Ray Tracing for Evaluation of the SK14 Solar Concentrator as a Solar Fryer
Abstract
SK14 is a well known solar dish reflector which is made for cooking in a pot positioned at the focal point. The reflector consists of aluminium sector sheets which are attached to a light frame designed for manual solar tracking. The SK14 is here evaluated as a reflector for frying of the Ethiopian injera bread. Ray tracing shows that the reflected rays spread more evenly on the pan, but also gives higher losses compared with an ideally smooth reflector. A test on heating a frying pan which was custom made for the SK14 showed that frying temperatures for injera baking can be reached with the SK14 reflector. High thermal losses and illumination of the pan at an angle results in quite long heating time for the pan.
Keywords
Solar fryer, Sk14, Ray tracing, Solar cooker, Concentrating solar heat