Design, Manufacture and Experimental Investigation of Low Cost Parabolic Cooker
Abstract
In this paper theoretical and experimental study was performed on a parabolic solar cooker. A Simply designed and low cost parabolic type solar cooker was manufactured and tested. In order to reduce the cost of the cooker, the parabola cage is made from bamboo, which is a locally available material. Experiments were conducted to determine different figures of merit of the cooker. Temperature of pot contents, Ambient Temperature, Radiation data during the test and Wind Speed were measured and analyzed to determine Standard Sensible Heating Power, Standard Heating Time and Instantaneous Energy and Exergy efficiencies of the cooker. Besides, the experimental results for temperature distribution between pot content and ambient were compared with analytical result. Economic Analysis was also performed by comparing the solar cooker with equivalent energy supply from kerosene stove. The Payback period and net present value were determined by considering different economic parameters and overall cost of the cooker.