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Originally Posted by Solar Mike
Interesting experiment you have going there, I use a slow cooker often enough to think about modding it, however one thing they have in common is the closed air gap surrounding the heated bits, an air gap in its self is a good insulator, packing this area with fiberglass will stop air convection currents?, you could equally leave out the insulation and stick some shiny foil to the inside of the outer bowl, to reflect the heat back inside.
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This could work, I don't know if it would work better than insulation or if the cooker would work better with a radiant barrier inside the heated area AND insulation outside the heated area.
One thing that fascinates me about the rice cooker is the clever magnetic switch. It's not only a convenience feature but also a safety feature.
I don't think that magnetic switches are used in slow cookers... you don't have the same cooking conditions as when cooking rice.
But using fireproof insulation in a slow cooker would improve efficiency. The diode trick might work in this case, also a high-power dimmer switch would do it too, as would a short-burst cooking cycle combined with very good insulation, which would allow the food to continue cooking long after the power was removed.
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The fireless cookery system required that a long-cooking soup, stew, or porridge be set on to cook very early in the day. When it was roughly half-cooked (and presumably synchronized with the departure time of our hypothetical farmer ), it was placed—food, pot, cover and all—into a tightly closed container and buried within an insulated container, to be carried along for eventual consumption. During this time, the food continued to cook via its own residual heat, and could be expected to be ready a few hours later when needed.
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...more here...
...and still more here...
Roll up your sleeves my friend, there's efficiency to be found!
Best Regards,
-AC_Hacker