An investigation of a solar cooker with parabolic trough concentrator

Abstract

This research aims to develop a simple mathematical model for performance evaluation of a thermally exposed solar parabolic trough cooker. It was done under open environmental climate conditions for domestic uses. The experimental setup consisted of a solar cooker made of polished parabolic trough stainless steel having concentration ratio 9.867. The efficiency analysis depicts that the resulted parabolic trough optical efficiency range between 53-33%, theoretical efficiency between 50-30% and the experimental efficiency between 38-5%. Additionally, the maximum water temperature achieved was 37.2 °C at the outlet of parabolic trough. However, maximum water temperature achieved by parabolic trough cooker was 53.6 °C under stagnated conditions. Furthermore, the observed cooker energy efficiency range between 6.5-0.11% and exergy efficiency was in range between 7.6 × 10−2 - 2.1 × 10−2% for direct cooking. Results found helpful for making domestic useable cooker. Keywords: Energy and exergy efficiency analysis, Mathematical model, Performance evaluation, Solar parabolic trough cooker