Boiling Diodes: a more efficient way to heat water and cook food using Solar Power

Why Solid State Solar Electric Heating Elements Matter

Update: further research has been conducted into this topic, and it has been very fruitful. Videos showing some of the latest results are posted on this page.

While continuing my research into solid-state solar electric PV-to-Load heating elements, I decided to try heating and if possible boiling water using a diode string.

The reason is simple – diode strings can extract significantly more heat from the same solar panels versus standard PTC or resistance elements. This sounds unbelievable – but it’s true. I am working on an extremely detailed video presentation explaining how diode strings can actually work with solar panels as more efficient heating elements (versus standard resistance elements with no supporting electronic conversion circuits), and will post that ASAP.

I placed one of my diode strings into a glass jar with water. The diode heating element was well matched to the 100 watt solar panels on the wall outside my solar workshop, allowing the solid state heating element to very closely hold the vMP of the solar panel throughout the test.

After a while I notice bubbles and sure enough the water started to warm up. Eventually it not only got warm, it became to hot to touch. Then the water started boiling. So the test was successful.

Not only can a diode chain heat water more efficiently than bare resistance elements can, they can also boil water.

Applications: Solar Hot Water, Heat and Solar Cooking

And if they can boil water, then they should be able to cook food also. This has convinced me to continue the research.

Currently I am working on several prototypes using this technology for solar hot water, solar space heating and solar electric cooking.

I plan to post any updates when I have a prototype working good enough.

Summary

If you are interested in viewing the test, I uploaded about a 2 minute video clip to my YouTube channel, Solar Power Edge. It’s also posted on this page.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a good day. -DD-

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Solid State Solar PV-to-Load Heating Element test