So the first fail has occurred. Having decided to set up 'battery cooking' in his kitchen in relation to solar electric cooking, Simon found that the terminal got so hot that it melted the cheap weak clip for the charger. Note this is not the melting of the connection t the cooker - that was suitably sized but rather the cheap plastic clip of the charger which was not in use but still connected to the terminal. Lesson - drawing 500W for 30 mins does cause the terminals to get quite hot and this may be a safety issue. We original conceived of the connection between battery and cooker as a busbar, and in a designed system unit. However this event does raise the question - would people think it ok to just connect any old battery with any old wiring - which would then melt the plastic and be a danger. Any technical design will have to mitigate against this. Indeed we are beginning to think that the core design work is not in the solar at all, but rather in a battery driven cooker! If such a unit were made (to appropriate safety specifications and cost parameters), it could find a market in a number of conditions? It could smooth out the load in weak grids, could be useful for minigrids, of course, home systems, but also in slums where wiring is weak - trickle charging at a few amps, in order to cook in the evening for an hour. Hmmmm......
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 July 2013 11:03 |