Indirect solar cooking using a novel Fresnel lens and determination of its energy and exergy efficiencies

This paper proposes a new kind of system for effective indirect solar cooking by utilizing a novel Fresnel lens. A semicylindrical vessel (solar boiler) for producing steam and a jacketed cooker was designed, fabricated and tested experimentally for cooking applications. The solar boiler produced high temperature steam of 146°C and pressure of 3.15 bar_g which was used for cooking purposes. The international standard for evaluating cooker performance was implemented on this system and heating power was determined to be 51.2 Watt at a temperature difference of 50°C. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies for boiler were found to be 30.18 % and 2.86%, respectively. This represents a 92% increment in energy efficiency and 128.8% increment in exergy efficiency as compared to solar parabolic cookers. The maximum energy efficiency of 5.02% and maximum exergy efficiency of 0.378% were achieved in this cooking system.