1. Parabolic Solar Cooker: Installation Instructions
Watershed Organization Trust
Contents
Notes Before You Begin………….....…………………………………………………..page
Kit Inventory………………………………………………………………………………....page
Assembly……………………………………………………………………………………….page
Part 1: Base………………………………………………………………………......page
Part 2: Parabolic Frame…………………………………………………………..page
Part 3: Reflectors…………………………………………………………………….page
Part 4: Pot Support…………………………………………………………………page
Final Notes, Observations……………………………………………………………….page
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………….. page

2. Notes Before You Begin…
The solar parabolic cookers can be used as a supplement to
conventional cooking methods that use gas or fuel-wood for
cooking.
The cooker works best under direct sunlight. Even if the sun-
light is being partially hindered by clouds, its effectiveness is
considerably reduced.
Nevertheless, under direct sunlight, the performance of the
cooker is remarkable. In most of our project areas, it has been
estimated that such clear sky days are available for 6 to 8
months in a year. So this cooker should help reduce the
dependence on gas and fire-wood considerably.
The size of the cooker that is currently being installed can
effectively cook for about 30 adults (or 35-40 school students).
As most of the household cooking takes place during early
mornings or late in the evening, this cooker might not be
suitable. However, schools and Anganwadis do their cooking
later in the day for the mid-day meal scheme. Hence, these
cookers are ideally suited for them. Amongst such schools, it is
recommended to focus on the smaller schools with less than
60 students.
Prior to assembly, the cooker has been packed in two boxes.
One contains the upper dish components, reflectors etc. The
other box contains the lower base components and wheels.
While transporting boxes to the place of assembly, make sure
that a proper pair of boxes has been chosen!

3. Kit Inventory
4 Castor Wheels
Two Cross Members (Base)
Central Connecting Member
(Base) – 2 pcs
Two Vertical Stand Members
(Base) – 2pcs
6 (3pair) Vertical Support Beams
4 (2pair) Frame Support Beams
28 Dish Flats
2 Clutch Plates
6 Connecting Flats (Dish Beams)
4 Tie Flats
2 Dish Connecting flats (mount
Dish to Stand), one Clutch Side

4. Kit Inventory
2 Pot-Holding Pipes Grill for Pot 2 Pot-Support Flats
BOLTS
B C D E F
A
W
A Secures dish connectors and connector plates to the base
B Secures the Base components
C Secures the pot-holding pipes and flat
D Secures the dish frame and vertical support beams
E Secures the four tie flats to the dish frame
F Secures dish flats to dish frame and vertical support beams
W Secures the wheels to cross members, and pot-holding flats to
pot-holding pipe.

5. Kit Inventory
Dish Reflector Sheets
Copper Wire, 2 different lengths
Utility Kit:
Protective Eyewear
Paintbrush
Extra Paint (not shown)
Pliers (not shown)
4 Wrenches of varying size
You may also need (not included):
Scissors or a knife
Metal Clippers
Extra Pliers
A Hammer

6. Assembly
Part One: The Base
3
2
1
1. Mount the four wheels on the ends of the two cross
members, using W bolts.
2. Also using W bolts, connect the two pieces of the central
connecting member
3. Secure the central connecting member to the center of the
two cross members on each end simultaneously with the
vertical stand members using B bolts.
4. Make sure hooks on the cross member faces outwards
(highlighted in picture above)
5. You may tighten W bolts with wrench, but do not tighten B
bolts with wrench yet. (will be done after mounting dish)

7. Part Two: The Parabolic Dish

8. 1. Using D bolts and connecting flats, assemble the 3 pairs of vertical
support beams. The outside vertical support beams should joined using the
specialized connecting flats provided in the kit**
Note that the bolt heads in the joint on the left must be facing outwards in
order to not obstruct the movement of the dish. It is recommended that for
the joint on the right as well, the bolt heads face outwards.
2. Using D bolts and connecting flats, connect the central vertical support
beam to a pair of frame support beams on each end. These two frame
supports will form the top and bottom of the dish.
**Put all bolts in place by hand first, and then tighten them all with a wrench, after all bolts in
the dish are in place.

9. 3. Using D bolts, connect the other two pairs of outer vertical support
beams to the ends of the frame support beams.
4. Using E bolts, connect a tie flat to the left, right, upper, and lower frame
support beams.

10. 5. Begin to connect the dish flats to the central and outer vertical support
beams using F bolts.
6. The dish flats have two ends – the one with the straight edge is connected
to the central support beams, while the one with the slanted edge is
connected to the outer vertical support beams. Tighten bolts by hand.
7. After all the dish flats have been connected, all the bolts of the dish may
be tightened by wrenches.
8. Before mounting the dish onto the base, slide the full clutch plate (the
one without the open space) onto the side of the vertical stand member
(base) that will hold the larger of the two dish connecting flats.
9. Mount the dish onto the base. Place the second clutch plate behind the
larger dish connecting flat, and secure the assembly with the two A bolts.
10. After ensuring that the entire dish flips from one side to the other
without any obstruction, the B bolts of the base may be tightened.

11. Part Three: The Reflectors
1. Prepare the Reflectors. Use the shorter copper wires to thread through
the 4 middle pairs of holes, leaving the last pair open on each end:
Front
Back
2. For 3 of the reflector sheets, repeat step 1 using the longer wires. These
will be placed over the central vertical support beam.
3. 2 of the reflector sheets have a hole in the center – these are meant to fit
over the pot-holding pipes at the ends.
4. Begin installing reflector sheets in the middle of the dish. Using pliers,
wrap one of the reflectors with the longer wires around the central vertical
support beam. This is easier with two people: one holds the reflector in
place while the other secures the wires to the dish flats. Each subsequent
reflector should overlap the previous by at least the width of one finger.

12. 5. The outermost spaces for the reflectors in the middle section should be
reserved for the reflectors with holes in the middle, which should fit around
the dish connecting joints when they are installed.
6. When the middle section is complete, remove the protective tape from
each reflector.
7. Repeat step 4 for the remaining top and bottom sections. For these,
additional wires should be used in the top pair of holes to secure the
bottom (or top) section reflectors to the middle section. It is possible that
only one of the holes from each reflector can be used, if there is not enough
overlap between middle and bottom (or top) section reflectors. As reflectors
are added outwards from the center, individual reflectors should be angled
slightly to account for the curve of the dish (top and bottom sections only).
8. When the top and bottom sections arecomplete, remove the protective
tape from each reflector.

13. PartFour: Pot Support
It is suggested that the pot-support is connected at the end
(after fastening all the reflectors to the dish frame), as it might
get in the way of the person holding the reflectors.

14. 1. Slide the end-reflector which has
the hole onto the pot-holding pipe.
2. Using a C bolt, secure the pot-
holding pipe onto the dish
connecting flat. This may require the
use of a hammer.
3. Secure the end-reflector.
4. Repeat on the other side.

15. 5. Secure the pot-support flats to the pot-holding pipes using W bolts.
6. Place the grill so that it rests on the pot-support flats.

17. Final Notes and Observations…
Once the assembly is complete, it is important to complete the
session with a proper demonstration of the complete setup.
The benefits of the cooker must be effectively communicated to
both the school staff as well as the person who does the cooking. It
is important to focus on the staff as the ownership lies with them,
and they are also responsible for the maintenance.
The woman who does the cooking at the school is a very key person
as the whole project’s success hinges on her. If she is not motivated
to make efforts to use the cooker, the project is without any doubt
going to fail.
Some other observations made during the last phase of installations
are as follows:
•Pre-dispatch inspection is very important, as a number of boxes
had one or more parts missing.
•We create a considerable amount of garbage while unpacking and
assembling each unit. We need to ensure the school is comfortable
disposing this on their own, else bring it back in your jeep and
dispose at the local raddi-wala near town area.
•It is quite difficult to do the assembly on a hot day, although such
weather is better for demonstration purposes!
•It is important to visit each installation regularly for a couple of
months after the installation to check on how well the it is being
used.
•Shivaji, Devram, Pawan, Rajesh, Mihir and Arjuna know the
complete installation process quite well and can be relied upon to
provide assembly training.