Experimental investigation of thermal performance evaluation and thermodynamic analysis of domestic box type solar cooker with inclined aperture area

Abstract

In this paper, the thermal performances of a box solar cooker were rated with F1 and F2 parameters as per Mullick’s procedure [1], the efficiency of the cooker was evaluated using energy and exergy analysis. The solar cooker was designed with an inclined aperture area, realized and experimentally tested at Applied Research Unit on Renewable Energies of Ghardaïa (32.39 °N, 3.78 °E, 463 m), Algeria. The developed cooker is equipped with one reflector mirror on its lid. The experiments have been carried out with the cooker empty, filled with one or two liters of water from 08:00 to 15:00 solar time, the thermal profiles of various components of the cooker were assessed at Ghardaïa site Sahara climatic conditions on clear days in both winter and summer months. According to the values of two figures of merits suggested by International Standards and evaluated by the experimental studies, the configuration with an inclined aperture area of the cooker resulted in good cooking performances, especially in winter when the sun’s elevation is low; keeping the realized cooker performances in range of the international standard tests. The results of this study indicate also that the average daily energy and exergy efficiency of the realized cooker was 16.2 % and 0.90 % respectively, during the experimental period, which indicate a significant difference between the results of energy and exergy analyses. Thus developing such a box solar cooker can improve the efficiency of the design and use a position of the system to prepare food in a shorter time.