Studies on a hot box solar cooker with transparent insulation materials

Abstract A hot box solar cooker was tested in an indoor solar simulator with covers consisting of 40 and 100 mm thick Transparent Insulation Material (TIM). The stagnation temperature with the 40 mm TIM was found to be 158°C, compared with 117°C without the TIM. The corresponding ratios of U / η o were 7.13 and 10.3 W/m 2 K, respectively. The efficiency of the cooker is defined as the fraction of the incident energy retained within the cooking utensils at the time of first reaching 100°C to incident radiation. Using the 40 mm TIM this rose from 15.7 to 30.47% for test conditions representing severe cold at Jodhpur, India. Little additional benefit was found in using a 100 mm TIM instead of a 40 mm TIM in the hot box solar cooker. A variety of foods common in India were successfully cooked in the hot box using the 40 mm TIM.