Solar Energy for Cooking using Thermic Fluid: Developing a solar cooker using thermic fluid for efficient and eco-friendly cooking

Abstract

The cooking is an integral part of an every human being and food is the basic need for the living. Firewood, crop residue, cow dung cake, kerosene, electricity, biogas and LPG are commonly used as energy sources for cooking. This work is an attempt to develop a solar cooker to use in the kitchen and solar heat energy is transferred by servothermic (thermic) fluid. The details of the design and experimentation of the solar cooker using thermic fluid was discussed. The performance evaluation of cooker was also carried out and compared with the performance of the other types of the solar cookers. It has been observed that the energy conversion efficiency of developed solar cooker is somewhat lower about 48% but the inconvenience of using outdoor solar cookers and indoor air pollution by using other fuels cooking systems can be avoided.