SOLAR COOKERS AND ITS APPLICATION FOR FOOD COOKING IN REMOTE AREAS: REVIEW

Abstract

Cooking is the major necessity for people all over the world. It accounts for a major share of energy consumption in developing countries. Therefore, solar cookers are commonly used in the domestic sector in these countries. The advantages of the use of solar cookers would result in the reduction of the release of CO2 in the environment. The present work provides the different classification of solar cookers, heat transfer mechanism of cooking, and thermal performance parameters of solar cookers. A literature survey of the different experimental designs of the various solar cookers as well as the different materials used in thermal energy storage has been conducted to determine the thermal performance parameters of each type of the solar cookers. Based on this survey, box type solar cooker has been selected due to its simplicity of handling and operation which coupled with vacuum tube collector. Suitability and application of the present solar cooker system with climate and geographic location of Taif City, Saudi Arabia will be investigated in future research.