Title: Experimental investigation of a solar cooker based on evacuated tube collector with phase change thermal storage unit in Indian climatic conditions

Authors: Sanjeev Kumar; Ashish Kumar; Avadhesh Yadav

Addresses: School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara144402, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, 202145, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, 136119, India

Abstract: A solar cooker based on evacuated tube collector with phase change thermal storage unit is investigated. The water is used as a working fluid, and it is filled in the evacuated tubes. The energy stored by the acetanilide (PCM) during the daytime can be transferred to the cooking vessel entirely throughout the day up till the late evening time. Daytime and evening cooking processes are carried out separately at different loads. To enhance the performance of the solar cooker, the reflector is used beneath the evacuated tube collector. It is observed that in case of the high load, the solar cooker gives better performance with reflector as compared to without reflector. The maximum increase in the temperature of the working fluid, PCM and cooking vessel with reflector is 18.3%, 20.4% and 20.8% respectively. Also, the cooking time is reduced to 30 minutes with the reflector. It is found that evening cooking using PCM heat storage unit is faster than daytime cooking at low load.

Keywords: thermal performance; evacuated tube collector; heat transfer; solar cooker; phase change material; PCM; reflector; cooking load; header.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRET.2018.093007

International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 2018 Vol.9 No.3, pp.310 - 336

Accepted: 01 Sep 2017
Published online: 04 Jul 2018 *

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