Design of Solar Cooker Based on Concentrating Collectors Using Heat Transfer Fluid
Abstract
A solar cooker based on concentrating collector using a heat transfer fluid is designed, built and tested. The solar cooker is intended to be used for indoor cooking. Estimates of the thermal energy demand for cooking is studied and based on this the solar cooker components are designed. The solar cooker uses parabolic trough collector of aperture area 2m2. The energy obtained from the present parabolic trough solar collector is transported to a separate cooking place using a heat transfer fluid. Heat transfer fluid, soya bean oil, flows in a natural circulation through a copper pipe of 16mm diameter and in to a storage system, where cooking takes place. Two sizes of absorber plates and two arrangement of the solar cooker are investigated. Maximum temperature of 1260C at the absorber plate and oil temperature of 860C at the cooking pot has been achieved with solar radiation at 800W1m2. Performance test of the solar cooker is evaluated for Ethiopian environmental conditions.