Comparative analysis of solar thermal box cooking systems and solar photo voltaic box cooking systems

This study presents experimental study of three solar cookers with reference to a black cooking pot, put in the open sun. During the tests, outputs are recorded and the results compared. The three types were; a solar flat cooker, a solar inclined cooker and a photovoltaic cooker. The flat and inclined cookers were set up in the sun at the same time. Three black pots were filled with a liter of water each. Two of them were placed inside the solar cookers. The third pot was left in the open sun. Temperature loggers were placed inside the water and temperature probes were also placed in the heat sink of the cooking systems. Data was recorded every 10 minutes. In another setup, a litre of water was placed in the solar Photovoltaic cooker. A temperature logger was placed in the water and the data recorded. The Solar photovoltaic box cooking system attained the highest temperature of 101 °C at 105 minutes from the start of experiment, followed by the solar flat cooker at 55.7 °C at 170 minutes at an average irradiance value of 323 W. The solar oven had 46.9 °C at 70 minutes at a solar irradiance value of 485 W. The reference pot recorded 38.3 °C at 90 minutes and 485 W radiation. Solar flat box cooking system was the most efficient cooker attaining an efficiency of 44.6% followed by the inclined cooker at 28.7% and the least, the PV cooker being the least efficient at 18%. (Author)