Affordable Solar Induction Cooker.

Inspiration

We came across a very interesting and underrated topic in villages of India Solar Energy. Indian have yet to realize the power of Solar energy. Today, our village people are facing problems due to increase in LPG gas prices .This puts significant stress on us, as a nation, which needs to maintain its growth trajectory, while minimizing the negative effects of rising global commodity prices. India is an ideal country for solar energy. We get 300 days of sunshine, our peak power demand can be easily fulfilled from sun.

What it does

Solar panel converts the solar energy into electric energy and transfer to charge the battery, and the induction runs on battery. Induction cooking is widely used nowadays due to its high efficiency and safety. Induction cooking is derived from the principle of electromagnetic induction by inducing eddy currents in the coil that get excited in the ferromagnetic material to cause heating . In this research, solar energy is used as a source of power for the induction stove. This project aims to design and build a solar powered induction cook top supplemented by the mains power using half bridge topology and control the power output by varying operating frequency.

How we built it

Solar panel is is installed to charge the battery and the battery runs the induction cooker. The cooking vessel must be made of or contain a ferromagnetic metal such as cast iron or stainless steel. An induction hob contains a coil of copper wire underneath the ceramic plate, and when a cooking pot is placed on top an alternating electric current is passed through it.

Challenges we ran into

Our model's main objective is to make it efficient and affordable. Usually a solar cooker takes several hours to cook food, they don't function in the rainy season, wind can knock them over, they simply won't work for people who are up before dawn or need to cook after dark. With these so much difficulties we have tackled most of the problems and also tried to minimize the cost of product. We have made this through the perceptive of rural people.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The simulation results of the induction cooker is successfully work and get the desired output. Solar Induction Cooker not only will be helpful for cooking but also is an alternative for the lower section of the society.

What we learned

In this project we learnt that it is possible to reduce the use of conventional energy consumption by using maximum renewable energy with the help of solar induction cooker for cooking purpose. Also we learnt that Induction cooking heats a cooking vessel by electrical induction, instead of thermal conduction from a flame, or an electrical heating element. The resulting oscillating magnetic field induces a magnetic flux, producing an eddy current in the ferrous pot, which acts like the secondary winding of a transformer .We also get to know more about battery and solar panels.

What's next for Affordable Solar Induction Cooker.

There are about 30 crore households in India, out of which if even half of the population starts using solar based induction cooking as a clean and affordable source of cooking , it can make a big difference. Such transformation will reduce the dependency of households on availability and price of Solar Based Induction Cook Stove volatility of fossil fuels like LPG, kerosene. Solar based induction cooking, while being capital intensive, does not need any recurring expenditure as the solar panel and batteries are owned by households. Efficiency of solar panels is increase by installing reflectors on it.