Energy 35 (2010) 3799e3802

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Experimental investigation of a box-type solar cooker with a finned

absorber plate
A. Harmim a, *, M. Belhamel b, M. Boukar a, M. Amar a
a
Unité de Recherche en Energies Renouvelables en Milieu Saharien, P.O. Box 478, Adrar, Algeria
b
Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables, P.O. Box 62, Bouzareah, Algeria

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This article provides the results and finding of an experimental work undertaken in the desert of Algeria.
Received 14 January 2010 That aimed to compare experimental performance of a box-type solar cooker equipped with a finned
Received in revised form absorber plate to a similar box-type cooker which absorber plate without fins. Tests have been carried
27 April 2010
out on the experimental platform of the Renewable Energies Research Unit in Saharan Environment of
Accepted 15 May 2010
Available online 15 June 2010
Algeria at Adrar. Adrar is located at a latitude 27
530 North and a longitude 0
170 West. Fins that have
been used in solar air collectors enhanced heat transfer from absorber plate to air. Experimental tests
have been undertaken as part of this project where was applied this phenomenon to a box-type solar
Keywords:
Box-type solar cooker
cooker. The results of the experimental investigation have been rigorously analysed and showed that the
Finned absorber plate stagnation temperature for box-type solar cooker equipped with a finned absorber plate was about 7%
Cooking time more than box-type solar cooker equipped with an ordinary absorber plate. The time required for
Experimentation heating water up to boiling temperature in both box-type solar cookers was reduced with about 12%
when a finned absorber plate was used.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction exposure box-type solar cooker; in such design the absorber is

exposed to solar radiation from the top and the bottom sides. Negi and
Solar cookers of various types were the subject of several theo- Purohit [7] conducted an experimental study of a box-type solar
retical and experimental studies all over the world. A review of solar cooker with two non-tracking planar reflectors to enhance solar
cookers was made by Muthusivagami et al. [1]. Box-type solar cookers radiation in the box of the cooker. Mirdha and Dhariwal [8] analysed
are popular and widely used in many countries due to their simplicity various possible designs of tilted cookers with various positions of
and low cost. They are used to prepare several food plates, which do booster mirrors with a view to optimise their performance.
not require a very high temperature; time cooking may vary from 2 to Other researchers have been worked on the reduction of the
3 h as reported by Gaur et al. [2]. In order to improve performances of cooking time by using modified cooking vessels. Grupp et al. [9]
box-type solar cooker many works have been carried out by several proposed an advanced version of the box-type solar cooker with
researchers and have been published in scientific literature. Some a fixed cooking vessel in good thermal contact with a conductive
researchers brought solutions to enhance the heat capacity of box- absorber plate. Gaur et al. [2] studied the performance of a box-type
type solar cookers by increasing the solar irradiation in the box with solar cooker with modified utensils with a concave shaped lid; the
the help of reflectors. Aman [3] studied a box-type solar cooker stagnation temperature for a utensil having a concave lid was about
augmented with a booster mirror and energy storage capabilities 2e7% more than the utensil with a normal lid. Narasimha Rao and
using phase change material (PCM). El-Sebaii [4] evaluated thermal Subramanyam [10,11] have investigated the effect of keeping the
performance of a box-type solar cooker with outereinner reflectors; cooking vessel on lugs and also a cylindrical cooking vessel with
calculations indicate that considerable improvement in cooker central annular cavity; they showed by experiments that the
performance was attainable. Nahar [5] investigated experimentally cooking vessel with central cavity improves effective heat transfer
the thermal analysis of a double reflector box-type solar cooker with surface towards the water which is inside and then reduces cooking
transparent insulation materiel. Amer [6] developed a double time. Indeed, this configuration reduces the cooking time of the
solar cooker but has a reduced volume and not practical for dishes
preparation.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ213 7 76 84 18 35; fax: þ213 49 96 04 92. Harmim et al. [12] have proposed a new shape for the cooking
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Harmim). vessel. It is an ordinary cylindrical vessel by which external side

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.05.032
3800 A. Harmim et al. / Energy 35 (2010) 3799e3802

Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of the box-type solar cooker used in the present study.

Fig. 3. Photograph of the two box-type solar cookers used in the present comparative
surface is provided with rectangular fins along its circumference. study, placed side by side on the experimental platform. “A” is equipped with ordinary
This new configuration increases the heat transfer surface towards absorber plate and “B” is equipped with finned absorber plate.
the interior of the vessel while keeping an adequate volume to
contain the food to be cooked. Their experimental study under-
taken with a double exposure solar cooker revealed that the finned solar cookers with the help of a simple modification on the
cooking vessel reduces the cooking time considerably. It is clear absorber plate geometry. This technical method can be also used in
that the increase in the temperature of the enclosure air in contact the case of more sophisticated box-type solar cookers like that of
with the side walls of the cooking vessel will improve performances double exposure or that equipped with two or three plane reflec-
of the cooker. The effect of box geometry, such as cylindrical and tors. A number of comparative experimental tests with the two
rectangular, on the performance of solar cookers has been inves- prototypes were conducted under similar radiation and ambient
tigated by Kurt et al. [13]. It was observed that cylindrical model has conditions. A comparison of the performances of the two cookers
higher temperature than the rectangular one under the same indicates that the cooker equipped with the finned absorber plate
operating conditions. provides higher stagnation temperature and faster boiling of water
After reviewing the literature to date, it is seen that the effect of that the cooker equipped with a conventional absorber plate.
absorber plate geometry, such as finned or flat, on the box-type
solar cooker performance has not been investigated. Hence, the
2. Description of the solar cookers
principal objective of this work is a preliminary testing of a box-
type solar cooker equipped with a finned absorber plate. The finned
Two similar box-type solar cookers have been built to operate in
absorber enhances the rate of heat transfer to the air inside the
the Saharan environment; they differ only by absorber plate shape.
cooker. This technical method has been used by many investigators
Fig. 1 shows a sketch of the box-type solar cooker used in tests. Box-
in attempts to improve the thermal performance of solarethermal
type solar cookers were constructed using locally available mate-
conversion devices especially solar air heaters [14e16]. Two iden-
rials as well as local technical assistance. The experimental solar
tical prototypes of box-type solar cookers have been designed and
cookers consist of two exactly similar solar box cookers. It consists
fabricated; the first one equipped with an ordinary absorber plate
of wooden case; internal sides of case and bottom were thermally
and the second one equipped with a finned absorber plate.
insulated by a layer of date palm bark. The recovered insulator has
The principal goal of this experimental study is not the
a fibrous structure.
presentation of a simple box-type solar cooker prototype whose
The case is provided with an inclined movable double-glass
time of cooking is rather long because it is not equipped with
cover hinged to one side of the case at the top. The two internal
reflectors, but it is about possibility of reducing the cooking time of
lateral sides are covered by aluminium foil and on the opposed side
to the aperture area a mirror of 60 cm by 49 cm is fixed by screws.
This mirror increases solar irradiation on absorber plate surface.
The door, inclined at 45
, consists of a movable double-glass cover
separated by 1.5 cm. The thickness of each glass sheet is 4 mm.
For the first box-type solar cooker, the absorber plate consists of
an aluminium sheet painted black of a surface of 60 cm by 50 cm

Fig. 2. Photograph of the finned absorber plate. Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the experimental rig.
 A. Harmim et al. / Energy 35 (2010) 3799e3802 3801

180 - Stagnation test: Both cookers were exposed to sunlight

1000 simultaneously without any load;
160 - Water heating test: On the absorber plate of each cooker was

Solar radiation (W/m²)

140 installed a cooking vessel loaded with the same mass of water
Temperature (°C)

800
at the same temperature.
120
600 For each cooker, the temperature of the absorber plate,
100 Ambient
temperature of the internal hot air measured at the center of the
80 Internal air in cooker "A"
400 internal cooker volume (Fig. 4), ambient temperature and hori-
Internal air in cooker "B"
60 Solar radiation zontal irradiation were recorded at 1-min intervals using a data
200 logger system. Solar irradiation was measured by a class 2 CM11
40 type pyranometer (range, 0e1400 W/m2, accuracy, 2 W/m2). All
20 0 temperatures were measured by copper-constantan thermocou-
8 9 10 11 12 13 ples (range, 0e300
C, accuracy, 0.5
C). In the case of water
Local time (hours) heating tests, the temperature of water in each cooking vessel is
also measured by the same type of thermocouple introduced
Fig. 5. Stagnation test. Comparison between internal air temperature of cooker “A” through a small hole at the lid center.
and internal air temperature of cooker “B”. Experiment was conducted on July 23rd
2008.
4. Results and discussion

and 0.08 cm thickness. For the second one, the absorber plate is 4.1. Stagnation tests
similar to that of the first one but its upper surface is provided with
fins made of aluminium painted black. Fins are of rectangular During the tests, it was observed that the stagnation tempera-
constant cross-section (50 cm by 0.08 cm) and have a length of ture of the internal hot air of the cooker equipped with finned
5 cm; they are spaced at 4 cm. Photograph of this absorber plate is absorber plate “B” was always higher than that of the internal hot
shown in Fig. 2. air of the cooker equipped with ordinary absorber plate “A”. This
observation was checked even when with starting temperature of
the internal hot air of the cooker “A” was slightly higher than that of
the cooker “B” as shown in Fig. 5 relating to the test of July 23rd
3. Experimental study 2008. This initial condition was obtained by ventilation of the
cooker “B” by opening its lid a few minutes before the test.
A comparative experimental study was carried out to compare Fig. 6 presents the temperatureetime history of the absorber
the thermal performance of two box-type solar cookers prototypes plate in both solar cooker “A” and “B” under the same test condi-
under same operating conditions. For this purpose, a series of tions on July 23rd 2008. The attached fins on the absorber plate
experiments have been performed under Adrar prevailing weather increase its temperature by radiative absorptance due to different
conditions in July 2008. Adrar is located in Algerian Sahara at 27
multiple reflections. The temperature improvement of the interior
530 N latitude and 0
170 W longitude. During each test, both hot air is obtained by the increase in the convective heat transfer
cookers were placed side by side on the same support, which is plate air surface.
manually oriented according to azimuth at an interval of 15 min in When the initial temperature of internal hot air of the two
order to collect a maximum of solar radiation. The photograph of cookers are identical, it is noticed that at the beginning of test, the
the two box-type solar cookers, used in the comparative study, two temperatures are practically the same as shown in Fig. 7
placed side by side on the experimental platform is shown in relating to the test of July 26th 2008. The deviation between the
Fig. 3. two curves becomes larger when the temperature of the two-
The following two tests have been performed: absorber plates becomes important. This is primarily due to the
more important inertia of the finned absorber plate. At the end of

160
140 1200
140
120 1000
Solar radiation (W/m²)
Temperature (°C)

Temperature (°C)

120
100 800
100
80 Internal air in cooker "B" 600
Ordinary absorber plate
Internal air in cooker "A"
80 Finned absorber plate
60 Ambient 400
Solar radiation
60 40 200

40 20 0
8 9 10 11 12 13 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Local time (hours) Local time (hours)

Fig. 6. Stagnation test. Comparison between finned absorber plate temperature and Fig. 7. Stagnation test. Comparison between internal air temperature of cooker “A” and
ordinary absorber plate temperature. Experiment was conducted on July 23rd 2008. internal air temperature of cooker “B”. Experiment was conducted on July 26th 2008.
3802 A. Harmim et al. / Energy 35 (2010) 3799e3802

120 1000 The comparison between absorber plate and internal hot air
Water in cooker "B" temperature of the two cookers tested with 1.5 L water on July 27th,
Water in cooker "A" 2008 is shown in Fig. 9. The temperatures of the cooker “B”

Solar radiation (W/m²)

100 Ambient
800 equipped with finned absorber plate were higher than those of
Temperature (°C)

Solar radiation ordinary cooker “A”. The maximum absorber plate temperature
80 achieved with the cooker “B” was 134
C and that of the cooker “A”
600 was 129.4
C at 11:00; the maximum temperature difference was
60 4.6
C. The attached fins on the absorber plate increase its
temperature by radiative absorptance due to different multiple
400 reflections. Air temperature in the cooker “B” was higher than of
40 cooker “A” due to the improvement of heat transfer from the
absorber plate towards the internal air by the fins attached on the
20 200 absorber plate.
8,5 9,0 9,5 10,0 10,5 11,0 11,5
Local time (hours)
5. Conclusion
Fig. 8. Water heating test. Comparison between water temperature in cooker “A” and
water temperature in cooker “B”. Experiment was conducted on July 27th 2008. On the basis of a comparative experimental study of two box-
type solar cookers, which have been tested under the same climatic
conditions of the desert of Algeria, the following conclusions have
the test (12:18), the maximum air temperature attained in the been drawn:
cooker “B” was 135.5
C and that in the cooker “A” was 125.6
C.
The stagnation temperature for cooker “B” was 7% more superior to - Finned absorber plate improves the performances of the box-
the stagnation temperature of cooker “A”. The rise in both absorber type solar cooker by reduction of the cooking time by 12%
plate temperature and internal air temperature increases signifi- compared to an ordinary absorber plate; this was obtained by
cantly when the cookers are operated near solar noon. the improvement of the heat exchange between absorber plate
and internal air.
- The stagnation temperature for box-type solar cooker equip-
ped with a finned absorber was about 7% more than box-type
4.2. Water heating tests
solar cooker equipped with an ordinary absorber.
During the various tests, cooking vessels introduced into the
The finned absorber plate is recommended for use in box-type
two cookers are identical and were filled by the same quantity of
solar cookers.
water (1.5 L) at the same temperature. It was observed that the
water heated by the cooker equipped with finned absorber plate
reaches more quickly the boiling point (99.5
C) compared to that
References
heated by the cooker equipped with ordinary absorber plate. Fig. 8
presents the temperatureetime history of the water in the two [1] Muthusivagami RM, Velraj R, Sethumadhavan R. Solar cooker with and
solar cookers under the same test conditions during the test of July without thermal storage e a review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
27th 2008. Time necessary to reach the boiling point was 2 h and Reviews 2010;14(2):691e701.
[2] Gaur A, Singh OP, Singh SK, Pandey GN. Performance study of solar cooker
6 min for the cooker equipped with finned absorber plate and 2 h with modified utensil. Renewable Energy 1999;18:121e9.
and 24 min for the cooker equipped with ordinary absorber plate. [3] Aman D. An analytical study of a solar cooker augmented with a booster
The reduction of heating period was 18 min, i.e. cooker “B” took mirror using PCM as storage. Energy Conversion and Management 1985;25
(3):255e61.
about 12% less time than cooker “A” to reach boiling point. [4] El-Sebaii AA. Thermal performance of a box-type solar cooker with out-
ereinner reflectors. Energy 1997;22(10):969e78.
[5] Nahar NM. Design, development and testing of a double reflector hot box solar
cooker with a transparent insulation material. Renewable Energy
140 2001;23:167e79.
[6] Amer EH. Theoretical and experimental assessment of a double exposure solar
cooker. Energy Conversion and Management 2003;44:2651e63.
[7] Negi BS, Purohit I. Experimental investigation of a box type solar cooker
120 employing a non-tracking concentrator. Energy Conversion and Management
2005;46:575e604.
Temperature (C°)

[8] Mirdha US, Dhariwal SR. Design optimisation of solar cooker. Renewable
100 Energy 2008;33:530e44.
[9] Grupp M, Montagne P, Wackernagel M. A novel advanced box-type solar
cooker. Solar Energy 1991;47:107e13.
[10] Narasimha Rao AV, Subramanyam S. Solar cookersdpart I: cooking vessel on
80 lugs. Solar Energy 2003;75:181e5.
[11] Narasimha Rao AV, Subramanyam S. Solar cookersdpart II: cooking vessel
Finned absorber plate with central annular cavity. Solar Energy 2005;78:19e22.
60 Ordinary absorber plate [12] Harmim A, Boukar M, Amar M. Experimental study of a double exposure solar
cooker with finned cooking vessel. Solar Energy 2008;82:287e9.
Air in cooker "A" [13] Kurt H, Deniz E, Recebli Z. An investigation into the effects of box geometries
Air in cooker "B" on the thermal performance of solar cooker. International Journal of Green
40 Energy 2008;5:508e19.
8 9 10 11 12 [14] Garg HP, Jha R, Choudhury C, Datta G. Theoretical analysis on a new finned
type solar air heater. Energy 1991;16(10):1231e8.
Local time (hours) [15] Karim MA, Hawlader MNA. Performance investigation of flat plate, V-corru-
gated and finned air collectors. Energy 2006;31(4):452e70.
Fig. 9. Water heating test. Comparison between temperatures in cooker “A” and [16] Yeh HM, Ho CD, Hou JZ. Collector’s efficiency of double-flow solar air heaters
temperatures in cooker “B”. Experiment was conducted on July 27th 2008. with fins attached. Energy 2002;8:715e27.