Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
S. K. SHARMA
Energy Research Centre
Chandigarh, India
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Introduction
Classification of Solar Cookers
Parabolic Concentrator Cookers
Fresnel Reflector Cookers
Plane Mirror Concentrating Cookers
Transmitting Concentrator Cookers
Fresnel Lens Cookers
Principles of Paraboloid Cookers
Solar Box Cookers
Multiple Glass Box Cookers
Indirect Solar Cookers
Scheffler Community Cooker
Rating of Solar Cookers
Glossary
chemical energy Energy stored in a substance and released
when the substance changes form or combines with
another substance.
compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) A device that
consists of two curved reflecting segments, which are
part of parabolas.
concave Surface curved like the interior of a circle or a
sphere.
energy Capacity, or ability, to do work.
flux concentration Density of radiation falling on and/or
received by a surface or body.
parabola Plane curve formed by the intersection of a cone
with a plane that runs parallel to its side.
paraboloid A solid, some of whose plane sections are
parabolas.
pyranometer An instrument that measures solar radiation.
radiant energy Energy received in the form of photons or
electromagnetic radiation.
rim angle An angle measured at the focus from the axis to
the rim or a point where a paraboloid has been
truncated.
solar concentrator A device that focuses the solar radiation
received on the receiver.
solarimeter An instrument that measures solar radiation.
1. INTRODUCTION
Cooking is a very important and essential chore in
every household. Unfortunately, this activity is also a
major cause of deterioration of forest cover and soil
fertility. It is also responsible for drudgery and ill
health among women in developing countries. The
main reason is the use of traditional biomass fuels,
such as wood, cow dung, and agricultural residues,
in inefficient cookstoves, in poorly ventilated kitchens. It has been estimated that there are 180 polar, 75
aliphatic, and 225 aromatic hydrocarbon compounds in smoke produced from biomass. The
exposure of women and children to these carcinogenic, ciliotoxic, and mucus-coagulating agents
results in numerous diseases related to the respiratory
system, such as colds in adults and acute respiratory
infections in infants and young children.
It has been estimated that the use of solar cookers
by 2000 families for 10 years would mean a savings
of $0.1 million in terms of reduced firewood
consumption, $2 million worth of coal, or $0.25
million worth of kerosene oil.
1.1 History
Cooking with energy from the sun is an old concept.
There are many landmarks in the history of the
design of solar cookers.
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Solar Cookers
2. CLASSIFICATION OF
SOLAR COOKERS
Solar cookers can be classified into four main
categories: (1) concentrator cookers; (2) solar ovens;
(3) box cookers; and (4) indirect (combined) solar
cookers. These main categories can be further
subdivided into different categories, as shown in Fig. 1.
3. PARABOLIC CONCENTRATOR
COOKERS
A parabolic solar cooker is a concave bowl-shaped
dish, whose inner surface is made of reflective
material. Sunlight falling on the inner surface is
focused onto a dark cooking pot that is suspended or
set on a stand in front of the cooker.
The power output of the cooker depends on the
size of the dish, the intensity of the solar radiation,
the reflectivity of the inner lining, and the perfection
Solar Cookers
561
Solar cookers
Concentrating
cookers
Transmitting
concentrator
cooker
Box type
Reflecting
concentrator
cooker
Without
mirror
Single
Parabolic
Collapsible
Cylindrical
Spherical
With
mirror
Double
Indirect
Multiple
Fresnel
Rigid
Asymmetrical
Shallow
Deep
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Solar Cookers
Lid
Grill
Reflector
Base
Concentrator
Tilting handle
Adjusting handle
Stand
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 5
Grill
Reflector
Focusing
arm
Concentrator
Base
Stand
Stand
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 6
Solar Cookers
563
Grill
Adjustable
counterweight
-w-
Grill
Reflector
Adjusting arm
FIGURE 7
Insulation
Cooking box
Reflector
FIGURE 10
Cylindro-parabolic cooker.
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Solar Cookers
Grill
Cooking box
Reflector
Fin
Pipe
Reflector
Cooking pot
Rays
Mirror
FIGURE 14
5. PLANE MIRROR
CONCENTRATING COOKERS
Plane mirrors have been used in different configurations, such as cones or folding plane stands, such that
these mirrors focus rays onto the cooking pot.
Provisions are made to tilt the mirror assembly to
focus the suns rays onto the cooking pot during
cooking. However, these designs did not become
popular due to the large size of the stands. See Fig. 13.
6. TRANSMITTING
CONCENTRATOR COOKERS
These cookers can be divided into three categories:
water lens, dome lens, and Fresnel lens cookers.
Solar Cookers
567
7
5
4
3
8
2
9
568
Solar Cookers
F1 MCw
1 1=F1 Tw2 Ta =IG
ln
F2
;
1 1=F1 Tw1 Ta =IG
At2 t1
17
where F1 is the first figure of merit from the
stagnation test; (MC)w is the product of the mass
of water and specific heat (in joules per degrees
centigrade); A is the aperture area of the cooker of
the cover plate (in square meters); t2t1 is the time
taken for heating from Tw1 and Tw2 (in seconds); Ta
is the average air temperature during the time period
t2t1 (in watts per square meter); and IG is the
radiation during the time period t2t1 (in watts per
square meter).
Solar Cookers
569
570
Solar Cookers
Solar Cookers
571
It is difficult to cook food in a single reflector boxtype solar cooker at higher latitudes during the
winter season due to higher losses resulting from low
ambient temperatures. To overcome this problem,
folding two-step asymmetrical reflector box solar
cookers have been designed. These consist of a hot
box and two plane mirrors fixed at an angle of 13.51.
The hot box has double glazing at the top and
insulation on the bottom and sides. At the end of
cooking, mirrors can be folded onto the top of the
hot box. See Figs 17 and 18.
Solar radiation through the aperture, AL1, AL2,
and AL3, can be calculated by the following
equations:
AL1 B sinf:
18
AL2 B siny1 f:
19
AL3 siny2 f:
20
y1 p=3 2=3f:
21
y2 y1 13:5:
22
Hinged joint
Reflecting mirror
Adjusting arms
Transparent mirror
FIGURE 17
572
Solar Cookers
Reflecting mirrors
Reflecting mirrors
Cooking box
Cooking box
FIGURE 18
Insulated box
Cooking utensil
AL 3
Reflector
Focal tube
AL 2
AL 1
B
Base
FIGURE 19
FIGURE 20
Solar Cookers
FIGURE 21
cooker.
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Further Reading
Blum, B. (ed.). (1989). The Solar Box Cooker Handbook. Solar
Box Cooker International, Sacramento, CA.
Bureau of Indian Standards (1992). Indian Standard No. IS 13429,
Solar Cooker, Parts 1, 2, and 3.
Duffie, J. A., Log, G. I. G., and Back, B. (1953). Laboratory and
field studies in plastic reflector solar cookers. In Proceedings of
the United Nations Conference on New Sources of Energy E 35587, Vol. 5, pp. 339346.
Garg, H. P., Bandyopadhyay, and Datta, G. (1985). Mathematical
modelling of the performance of a solar cooker. Appl. Energy
14, 233239.
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Solar Cookers