INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)

ISSN 0976 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 6359 (Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, September - December (2012), pp. 555-564 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 3.8071 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJMET
IAEME

INVESTIGATION OF SOLAR COOKER WITH PCM HEAT STORAGE FOR HIGH ALTITUDE PLACES (TAIF CITY)
Talal K. Kassem

Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. Box 888 Zip Code 21974, Taif, Saudi Arabia. Permanent Address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Damascus University, P.O. Box 86, Syria. E-Mail: t.kassem3@yahoo.com Mobile: +966564401827

Abstract In this paper, an experimental investigation is carried on a box solar cooker with heat storage. The cooker is connected to solar water heating system compound of evacuated tubes solar collectors and a storage tank of hot water. The base of this box (the absorber plate) is incorporated by welding with a spiral copper tubes heat exchanger and cylindrical pot inside it filled with paraffin as a PCM. Some parameters affecting on the performance of this system, such the solar radiation, air humidity, orientation of solar cooker and the ambient temperature were investigated. This study highlights the ability of using this system with high performance in the conditions of high altitude (high insulation, partly clouding and moderate temperature) for cooking and heating the food. Keywords: solar cooker, solar heating system, evacuated tubes solar collectors, PCM heat storage 1. Introduction Solar energy is free, environmentally clean, and therefore is recognized as one of the most promising alternative energy resources options. Therefore, solar cooking has proved to be one of the simplest and attractive options for solar energy utilization. Basically there are different types and designs of solar cookers. For each design of them different performance parameters has been used. The available solar cookers are mainly classified into two groups. The first group is solar cookers without storage and the second one is solar cookers with storage.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

Solar cookers without storage are classified into direct and indirect solar cookers according to the heat transfer mechanism to the cooking vessel [1]. In direct type solar cookers, solar radiation is used directly in the cooking process, while, in the indirect solar cookers a heat transfer fluid is used to transfer the heat from the collector to the cooking vessel. Direct type cookers are box and concentrating type cookers. Many designs of each type have proposed and tested to investigate the thermal performance parameters for each type. Among the direct solar cookers, box type solar cookers are more popular due to their simplicity of handling and operation. Different designs of box type solar cookers are available to enhance the thermal performance of solar cooker. Cooker pot design also helps in improving the thermal performance of the cooker. A solar box cooker has been designed, constructed and tested by Alozie et al. [2] to investigate its workability of cooking food in most tropical regions where the sun's radiation is abundant. An experimental study was conducted at Irbid city, Jordan by Al-Azab et al. [3] to investigate the thermal performance of box type solar cooker with two different cooking pots (finned and un-finned pots). Guar et al. [4] designed and fabricated the pot lid in concave shape and carried out water heating test and stagnation test with conventional pot lid and concave shaped lid. A comparative experimentally study of a box type solar cooker with two different cooking vessels has been carried out by Harmim et al. [5]. In most recent review article for box type solar cookers, some of the performance parameters and the related test procedures have been reviewed by Lahkar and Samdarshi [6]. Cooking outdoors and impossibility of cooking food in late evening hours are the main problems associated with solar cooking systems. There are three methods for storing thermal energy, namely; latent, sensible, and thermo-chemical heat storage [7]. Many Solar Cookers with Latent Heat Storage Materials have been investigated where; the thermal performance of a prototype solar cooker based on an evacuated tube solar collector with phase change material (PCM) storage unit has been studied by Sharma et al. [8] at Mie, Japan. Buddhi et al. [9] tested acetanilide as a PCM with a melting point of 118.9 oC for night cooking in a box type cooker with three reflectors. In sensible heat storage, thermal energy is stored by raising the temperature of a solid or liquid. Ramadan et al. [10] designed a simple flat-plate solar cooker with focusing plane mirrors and energy storage capabilities constructed by the locally available materials. 2. Theoretical model The thermal performance of the box solar cooker can be evaluated according to [1112] by calculating: The consumed thermal energy on cooking Qh and The efficiency The thermal energy used in the cooking process is done by: Qh = mw Cw T t
556
th.

(1)

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

The efficiency of the cooker is defined by the ratio of heat uses for cooking to the insolation of solar energy incident on the base of cooker: m w C p T (2) th = t A c G t dt
0

The efficiency of evaporation can be defined by the ratio of the thermal energy used in the evaporation process ( m w .e . h fg ) to the insolation of solar energy incident on the base of cooker:

e =

m w .e h fg
t

Ac

G t dt

Q solar Q lost Q solar

(3)

Heat lost from the cooker to the surrounding can be done by: Qsolar = U system (T100 Tamb ) (kJ)

(4)

By knowing the experimental value of e , the total coefficient of heat transfer Usystem can be calculate by: (1 e ) A c G t (5) Usystem = T100 Tamb
The maximum temperature can be reached when e = 0. This means that the gained thermal energy from the solar radiation was dissipated in two ways: - Evaporation of water from the pot inside the cooker. - Heat loses to the surrounding.

3. Experimental Work:
Figure 1 . Outlines the experimental system which composed of the solar heating system (evacuated tubes solar collectors with a storage tank of hot water) and the solar cooker. The solar cooker consists of two boxes designed in the form of parallel rectangles join between them a layer of thermal insulation (wool thermal) thickness of 5 mm. The reflector support, made of iron, has been used for making the reflector rigid and adjusting the reflector in an angle calculated according to the place, date and time. One layer of glass (mm) as transparent cover. The internal box of the cooker was made of galvanized iron of dimensions (45 x 60 x 40 cm). The base of this box is connected by welding on the one hand with a spiral copper tubes heat exchanger, and on the other hand with a cylindrical pot, where the heat exchanger includes inside the cylindrical pot which filled with paraffin of density of 0.75 kg/l (in the case of fluid).

Paraffin melts at 27 C and it can store a lots of heat energy. In this system, the storage tank of the solar heating system feeds hot water to the heat exchanger, where the thermal energy will be stored in paraffin which heats the cooking pot and accelerates the cooking process, and then hot water returns to the storage tank.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

Fig. 1: A schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the cooker-collector systems. All edges and corners of the box solar cooker were well filled with silicon to prevent any leakage of heat or air infiltration. The south faced solar water heating system is installed on the roof of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Taif University, Taif city, Saudi Arabia. The total intensity of solar radiation has been measured by using Pyranometer - LP 02 with Amplifier - AC 420 and Hand held readout unit- LI 18, which mounted in parallel manner to the transparent cover of the cooker. The inner box of the cooker receives the total solar radiation (beam and diffuse) and the reflected radiation from the mirror of reflector which fixed on an iron framework in the east-west and north sides of the cooker. The cooker box is kept horizontal. Reflector was oriented southwards with a tilt angle of 60 to 105 degrees. This angle depends on the solar altitude angle and the hour angle as shown in Fig. 2.

120 100 Reflector tilt angle 80 60 40 0 10 20 30 40 solar angle 80 90 100 Altitude 50 60 70

Fig. 2: Variation of reflector tilt angle with altitude solar angle.

The thermal performance of the solar cooker was evaluated under Taif weather conditions (1450 m above sea level). So, a series of experiments were performed with and without connection of the solar cooker to the solar heating system (with and without heat storage). In this study absorber plate temperature, internal temperature of the solar cooker and the temperature of water in the cooking vessel were measured as shown in table (1) by using K-type thermocouples, whilst, the ambient temperature and the relative humidity were measured by a hygrometer.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

Table. 1. Variation of the absorber plate temperature, pot water temperature and ambient temperature with solar radiation intensity on 30/06/2012. Solar radiation intensity on horizontal surface (W. m-2) 968 1011 1026 1037 1046 1025 998 936 846 763 605 469 358 Temperatures (C) Ambient Temperature 31 31.5 32.5 33 33 33.5 32.5 32 31.5 31 31 30 29.5 Absorbent plate 112 119 127 133 135 136 137 139 136 134 131 127 123 water 52 58 62 72 79 83 88 97 98 98 98 95 92

Time (h) 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00

4. Results and Discussion

The incident solar radiation variation on a horizontal surface for Taif city during day time on Sunday 16/09/2012 is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3: Variation of the incident solar radiation on Taif city during day time on Sunday (16/ 09/2012).

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

a- Investigation of solar cooker without heat storage:

The solar cooker was not connected to the solar heating system. So, the absorber plate of the cooker will be heated only by the total solar radiation (beam and diffuse) which is affected by the climatic conditions especially in the cloudy and partly cloudy days and in the cold climate.

I- The solar cooker has one position

The solar cooker was oriented southwards while the tilt angle of the reflector was 85 degrees. The cooking pot was loaded by 2 liter water. Measurements were taken at intervals of 1 hour during the period of effective sunshine from 09:00 am to 17:00 pm. (15 19 /09/ 2012), and the pot water temperature inside the cooker cannot exceed 90 C. The results were plotted in Fig. 4 on Sunday (16/09/2012) where, the maximum value of the solar radiation intensity decreases to below 820 W.m-2. Temperature of the absorbed plate increases during the day until it achieves its maximum value (82 C) at 13:30 pm, where the cooking process cannot be started.

Fig. 4: Variation of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature and the ambient temperature with time of day for one position (16 /09/ 2012). For the same case where, the solar cooker has one position from 09:00 am to 18:00 pm and its reflector facing the south. The solar cooker was investigated for a few typical days (12- 17/05/2012). The variation of temperature of the absorber plate of cooker, pot water temperature and ambient temperature are given in Fig. 5 on Wednesday (16/05/2012) when the solar radiation intensity was about 910 W/m2. It is seen that the maximum attainable temperature of the absorber plate of the cooker is about 125 C at 14:00 pm.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

140 120 Temperature (C) 100 80 60 40 20 0 8 10 12 14 Time (hr) 16 18

Absorber plate

Fig. 5: Variation of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature and the ambient temperature with time of day for one position (16/05/2012).
II- The solar cooker has two positions The solar cooker was investigated during two periods (from 09:00 am to 12:00 pm) and (from 12:00 pm to 17:00 pm) for the period of (09 13/06/2012). On Monday (11/06/2012) the maximum value of the solar radiation exceeded 1050 W.m-2. The solar azimuth angle will be varied between s = 25 north- east for the first period (09:00 12:00) and s = 24 north- west for the second period (09:00 12:00). The reflector tilt angle was 85 for the two periods.

Fig. 6: Variation of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature and the ambient temperature with time of day for two positions (11/06/2012). Figure 6 shows that the temperature of the absorber plate has two tops at 11:00 am and 15:00 pm (131 and 134.2C) respectively, while the temperature of water in the cooking pot reaches its maximum value (97.4 C) at 15:00 pm and continues to be constant approximately. 561

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME III- The solar cooker has a permanent setting (s= 0): In this case the reflector tilt angle () of the solar cooker can be defined by rapport to the altitude solar angle (h) by the relation 3 2h = 180 during the period between 08:00 am to 16 pm (26 30/08/2012), with approximately the same maximum daily average value of the solar radiation intensity (986 W.m-2) for the period of (09 13/06/2012). The variations of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature, and the ambient temperature on Tuesday (28/08/2012) with solar radiation of (1032 W. m-2) were plotted in the Fig. 7. The absorber plate temperature increases rapidly to the maximum value on 15 PM.

Fig. 7: Variation of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature and the ambient temperature with time of day for permanent setting (28/08/2012). b- Investigation of solar cooker with heat storage: The solar cooker was connected to the solar heating system, where the hot water flows from the storage tank to the heat exchanger where it loses some of its thermal energy to heat the paraffin in the cylindrical pot, and the absorber plate temperature increases rapidly to reach its maximum value (about 140 C) on Monday (15/10/2012) where, the maximum value of the solar radiation intensity was in the order of 790 W.m-2. In this case the cooking process can be started at 13:00 pm as shown in the Fig. 8.

150 Temperature (C) 100 50 0 11 13 Time (hr)15 17

Absorber plate

Fig. 8: Variation of the absorber plate temperature, the pot water temperature and the ambient temperature with time of day (15/10/2012). 562

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

5- Conclusion An experimental investigation on the performance of box solar cookerg has been carried out. Therefore, to enhance the efficiency of the proposed solar cooker system, a series of experiments have been implemented during two periods with and without heat storage to evaluate the performance of the solar cooker under outdoor weather conditions of Taif city. This experimental study and the different obtained measurements lead to the following conclusions: - The performance of the solar cooker with heat storage is much better than that of without heat storage ones in all climate conditions, where the thermal energy storage is essentially needed to increase the utility and reliability of the solar cookers. - The solar heating system coupled with the solar cooker can maintain the stability of the absorber plate temperature of the cooker in the cloudy and partly cloudy days. - The solar cooker without heat storage cant be used for cooking in the cold and cloudy days. - Using the heat storage can accelerate the cooking process which can be started at 12:00 PM. At the same time, the solar heating system decreases the falling of the internal temperature of the cooker. - The results show that the best time to cook with the solar box cooker is between the hours of 11.00 am and 4:00 pm (K.S.A. locale time) on sunny days and is not possible to cook on cloudy or rainy days or at night unless effective solar storage devices are incorporated. Nomenclature mw Cp mass of heated water in the pot of cooking thermal capacity of water water Temperature Difference (35 95) period of time of heating intensity of solar energy area of solar collectors mass of the measured evaporated water evaporation latent heat of water (kg) (KJ. kg-1 K-1) ( C) (sec) (W. m-2) (m2) (kg) (kJ. kg-1)
o

T
t Gt Ac m w.e
h fg

References [1] Muthusivagami .R.M., et. al. (2010), Solar cookers with and without thermal storage: A review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 691-701. [2] Alozie .G.A., et. al. (2010), Design and construction of a solar box cooker as an alternative in Nigerian kitchens, ISESCO Science and Technology Vision, Vol. 6, No. 9, pp. 57- 62.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 3, Issue 3, Sep- Dec (2012) IAEME

[3] Al-Azab .T.A., et. al. (2009), Experimental investigation of a box-type solar cooker with finned pot thermal performance in Jordan, GCREEDER, Amman, Jordan, March 31st April 2nd. [4] Gaur .A, et. al. (1999), Performance study of solar cooker with modified utensil, Renewable Energy, journal, Vol. 18, No. 12, pp. 121-129. [5] Harmim .A, et. al. (2008), Experimental study of a double exposure solar cooker with finned cooking vessel, Solar Energy, journal, Vol. 82, No. 4 pp. 287-289. [6] Lahkar .P. J., and Samdarshi .S.K. (2010), A review of the performance parameters of box type solar cookers and identification of their correlations, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, journal, Vol. 14, No. 6, pp. 16151621. [7] Sharma .A, et. al. (2009), Solar cooker with latent heat storage systems: a review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, journal, Vol. 13, No 6-7, pp. 1599-1605. [8] Sharma .S.D., et. al. (2005), Thermal performance of a solar cooker based on an evacuated tube solar collector with a PCM storage unit, Solar Energy, journal, Vol. 78, No 3, pp. 416-426. [9] Buddhi .D, et. al. (2003), Thermal performance evaluation of a latent heat storage unit for late evening cooking in a solar cooker having three reflectors, Energy Conversion and Management, journal, Vol. 44, No 6, pp. 809-817. [10] Ramadan .M.R.I., et. al. (1998), A model of an improved low cost indoor solar cooker in Tanta, Solar and Wind Technology, journal, Vol. 5, No 4, pp. 387393. [11] Pejak .E.R. (1991), Mathematical model of the thermal performance of box type solar cookers, Renewable Energy, journal, Vol. 1, No 5-6, pp. 609 615. [12] Klemens .S (2003), Solar cooking system with or without heat storage for families and institutions, Solar Energy, journal, Vol. 75, No 1, pp. 35 41.

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