Influences of Physical Parameters of a Solar Concentrator Cooker
Thierry Serge Gbembongo *
Carnot Energy Laboratory, University of Bangui, Central African Republic and Mathematics and Physics Laboratory, University of Perpignan, France.
Auguste Mackpayen
Carnot Energy Laboratory, University of Bangui, Central African Republic.
Saint-Cyr Lengaye
Carnot Energy Laboratory, University of Bangui, Central African Republic.
Bienvenu Pakouzou
Carnot Energy Laboratory, University of Bangui, Central African Republic.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This work focuses on the modelling and simulation of a solar concentrator cooker. The equations governing the heat transfers of the solar cooker are discretised by an implicit finite difference method and solved via the Gaussian algorithm, coupled with an iterative procedure.
The FORTRAN numerical code that simulates the operation of the solar cooker, using meteorological data from the city of Bangui, was developed. In this simulation, the influence of physical parameters as well as of the different components of the cooker is analysed, notably: the nature of the materials used, the dimensions of the cooker. The results show that a solar flux of 900W/m² allows the determination of the different optimal parameters of the cooker.
The dimensions of the parallelepipedic cooker [60 cm*50 cm*50 cm], made it possible to obtain a thermal efficiency varying from 42% to 45%. The influence of these physical parameters shows that copper is a good conductor and the thermal conductivity is higher the thinner the wall thickness (3 mm) of the pot.
Keywords: Solar cooker, physical parameters, thermal efficiency