Experimental investigation to evaluate thermal performance of a solar cooker with evacuated tube solar collector using different heat transfer fluids

Abstract

In present research the impact of insulation on the discharge process of phase change material (PCM) and a comparison of the thermal performance of a solar cooker using two distinct types of heat transfer fluid (HTF) were experimentally investigated. The aim of this study is to select best performing HTF at the thermal performance point of view. In this experiment a solar cooker with an integrated PCM thermal storage unit was connected through connecting pipes to an evacuated tube solar collector. Separately, water and SigmaTherm–K were used as HTF to evaluate the thermal performance of a solar cooker. Acetanilide of commercial grade was utilized as thermal storage material in the solar cooker. Both charging and discharging of PCM were studied with insulation and without insulation. It was discovered that the temperature attained with PCM in an insulated cooker is 16.5°C and 19.3°C higher than without PCM using water and SigmaTherm–K as HTF respectively. It was concluded that using PCM with the SigmaTherm–K increased the amount of average energy by 29.11% compared to water. The temperature attained by water as cooking load increased from 22°C to 77°C and from 20.1°C to 86.2°C using water and SigmaTherm–K as a HTF respectively.

Keywords

• Evacuated Tube Solar Collector
• Heat Transfer Fluid
• Phase Change Material
• Solar Cooker
• Thermal Performance

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