M.D. Islam

Indirect Solar Cooking Using a Novel Fresnel Lens and Determination of its Energy and Exergy Efficiencies

This paper proposes a new kind of system for effective indirect solar cooking by utilizing a novel Fresnel lens. A semi-cylindrical vessel (solar boiler) for producing steam and a jacketed cooker was designed, fabricated and tested experimentally for cooking applications. The solar boiler produced high temperature steam of 146°C and pressure of 3.15 barg which was used for cooking purposes. The international standard for evaluating cooker performance was implemented on this system and heating power was determined to be 51.2 Watt at a temperature difference of 50°C. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies for boiler were found to be 30.18 % and 2.86%, respectively. This represents a 92% increment in energy efficiency and 128.8% increment in exergy efficiency as compared to solar parabolic cookers. The maximum energy efficiency of 5.02% and maximum exergy efficiency of 0.378% were achieved in this cooking system.Copyright