| Abstract: |
A new approach is proposed to enhance the thermal performance of the solar box-type cooker (SBC) based on fabricating a novel corrugated cylindrical cooking pot for increasing the convective heat transfer rate to the pot through a large outer lateral surface area. The thermal performance of different configurations of the SBC: i) SBC with non-corrugated (conventional) pot on the absorber plate (SC1), ii) SBC with non-corrugated pot on lugs (SC2), iii) SBC with new corrugated pot on the absorber plate (SC3), and iv) SBC with new corrugated pot on lugs (SC4), was evaluated using water as a cooking fluid. Results revealed that the highest cooking power, standardized cooking power, utilization, and thermal efficiencies were 78.49 W, 58.29 W, 51.1%, and 49.10%,
respectively, attained by SC4 at a water load of 1.5 kg, with an explicit increment by 21.34, 17.70, 34.83, and 26.47%, respectively over SC1. At the same water load, the specific and characteristic boiling times were decreased by 44.12 and 43.92% using SC4 compared to SC1, attaining the boiling temperature earlier by about 23 min using the maximum water load. Moreover, the highest heat transfer coefficient of 77.54 W/m2 K and the lowest overall heat loss coefficient of 2.31 W/m2 K were obtained by SC4. Accordingly, the new corrugated cooking pot increases the convective heat transfer rate to the cooking fluid compared to the non-corrugated pot, resulting in efficient thermal performance.
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