Experimental investigation of novel indirect solar cooker with indoor PCM thermal storage and cooking unit

In the present study, a novel indirect solar cooker with outdoor elliptical cross section, wickless heat pipes, flat-plate solar collector and integrated indoor PCM thermal storage and cooking unit is designed, constructed and tested under actual meteorological conditions of Giza, Egypt. Two plane reflectors are used to enhance the insolation falling on the cooker’s collector, while magnesium nitrate hexahydrate (Tm = 89 °C, latent heat of fusion 134 kJ/kg) is used as the PCM inside the indoor cooking unit of the cooker. It is found that the average daily enhancement in the solar radiation incident on the collector surface by the south and north facing reflectors is about 24%. Different experiments have been performed on the solar cooker without load and with different loads at different loading times to study the possibility of benefit from the virtues of the elliptical cross section wickless heat pipes and PCMs in indirect solar cookers to cook food at noon and evening and to keep food warm at night and in early morning. The results indicate that the present solar cooker can be used successfully for cooking different kinds of meals at noon, afternoon and evening times, while it can be used for heating or keeping meals hot at night and early morning.