INTRODUCTION TO PARABOLIC SOLAR

COOKERS
 CHAPTER

1
Introduction

1.1 Introduction
A concentrating type parabolic solar cooker is a device which enables
cooking/pasteurizing food using ever abundant solar energy by concentrating the
solar radiations at the cookware.
Most of the household energy usage is attributed to cooking. This energy
is mainly derived from the fossil fuels or forest fuels. This energy generation is
associated with danger of fire accidents, ecological disturbances, damage to the
lungs of the person cooking because of the smoke produced and depletion of these
sources over usage. Covering all these disadvantages of the conventional
cooking, solar cookers presents itself as an exciting solution to the problems in
conventional cooking using the safe, clean and low cost solar energy.

1.2 History and Evolution

Solar energy usage has been amongst the interests of the mankind right from the
ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. The idea of solar cooking was first noted
in 1600s when a German physicist named E.W. von Tschirnhousen made large
lenses to boil water in a clay pot. Then in 1767, a French-Swiss scientist Horace
de Saussure built a miniature greenhouse with 5 layers of glass boxes turned
upside down on a black table and reported cooking fruit. He later built a cooker
of 2 pine boxes topped with 3 layers of glass, and later still added wool insulation
between the two boxes. Then in 1830, an English astronomer Sir John Herschell
cooked food in a similar insulated box on an expedition to South Africa. Then in
1860s and 70s, Augustin Mouchot, a French inventor combined the concept of
heat trap and burning mirrors to create a solar oven. By developing this solar
oven, he went on to invent the first solar steam engine. In 1876, In India W.
Adams developed an octagonal oven with 8 mirrors which cooked rations for 7
soldiers in 2 hours. In the same year, Dr. Charles G. Abbot, Secretary of the
American Smithsonian Institution, was the first recorded inventor of solar
cookers in which the heat collector was outside in the sun but the cooker itself
was in the house, with heat carried from collector to cooker by circulating oil.
This solar boiler’s stored heat allowed cooking in the evening. In 1891, Clarence
Kemp, ‘father of solar energy in the USA,’ patented a solar water heater that
enjoyed broad popularity, especially in California. In 1945, Indian pioneer Sri M.
K. Ghosh designed the first solar box cooker to be commercially produced. Then
from 1950s, the evolution of solar cooker picked pace and has grown from bits
and pieces.

1.3 Components of Parabolic Solar Cooker

The main components of a parabolic solar cooker are parabolic concentrator,
cookware, retention box (or lid), tracking mechanism and frame. The sizes,
shapes and materials used for these components are of greater interest to solar
cooker enthusiasts who look into improving the efficiency and effectiveness of
solar cooking.

1.4 Principle behind Parabolic Solar Cooker

The four main principles of parabolic solar cooker are concentration, absorption,
retention and transparency.

1.4.1 Concentration
Concentration of the solar rays are performed by using a reflecting panels of
paraboloid shape so that they can focus the sun rays at a point. These surfaces are
generally made up of shiny surfaces so that they have good specular reflectivity
like mirrors, aluminium, steel or tin sheets. Use of these reflecting materials
expedites the process of heat accumulation.
1.4.2 Absorption
Absorption of the concentrated sun's energy in parabolic solar cooking is best
achieved when a surface of the cookware is dark in color so that they have the
maximum absorptivity. The cookware is also made thin so that it could transfer
the heat more quickly to the food inside enabling faster cooking.
1.4.3 Retention
If a solar cooker is not well insulated and if it does not have a lid then all of the
concentrated energy and all of the absorbed heat would quickly dissipate into the
air and be lost to the surroundings. A solar cooker must have the means to trap
and hold the concentrated heat allowing it to accumulate and to build up to
sufficiently high enough levels to be able to cook effectively.
1.4.4 Transparency
Transparency of the retentive material(lid) or the enclosure around cookware
should be able to allow the sun's rays to penetrate inside to where the cooking
vessels are located. This ability of the sun to penetrate is usually achieved by
using clear glass, or plastic coverings on a solar cooker lid/enclosure which then
in turn acts as an inhibitor, trapping the heat as well