Testing the Thermal Performance of Open-Source Solar Cooker Designs Relative to Commercial Cookers
Abstract
Solar cooking is an innovative development, harnessing solar energy for use in cooking and pasteurization; however, commercially available solar cookers are at times prohibitively expensive. Furthermore, while open-source solar cooker designs are available, few have been tested for thermal performance according to official standards. This research represents the first attempt to investigate the cooking power of open-source solar cooker models in comparison with their commercial analogues. Testing was performed on two opensource solar cooker designs—Parvati [1] and Fun Panel [2]— according to the ISO-recognized ASAE S580.1 [3] protocol using Solar Cooker International’s Performance Evaluation Process, and its results were compared with existing preliminary results for commercial solar cookers. The outcomes demonstrated that the Fun Panel cooker outperformed the estimated standardized cooking power (in Watts) of commercial panel solar cookers of similar size and design by 15.3%, while the Parvati cooker lagged behind its counterpart by 59.2%. The estimates were derived from commercial cookers tested to date.