-This parabolic cooker can be moved around easily by the use of the four wheels connected to the foot structure.

-The pot holder is connected to the parabolic dish, close to the focal point which means that there will be a higher temperature and the food will cook faster.

-It is unclear if the wheels can lock but if they don't this could be a problem as the cooker will then be mobile and can roll around increasing safety risks for the user and people around.

-Because the pot is situated so close to the focal point it can increase the chances of the user burning themselves while cooking as well as when they place the pot onto that focal point and also removing the pot from that point.

-Because the dish is at an angle to face the sun, when the user stands in front of it, it can also cause temporary blindness from the reflection off the parabolic dish.

-Tripod structure can be a very strong structure to hold the pot.

-The use of the grill piece is smart because it allows for the support of holding almost any size of pot or pan or even tray while still allowing for the heat to be reflected onto the bottom of it by the parabolic dish.

-The chain that holds the grill piece looks as if it can be adjusted by the use of pulling it up for by loosening it. This can be seen by the chain running along the side of the right leg on the tripod. If this is the case this could be a way of adjusting the temperature: by making the grill piece either closer or further away from the focal point off the parabolic dish.

-The parabolic dish has no stand reinforcing it to the ground therefore it can easily be moved by wind, knocked down by an animal or child.

-The tripod structure is a clever idea but if it is executed so poorly it will not work. This tripod stand is not secured properly because there is nothing connecting the three legs which will provide the stability it needs, especially if there is something heavy being hung in the middle of it because the heavy pot and grill will pull down on the center of the tripod weakening its structure if not done properly.

-It is unclear how the tripod connects at the top of this picture but one must make sure this is done properly because it is another consideration when it comes to the structure and stability of the tripod.

IMAGE A:

IMAGE B: 

I like the way that these tripods are assembled at the top because it provides the user with the ability to adjust the legs of the stand. By moving the legs up and down this adjusts the height of the stand.

I prefer the stand in IMAGE B in comparison to IMAGE A because there isn't such a deep cut in the wood in the legs of the stand which means it is sturdier. Another thing that i prefer bout IMAGE B is that the stand had some form of connection between the legs which stabilizes the structure

Poster of Parabolic cooker idea 1. Renders of exploded view, assembled, parts and in situ.

Final in situ render of product

By using aluminium foil tape I covered an existing old satellite dish. I used the satellite dish because it has a parabolic shape and also because by reusing existing materials it reduces the costs: Parabolic cookers are very expensive and this makes it the affordability and accessibility hard for those who cant afford it but truly need it. Hence I have used an old satellite dish.

I have cut the three pieces of pine brandering into equal lengths (the three pieces to the right of the image, the far left piece was cut as a spare). I also measured and cut the top groove and then also I created a rounded radius by sanding them. By sanding this round radius it allows for the legs of the tripod to be lifted up and down when connected to the tongue joint.

The top piece of the tripod was cut using a jigsaw. I cut the tongue joints out and then drilled 7mm holes on the side of them so that a 6mm bolt can fit when assembling it to the legs of the tripod.

After I assembled this stand I dismantled it and then drilled four holds on the top piece with a 10mm drill bit so that I can thread the chains which hold the grill through them.

Once the parabolic cooker was assembled outside for testing I realised that the focal point was hitting the pine legs so I decided to use aluminium foil to insulate and protect the pine legs from burning. I used key-ring hooks to attach the chain to the grill piece. I also noticed that my lower bolt hook in the legs were not low enough which meant that I could not get an accurate focal point and also my structure was made unstable because the parabolic dish was not secured to the legs of the tripod (I wanted to use the parabolic dish as the connection between the legs of the tripod which would essentially stabilize it).

It was easy to find the focal point because when I looked under the grill piece I could see the light from the parabolic dish under the grill piece on the grids of it and once I placed the pan on the grill piece it was evident that I had my focal point. I also then measured the temperature which was 85°C.

I added butter to the pan in preparation for frying my egg. The butter started to melt immediately once placed on my pan.

After my butter had melted and lined the bottom of the pan I then cracked an egg into the pan and placed a lid on top of it. Every 5 minutes I checked my egg and after 15 minutes it was complete.

I started melting the butter at 3pm when the room temperature was 30°C and the parabolic cooker was 87°C.

I decided to drill an extra whole on each leg to provide the dish with an extra hook so that the parabolic dish does not sit on the floor. By allowing the dish to be connected to all three legs, this stabilizes my structure. This stops the structure from being blown over by wind, or even knocked down by an animal or child.

I changed the key-ring hooks on the chains to climbing clasps because they are more user friendly. also it allows the user to clip the clasp anywhere on the chain and then also to the grill, allowing for easy adjustment so that the user can change the temperature of the cooker, by lifting it up (lower temperature) or dropping it lower (higher temperature)

I also decided to add strips of aluminium foil to the inside of the pine legs to protect them from being exposed to the focal point.