker, they are made in both circular and rectangular shapes. Figure 1 illustrates the basic box cooker design. They consist of an enclosed inner box covered with clear glass or plastic, a reflector, and insulation. There is a wide variety of patterns and plans that can be adapted to work with available materials. While they do not heat quickly, they provide slow, even cooking. Box cookers are very easy and safe to use, and fairly easy to construct.

Figure 2:  Parabolic cooker

Parabolic cookers. Parabolic cookers reach higher temperatures and cook more quickly than solar box cookers, but are harder to make and use. Most commercial ovens, such as the Solar Chef oven pictured in Figure 2, are a form of parabolic cooker. Parabolic cookers require more precision to focus the sunlight on the cooking vessel. If the sunlight is not focused exactly on the cooking vessel, the food will not cook. When the parabolic oven is used, the temperature must be watched so the vessel does not overheat, burning the food. The risk of burns and eye injury is greater with  homemade parabolic designs. While they provide excellent results when used correctly, they are not easy to build at home and require great care to use.

Figure 3:  Panel cooker

Panel cookers. Panel cookers are flat reflective panels which focus the sunlight on a cooking vessel without the inner box common in box cookers. Panel cookers are the easiest and least costly to make, requiring just four reflective panels and a cooking vessel, but they are unstable in high winds and do not retain as much heat when the sun is hidden behind clouds. Figure 3 shows a panel cooker with dark cooking vessel and thermometer wrapped in a plastic oven bag.

Figure 4:  Tamara's Solar Box Cooker

Tamara's Solar Box Cooker.  The instructions I have developed are for a solar box cooker.  I first ordered instructions from two sources in 1996. The ovens I built using them did not work.  After research and experimentation, I built this oven in the summer of 1998. The Instructions for Building a Solar Oven are the result of my experimentation.

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