Experimental Investigation of Indoor Cooking Using an Indirect Solar Cooker Integrated with Heat Storage Materials

In this study, the possibility of indoor cooking in an indirect solar cooker integrated with phase change material is experimentally investigated. Moreover, the effect of using acetanilide and magnesium nitrate hexahydrate (as the phase change materials) on the performance of the cooking unit of the solar cooker is compared. For this purpose, the phase change materials are charged by the indirect solar cooker initially. The stored energy in these materials is then utilized to heat 0.5 L and 1 L of water in the afternoon. The investigated parameters include oil temperature at the inlet of the cooking unit, water temperature, phase change materials temeprture and the rate of the thermal energy absorbed by water. Based on the results, acetanilide cannot reach its melting point during the charging process; however, thermal energy is stored as sensible and latent heat in magnesium nitrate hexahydrate. Using the stored energy in the phase change materials, the time required to boil 0.5 L and 1 L of water in the afternoon is 8 min and 12 min respectively. In the cooking unit with magnesium nitrate hexahydrate, the temperature of 0.5 L of boiling water reduces to 80 ºC after passing 4 h and 42 min, which is 1 h and 50 min higher than that of the cooking unit with acetanilide. Moreover, in the cooking unit with acetanilide, the average rate of the thermal energy absorbed by 1 L of water is about 373.68 W in the afternoon cooking.