Solar Showdown Blog Post #2

Our Solar Dehydrator (Nick Ho)

Group member reflections:

Design for Solar Dehydrator (PC Nick Ho)

This past week, we were given the task of finishing our solar dehydrator. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to class due to a urgent doctors appointment. My group was close to finishing but not quite. There we still some minor details that we needed to complete. By the end of class, our group became very close to finishing our dehydrator. We have to fix one thing and we will be ready for testing it. I am enthused with our teamwork and camaraderie. I have faith in our group that we will be successful in this project. We start our solar oven tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it!

-Tate Singleton '17

We are about to finish building our solar dehydrator. It seems like other teams are done with their dehydrator which worries me. The reason we are behind is because we have two parts within our dehydrator. We have a part that generates warm air and an actual dehydrator made out of a pizza box. The other reason that we are behind is we didn’t have Nick and Tate during last class. Julian and I got a lot done but I feel like we could have done much more when we had all of our members. Even though we are taking longer to build our dehydrator, I am confident that ours will work really well because we have two mechanisms that dry food. First is the direct heat energy that our pizza box receives. The second is hot air floating in that is generated from the box with aluminum cans. We will start testing our dehydrator starting tomorrow. I am also excited to move on to our solar oven. I feel like it will be a bigger challenge but with my teammates, there is no doubt we will make a great one.

-Jay Yun '16

This project we are working on right now are abstract and unfamiliar because I haven't been able to apply the lessons in physics yet. I am confused on what I am supposed to be doing other than being a laborer for my group. I have done my best to help my group and limit the total groups work, but I really don’t see the point of the physics class being of help. Hopefully someone can teach me the science behind the machine so I can be of further use to my group. Our machines are coming together well and I look forward to presenting them within a week's time.

-Julian Roche '16

The second part of the dehydrator
(Nick Ho)

The inside of the first part of the
dehydrator (Nick Ho)

Today in class we continued working on our solar dehydrator. At the current juncture, we still have a significant amount of work to do. With our plans finalized, we have begun the construction of our dehydrator. It consists of two parts, each based on other designs (here and here). Additionally, we conducted research on what types of food we would be able to dehydrate. This is a good site for overall solar cooking tips. The first part of our dehydrator is a cardboard box. We lined the inside with aluminum cans, and spray painted the inside. Additionally, we glued a piece of glass to the roof of the box. On one side, we cut holes in the bottom so that air could enter the dehydrator. On the other side, we plugged in a tube through which the warmed air could travel. The tube is angled upwards, which is the direction hot air flows. The second part of our design is a pizza box. Inside the pizza box is a mesh platform on which food can rest to be dehydrated. The pizza box, like the first part of the dehydrator, has a piece of glass glued to the roof of the lid. This design will (hopefully) create an efficient convection current of hot air rising and cool air falling.

Visual representation of a convection current (emaze.com)

Right now, we're behind other groups. Everyone has begun testing of their dehydrators, while we are struggling to complete the construction of ours (we still need to figure out a way in which we can hold the pizza box elevated, as well as gluing the tube to the bottom of the pizza box. However, I'm confident that we'll soon be finished building our dehydrator, and we can begin testing. I'm excited to figure out how our design could use improvement. The next step after that is building and testing our solar oven. 

Kids at work (Tate Singleton)

Kids at work (Tate Singleton)

Kids at work (Tate Singleton)