Performance and Analysis of Thermal Energy on Solar Reflector Cooker - Application of an Alternative Source of Energy in Cyprus

Abstract

This paper proposes a solar cooking device made of a flat array of concentric mirrors tilted to focus on a small area. The mobile array of mirrors is mounted on a stand to be movable around a ball joint and with a carrier for a cooking vessel held by a double crank at the focal area of the mirrors. Current solar cooker inventions comprise a reflector that is constructed from a plurality of reflective concentric rings arranged in a planar configuration. The term planar configuration, as used herein, is defined as a configuration in which flat rings are arranged with some part of each ring lying in a plane that includes some part of each other ring although each ring has a different tilt. This configuration is to be distinguished from a parabolic configuration. The tilt of the flat concentric rings of the cooker permits sunlight to be focused at an area, about 5 inches in diameter, obviating the need for the more expensive and difficult-to-manufacturer parabolic reflector, and is more conducive to heating a cooking vessel.

Keywords

• Solar cooker
• Tilt angle
• Thermal radiation