This paper deals with improving and testing performance of a concentrating cooker for indoor cooking with soya bean oil conveying the heat from the collector to the cooking section. Two experimental setups have been tested where in the first setup 16 mm diameter copper pipe impinged in a corrugated aluminum plate was used as an absorber pipe. In the final setup the corrugated aluminum plate was removed and the experiments were conducted with bare 16 mm copper pipe and 22 mm galvanized steel pipe respectively. Modifications were also made for the storage tank and cooking pot. Comparison of parameters of these two setups is shown.
Fuel-wood scarcity is a growing problem that has so far been poorly addressed. Solar cooking is one possible solution but its acceptance has been limited partially due to low performance and convenience of use of most of the solar cookers that currently are available. The objective of this research is to test the performance of a solar cooker based on concentrating collector and increase its temperature and performance. Parabolic trough cooker (PTC) was constructed in a way allowing cooking to be done indoors, which the cooking sections were placed indoor whiles the collector parts out-door with soya bean oil conveying the energy from the absorber to the cooking stove. Ray tracing and standard stagnation tests show a 30 mm diameter copper pipe is the optimum size for the absorber. Maximum temperatures of 1910C at the mid absorber pipe and 1190C at the cooking stove were obtained. The efficiency of the system was found to be 6%.
Norad's Programme for Master Studies (NOMA)