Performance Assessment of a Box Type Solar Cooker Using Jatropha Oil as a Heat Storage Material

Abstract

Solar cookers are a good option in developing countries with high solar potential for environmentally friendly cooking and reduced pressure on forests. However, they are still affected by the intermittency of the sun. In order to overcome this problem, in this work, a box type solar cooker integrated Jatropha oil as a heat storage material is fabricated and experimented with. The design was examined with a maximum stagnation temperature of 157.7˚C. The recorded cooking power vanished between 78.4 and 103.6 W, while thermal efficiency varied from 41.26% to 58.78%. The energy transfer cycle test, including charge and discharge revealed that 91.18% of the heat lost through the cooker could be recovered by the heat storage unit and a large amount is restored to the system during cloudiness or a temperature perturbation.