Performance studies on hybrid solar cooker using phase change materials with internet of things based monitoring interface
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Date
2022-03
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. PIN - 263145
Abstract
The intermittent nature of solar energy is the major hindrance towards the large scale use of solar cookers. The possibility of cooking during off-sunshine hours can be explored by incorporating an energy storage unit to the solar cooker like a thermal energy storage material or thermal heating of absorber plate of solar cooker by photo-voltaic (PV) technology. In the present study, performance studies on hybrid solar cooker using phase change materials and PV technology have been performed to access the feasibility of solar cooker during off-sunshine hours. The hybrid solar cooker is also upgraded with internet of things (IoTs) based monitoring interface to enhance the user experience. The thermal performances of solar cookers are also evaluated according to the bureau of Indian standard (BIS). First and Second figure of merit results satisfy BIS limits. The performance comparison of solar cooker using different phase change materials during sunshine and offsunshine
hours is the main focus of the present experimental study. Three different phase change materials Magnesium nitrate hexa-hydrate, Naphthalene and Acetanilide are selected. The effect of finned cooking vessel on boiling time is also studied. It is found form the experiments that finned cooking vessel increases thermal efficiency and reduces boiling time as compared to conventional un-finned vessel. Thermal performance of hybrid solar cooker is evaluated by calculating the thermal efficiency of PV heating system. In hybrid PV heating system, Acetanilide shows highest average thermal efficiency. Naphthalene showed best thermal behavior for storing latent thermal energy during sunshine hours and retrieve back its conserved energy to thermic fluid water during offsunshine hours. The thermal Performance of PCM in a solar cooker during low solar insolation is also studied. The results shows that evening cooking during winter season is possible provided the PCM is charged once.