Experimental investigation of energy and exergy efficiencies of domestic size parabolic dish solar cooker

This paper deals with an energy and exergy analysis of a domestic size parabolic solar cooker in actual use. The experimental time period was from 10:00 to 13:30 solar time. During the experiment, it was found that the maximum temperature of water was 368 K. The energy out of the cooker varied between 46.67 and 653.33 W, whereas its exergy output was in the range, 7.37-46.46 W. Maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the cooker were experimentally evaluated, and it was about 46.82% and 32.97%, respectively. Over the time, both efficiencies were decreased because of the optical and thermal losses from the reflector and pot. By using properly insulated cooking pot, the considerable amount of conventional energy can be saved. Regular use of a solar cooker helps in CO2 mitigation and provides clean and safe cooking. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3699615]