Development of a Building Integrated Hybrid Solar Cooker

Abstract

Solar cooker is important in presenting an alternative energy source for
cooking but the major drawback is the time spent outside to monitor the
food during the cooking process, because most solar cookers are
designed for external use. This study aims to reduce the cost of
purchasing fuels, drastic reduction in the carbon emission to enhance
cleaner and safer environment for healthy living and the materials of
construction are readily available hence the need to develop an
affordable building integrated hybrid solar cooker. The test carried out
included the stagnation and water heating test, then the figures of merit
were determined. Controlled cooking test was done by cooking five
pieces of egg for 90 minutes, and the cooking of 820 g of rice at 120
minutes. The maximum stagnation temperature for evaluation reached
by the absorber plate of the indoor box cooker is 158℃ while the
corresponding maximum pot temperature is 167.4. The maximum
temperature attained by heating 1kg of water is 105.3, the maximum
temperature attained by heating 1.5 kg of water is 101.6 and the
maximum temperature attained by heating 2kg of water is 100.4. The
maximum standardized cooking power attained during evaluation was
392W. The first figure of merit at stagnation temperature for six days
was 0.17, 0.18, 0.10, 0.081, 0.091 and 0.094 respectively and the second
figure of merit at water temperature for six days was 0.44. 0.50, 0.35,
0.21, 0.28 and 0.37 respectively.