The thermal analysis of paraffin wax in a box-type solar cooker

In this study, the potential use and effectiveness of paraffin wax in solar cooker during the daylight and/or late evening hours is experimentally investigated. For these experiments, a box-type solar cooker was constructed by filling paraffin wax with metal shavings. The side- and sub-surface temperatures of the paraffin wax in the cooker are continuously measured during June and July 2011. The effect of the reflector angle on the thermal efficiency of the cooker is tested with different isolation conditions on different days. In conclusion, the designed cooker can be effectively used at an angle of 30°. The thermal efficiency is increased to around 18.35% with the reflector. The maximum temperature of the paraffin achieved during the experiments is in the range of 75.1 °C to 80.5 °C. The reflected radiation makes a maximum contribution of 13.29% to the temperature of the paraffin wax. In addition, the heating time is decreased to approximately 1 h. So, the paraffin wax could be used as a phase change ma...

[1]  Subodh Kumar.  Natural convective heat transfer in trapezoidal enclosure of box-type solar cooker , 2004 .

[2]  N. M. Nahar.  Design, development and testing of a novel non-tracking solar cooker , 1998 .

[3]  Ibrahim Dincer.  Evaluation and selection of energy storage systems for solar thermal applications , 1999 .

[4]  A. El-sebaii,et al.  Cooking during off-sunshine hours using PCMs as storage media , 1995 .

[5]  N. Khattab,et al.  Thermal Characteristics of Paraffin Wax for Solar Energy Storage , 2006 .

[6]  Muhsin Kilic,et al.  A model for latent heat energy storage systems , 2006 .

[7]  Surendra Kothari,et al.  Experimental investigation of energy and exergy efficiencies of domestic size parabolic dish solar cooker , 2012 .

[8]  K. Sagara,et al.  Latent Heat Storage Materials and Systems: A Review , 2005 .

[9]  S. D. Sharma,et al.  Thermal performance of a solar cooker based on an evacuated tube solar collector with a PCM storage unit , 2005 .

[10]  Hasan Öztürk.  Second Law Analysis for Solar Cookers , 2004 .

[11]  E. Amer.  Theoretical and experimental assessment of a double exposure solar cooker , 2003 .

[12]  R. L. Sawhney,et al.  Design, development and performance evaluation of a latent heat storage unit for evening cooking in a solar cooker , 2000 .

[13]  Necdet Özbalta,et al.  Performance analysis of a solar cooker in Turkey , 2002 .

[14]  Huseyin Kurt,et al.  An Investigation into the Effects of Box Geometries on the Thermal Performance of Solar Cookers , 2008 .

[15]  A. Dang.  An analytical study of a solar cooker augmented with a booster mirror, using PCM as storage , 1985 .

[16]  Kamil Kaygusuz,et al.  High Density Polyethylene/Paraffin Composites as Form-stable Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage , 2007 .

[17]  N. M. Nahar,et al.  Design, development and testing of a double reflector hot box solar cooker with a transparent insulation material , 2001 .

[18]  A. Harmim,et al.  Experimental investigation of a box-type solar cooker with a finned absorber plate , 2010 .

[19]  A. Sharma,et al.  Thermal performance evaluation of a latent heat storage unit for late evening cooking in a solar cooker having three reflectors , 2003 .

[20]  D. Buddhi,et al.  Solar cooker with latent heat storage: Design and experimental testing , 1997 .

[21]  G. Faninger.  Thermal Energy Storage , 2005 .

[22]  Ibrahim Dincer,et al.  Thermodynamic analyses and assessments of various thermal energy storage systems for buildings , 2012 .

[23]  A. K. Kurchania,et al.  Thermal performance of a focusing type collector for paraffin wax melting , 2012 .

[24]  A. El-sebaii,et al.  Experimental testing of a box-type solar cooker using the standard procedure of cooking power , 2005 .

[25]  A. A. El-Sebah.  Thermal performance of a box-type solar cooker with outer-inner reflectors , 1997 .

[26]  S. D. Sharma,et al.  Accelerated thermal cycle test of acetamide, stearic acid and paraffin wax for solar thermal latent heat storage applications , 2002 .

[27]  N. M. Nahar,et al.  Performance and testing of a hot box storage solar cooker , 2003 .

[28]  Hasan Öztürk,et al.  Comparison of Energy and Exergy Efficiency for Solar Box and Parabolic Cookers , 2007 .

[29]  A. Sharma,et al.  Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications , 2009 .

[30]  A. Sharma,et al.  Numerical heat transfer studies of PCMs used in a box-type solar cooker , 2008 .