The efficiency of a solar cooker in Pakistan’s Quetta Region

Abstract

Many sun-rich countries of the world use solar energy for their daily cooking needs. Solar cooking is one of the most economical methods that decreases deforestation. The main purpose of this research is to find the different thermal performance parameters of a solar box cooker in the climatic conditions of Quetta, Pakistan (Latitude +30.21 and Longitude +67.02). The tested parameters were F1 and F2, cooking power, standard cooking power and efficiency η. Experimental tests were conducted to find the value of these parameters. The value of F1 and F2 were found to be 0.12 and 0.58, respectively. Values of cooking power and standard cooking power were 40.33 and 37.06, respectively. A regression correlation was plotted graphically between standard cooking power Ps and temperature difference ΔT. The correlation coefficient was calculated as 0.80. The overall efficiency of the box-type solar cooker was 29.81%. The result shows that the climatic conditions of this area are suitable for solar cooking.