What You Never Knew About Solar Oven Designs
May 11, 2009 by admin
Filed under Alternative Power
For several decades various solar oven designs have typically been used in third world regions where electricity or other fuel sources are hard to find. Solar cookers have been used effectively in sunny African countries like Sudan to not only cook food, but also for water purification and pasteurization.
But just because first world countries have enough energy supplies, it does not excuse us from using solar cooking at home and helping to conserve that energy. What’s great about solar cooking is that it uses the power of the sun to cook food – though it may take 4 times longer than a conventional oven.
A number of interesting solar oven designs have been made over the years, but they typically take one of three forms: parabolic design, panel design, or box design.
Parabolic Shape:
A parabolic solar cooker, as the name implies, is made from any reflective material in a parabolic (bowl like) shape that focuses sunlight to a single point. It is the most effective at cooking food quickly and efficiently, however, it tends to be more expensive and hard to make by hand. Furthermore, its fixed shape makes it less portable and raises some safety concerns.
Panel Shape:
Similar to the parabolic design, the panel design focuses sunlight to a single point. However, it is less rounded and made up of a number of small, flat, reflective panels.
Although not as effective as a parabolic cooker, it is safer, easier to make, and can be folded up for portability. Panel cookers come in a number of innovative designs, the simplest being made from a fold-able, reflective windshield shade.
Box Shape:
Very different to the other two designs, the box cooker works by trapping the sun’s heat, instead of simply focusing it on a central point. It is designed in such a way that it let’s light in, but stops that heat from escaping. As more sunlight comes in, the hotter it gets.
This results in the entire area of the box to get hot and be able to cook larger portions of food at a time. This design is by far the simplest to put together – all you need is a black cardboard box with one side covered in tin foil and a sheet of clear perspex or glass on top to hold in the heat.
What I like most about solar oven designs is that they can be put together with simple materials found at home in the course of an afternoon. It’s a fun project to do with your kids, and the shapes you come up with are really limited to your imagination. And do not just think your solar cooker is only good for boiling water or steaming vegetables. People have successfully roasted meat in them and even baked bread. Another pro is that your solar cooker will be outside when used, so it will not cause your whole kitchen to heat up and put strain on your indoor cooling system – another way it helps you to conserve energy.
To think that – according to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey – almost 75% of Americans prepare at least one hot meal at home per day, 33% prepare two or more, a large amount of electricity can be saved if more of us try solar oven design at home.
So why not solar cooking out for yourself. You really have nothing to lose. If you are not willing to spend money on a professionally made design, why not build one at home with the kids – the internet provides a whole host of free blueprints and instructions, so try it out and have fun saving power.
What Is Lanyard? Brand Your Brand On A Lanyard!
May 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Green Gadgets
Lanyard how to. A lanyard is a narrow piece of material worn around the neck for holding small objects. Lanyards consist of two loops, one large and one small. This type of lanyard, also commonly referred to as a neck lanyard, measures approximately 17” from the top loop to the bottom loop. Neck lanyards for holding name badges and id cards are by far the most common and routinely used by schools, businesses and government agencies as well as other organizations, groups and clubs.
The two main components of a lanyard are the material and hardware. Lanyard material ranges from 1/8” cord to 3/8”, 5/8”, ½” and 1.0″ wide cotton, nylon and polyester. A variety of lanyard hardware attachments are available including snaphooks, bulldog clips and o-rings. Traditionally, lanyards were made from a continuous piece of material with no breaks. However, recent safety concerns around the workplace have dictated neck lanyards to be offered with a breakaway connector which allows the lanyard to be released from around the neck in the event it gets caught or snagged. These breakaway or “safety” connectors are available for both cord and all widths of flat lanyard material.
The most basic lanyard available is a blank (non-imprinted) cord or metal ball chain. Custom imprinted lanyards first appeared in the early ‘90s. Since then custom lanyards with names, logos and messages have been steadily increasing in popularity. The most suitable lanyard materials for printing are cotton or nylon 3/8” to ¾” wide. Custom printed lanyards are routinely used for business and school id cards, tradeshows, fundraisers, stadium events, family and class reunions, religious retreats and more. Various lanyard imprinting methods exist resulting in different levels of print quality, durability and expense. The most economical printing method is hot stamping producing commercial grade lanyards. Hot stamped lanyards are great for employee and student id cars as well as tradeshow name badges. Screen printing which is commonly used for t-shirts and jackets produces excellent quality imprinted lanyards. Screen printed lanyards can be used for id cards, keys and other small objects and is also suitable for retail store sales. The best overall lanyard imprint quality is achieved through a process known as dye sublimation. Since the imprint penetrates the lanyard material surface it is less subject to wear. Dye sublimated lanyards are suitable for all occasions, events and store sales.
In addition to their object carrying function, custom imprinted lanyards offer a relatively inexpensive medium for advertising business and individual names, logos and messages.
Promotional companies brand names and logos on pens because pens are everywhere. But the reason promotional companies choose to brand business names and logos on clothing is a little more subtle. If your business name and logo is seen on an article of clothing that has style and quality, people will associate your business with quality.
Businesses should get their business name and logo branded on articles of clothing in a way that makes others take notice. The first priority of any promotional company that wants people to wear merchandise with a business name and logo branded on it, is getting the quality right. Think about the person who uses a lanyard with your business name branded on it. People attach all sorts of useful things to their lanyards; including knives, grocery razors, pen torches and whistles.
New reliable and light synthetics have replaced the traditional cord and rope when it comes to the material that is used to manufacture lanyards, and synthetic materials are both practical and more attractive than the traditional materials.
The lanyard is popular with teachers, foremen and supervisors. The lanyard can be worn around the neck or it can be worn like a badge. Promotional businesses have come a long way from slapping a business name and logo on a t-shirt. Promotional clothing covers a multiplicity of categories and there is a promotional accessory for just about every occasion.
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