European Association for the International Conference on Renewable Energies and Power Quality

Development of Renewable Energies, Environment (ICREPQ’12)

and Power Quality (EA4EPQ) Santiago de Compostela (Spain), 28th to 30th March, 2012

Fabrication and Experimental findings of a Solar Rice Cooker

S. Mahavar, M. Verma, P. Rajawat and P. Dashora

1
Department of Physics
University of Rajasthan
Jaipur , 302015 Rajasthan (India)
Phone 00917737424397, e-mail: smjpr1986@[Link], pdashora@[Link]

Abstract. This paper presents fabrication details and With this stimulus we have fabricated a Solar Rice Cooker
experimental findings of a Solar Cooker that is designed to cook (SRC). This Solar Rice Cooker has good thermal and
400 g rice per meal; it is named as Solar Rice Cooker. The main cooking performance. Due to its small size (outer
features of SRC are (i) it is fabricated mainly by transparent dimension: 41 × 41×16 cm3) and light weight (only 5.5 kg
acrylic sheets (ii) it is light in weight (iii) its size is small yet its ), it is very convenient in handling among a number of
thermal performance is comparable to the solar cookers solar cookers developed and studied by many authors [4]-
developed so far (iv) the rice cooking is convenient in this and [6]. SRC is suitable to cook 400 g rice in 2 to 2.5 h twice
(v) the cooked food has good taste and aroma. A theoretical
formalism has been developed by authors to compute the
in a day depending on the availability of solar insolation
contribution of the transparent vertical side walls to enhance (~700 to 900 W/m2). The cost of SRC is only 2500 INR
absorbed beam radiation flux by the container. A significant that makes it economically affordable rice cooker for the
enhancement has been observed in available radiation due to the middle income group people of developing nations.
novel design (transparent trap) of the cooker. Various reasons for
the selection of trap material have also been discussed in this 2. Fabrication of Solar Rice Cooker (SRC)
paper. The thermal profiles of SRC are measured under different
conditions; the maximum temperature of the upper surface of the
container during cooking is found to be 142 °C. The water During last one decade authors have made a number of
temperature inside the container is also recorded for two meal solar cookers keeping specific categories of users in mind
cooking. The thermal performance of SRC is also compared with [7]-[9]. The solar cooker studied in this paper is specially
the solar cookers developed by other authors. designed for rice cooking.

Key words A. Modelling

Solar cooker, rice cooker, polymeric glaze The basic components of a conventional box type solar
cooker are (i) absorber plate (ii) transparent cover (glaze)
1. Introduction (iii) insulation material and (iv) cooking containers. The
black painted metal absorber tray with transparent cover
Rice is the second largest produced cereal in the world; its makes a trap for solar radiation. The cooking containers
consumption is about 85.9 kg/year, per capita (milled which are put inside the trap use available solar energy
rice). It is a part of meal in most of the Asian countries. A inside the trap for cooking. To minimize the heat losses
large portion of household energy is attributed to rice from the surrounding atmosphere this heat trap is
cooking [1]-[3]. In the current scenario of conventional insulated from sides and at the bottom surface.
cooking fuel energy crisis, designing of rice cooker which
utilizes solar energy for rice cooking, can significantly The energy balance in the system for a non steady or
reduce the cooking energy consumption world over. It can transient state can be written as [10], [11].
also help to reduce several inherent risks to environment,
economy and public health, that arise due to consumption qu = ApS-ql (1)
of the available cooking fuels (wood, dung, kerosene,
LPG, coal etc).
where qu is the useful heat gain, S is the incident solar flux where τrI and τrII are transmissvities of the two components
absorbed in the absorber plate, Ap is the area of the of polarization, M is the number of covers and ρI and ρII
absorber plate, ql is the rate at which heat is lost by are the reflectivities of the two components of
convection and re-radiation from the top and by polarization, which may be expressed as:
conduction and convection from the bottom and sides. The
flux incident on the top cover of the collector is given by sin 2 (θ 2 - θ1 ) (9)
ρI =
sin 2 (θ 2 + θ1 )
IT = Ibrb +Idrd + (Ib+Id)rr (2)
and
where Ib is the beam radiation, Id is the diffuse radiation, tan 2 (θ 2 - θ1 ) (10)
ρ II =
rb, rd are the tilt factors for beam and diffuse radiation tan 2 (θ 2 + θ1 )
respectively, and rr is the radiation shape factor for a tilted
surface with respect to the sky [10], [12]. where θ1 and θ2 are the angle of incidence and refraction,
respectively, at the glaze surface. The direction of the
The flux S absorbed in the absorber plate can be written as
incident and refracted beams are related to each other by
S = Sb + Sd (3) Snell’s law i.e.
sinθ1 n2 (11)
=
Sb = Ibrb (τα)b ; Sd = {Idrd + (Ib + Id)rr} (τα)d (4) sinθ 2 n1

where τ is the transmissivity of the glaze material, α is the where n1, n2 are refractive indices of the two media.
absorptivity of the absorber plate, (τα)b and (τα)d are the
transmissivity-absorptivity product for beam and diffuse τ a = e − Kδc / cosθ 2 (12)
radiation falling on the collector, respectively.
where extinction cofficient K is a property of the cover
In case of small solar cookers due to opaque insulated material, δc is the thickness of the cover material and θ2 is
walls a considerable area of the containers remains in the angle of refraction.
shadow [9]. These shadows not only reduce the total
available radiation in the trap but also lead to large
thermal stress on the glaze and, non-uniform heating and If θ is the angle between an incident beam Ibn and the
cooking of food load. On the basis of these observations normal to a plane surface, then the equivalent flux falling
authors have made a novel design solar cooker for rice normal to the surface is given by Ibn cos θ. The angle of
cooking. For easy handling the size of the solar rice
incidence θ for any surface is given by:
cooker (SRC) is kept small (41 × 41 × 16 cm3) and to
compensate reduction in aperture area (Aa) due to
reduction in size, the side vertical walls have been made cos θ = sin φ (sin δ cos β + cos δ cos γ cos ω sin β)
of transparent double glaze. In SRC instead of a square + cos φ (cos δ cos ω cos β - sin δ cos γ sin β)
absorber tray a large size cylindrical container has been + cos δ sin γ sin ω sin β (13)
used. So the solar radiation which passes through upper
and side glazes may be directly absorbed by the cooking
container. For SRC the cooking container itself works as where φ, δ, β, γ, ω are the latitude of the location, the
an absorber plate. declination angle, the tilt angle of the surface, the surface
The expression for the contribution of beam radiation azimuth angle and the hour angle, respectively. It is seen
entering through the upper and side glazes of the box in that very often measuring instruments give the values of
the flux absorbed by the container can be deduced by the solar radiation falling on a horizontal surface that is:
well known relations of geometrical optics [10]. A brief
description is given below: Ib = Ibn cos θz (14)

The overall transmissivity ‘τ’ of a transparent cover is where θz is the zenith angle.
given by:
τ = τrτa (5) Hence the absorbed flux by cooking container due to only
beam radiation may be written as:
where τr is the transmissivity obtained by considering only
reflection and refraction, τa is the transmissivity obtained Sb = Ibrb (τα)b (15)
by considering absorption.
where rb = cosθ /cosθz (16)
1 (6)
τ r = (τ rI + τ rII )
2 In the proposed type of heat trap, radiations enter the trap
1- ρI (7) through the upper horizontal surface as well as vertical
τ rI =
1 + (2M - 1) ρ I side walls. For such case the rate of energy absorbed by
1 - ρ II container due to only beam radiation (AS)b can be written
τ rII = (8)
as:
1 + (2 M - 1) ρ II
 (AS)b = AusSus +AswSsw +AewSew +AnwSnw +AwwSww (17) available data of thermal, optical and mechanical
properties of hard transparent polymers; poly (methyl
where A's are areas of the container intercepting the methacrylate) (PMMA)) and polycarbonate (PC) have
radiation and S's are corresponding flux absorbed. The been found suitable for glaze materials [6]. Properties of
subscripts us, sw , ew , nw, ww are used for upper surface these materials are listed in Table 1, which clearly show
and, south, east, north and west walls, respectively. that on account of low values of extinction coefficient,
refractive index and density both PMMA and PC are
Using Eq. 5 to 16 and assuming all five glazes are better than glass, but the cost and weight of PC glaze are
constructed by polymeric double sheets having the relatively higher than those of PMMA glaze, therefore
properties shown in Table 1, values of Sb for different PMMA is found to be the most promising substitute of
glazes of SRC are computed on an equinox day (21 glass to fabricate all transparent glazes of SRC.
March) with Indian standard time (IST) variation for
Jaipur (26.92ºN, 75.87ºE), India. For this computation The variation in the transmissivity (τ) for double glaze of
insolation data (Is = global, Ib = beam radiation falling on these materials, for beam radiations, over the whole day
a horizontal surface), at Jaipur on equinox day in March length, due to variation in the angle of incidence (θ), on
2006 has been procured from Indian metrological horizontal surface at Jaipur (26.92ºN, 75.87ºE) India, for
department (IMD), Pune. The results are plotted in Fig. (1) equinox day (δ = 0˚) have been calculated using Eq. 5 to
13 and Table 1. The calculated values are plotted in Fig. 2.

Table 1: Properties of different glaze materials

Properties Glaze material

Glass PMMA PC
Refractive index 1.52 1.49 1.58

Extinction coefficient 15 0.05 0.05

(m-1)

Density (kg/m3) 2450 1172 1177

Thickness of single 3.94 2.75 2.9

sheet (mm)
Fig. 1: Variation of the absorbed beam radiation flux (Sb) for Cost (Rs./m2) 485 915 1830
different glazes (subscript us, sw , ew , ww are used for upper
surface and, south, east and west walls, respectively ) and values
of global (Is) and beam radiation (Ib) on horizontal surface at
equinox day (δ = 0˚), with standard time (IST).

Fig. 1 reveals that only walls due south, east and west
contribute to increases Sb on an equinox day (δ = 0°). The
contribution of north wall can be seen on summer solstice
(δ = 23°). The values of Sss show that south wall
significantly increases Sb values over the whole day. The
east and west walls contribute during forenoon and
afternoon, respectively. Although the area of each
transparent side wall (34 × 9 cm2) is much less than the
upper surface area (34 × 34 cm2) yet their contributions in
the rate of energy absorbed by the container remain
significant over the day. For beam radiations these can be
easily calculated by Eq. 17. This contribution is expected
to increase further if diffused radiations are also
considered in calculation.
Fig. 2: Variation of transmittance for beam radiation for
different glaze materials and value of incidence angle at equinox
B. Selection of Material day (δ = 0˚), with standard time (IST).

Usually to minimize heat losses due to transparent cover This figure reveals that transmittance of PMMA and PC
system by re-radiation and convection a double layer of double glaze are 10 to 12% and 7 to 9% higher than that
glass with air gap 1.3 to 2 cm is used as a glaze material in of glass, respectively between effective time duration of
solar cookers. Fragility and weight are the two major 8:00 to 16:00 IST.
drawbacks of glass glazes, to remove both these
limitations authors decided to explore another suitable
material for glaze. On the basis of careful survey of
C. Structural Details of SRC 3. Experimental Studies
The outer dimensions of SRC are 41 × 41 × 16 cm3 and On a number of days the experimental studies of SRC
the inner dimensions are 34 × 34 × 9 cm3. The upper have been conducted and the representative results are
surface and all vertical side walls have been constructed of presented in this section.
double sheets of transparent acrylic (PMMA) of thickness
2.75 mm with air gap of 13 mm. The bottom surface has A. Experimental Arrangement
been insulated by the use of ceramic fiber of thickness
2.5 cm. At this insulated surface a polymeric mirror has During all experiments, the solar radiation intensity (Is) on
been fixed at which a cylindrical aluminum container is a horizontal surface has been measured using a
kept with a wooden stand of height 1 cm. The wooden pyranometer (Nation Instruments Ltd. Calcutta,
stand prevents direct touch of bottom reflector and instrument no. 0068). CIE-305 thermometer with point
cooking container. The container's diameter and height are contact thermocouples has been used to measure the
32 cm and 6.5 cm, respectively. The container is painted temperatures at different locations of container. The
by black matt paint. Another polymeric reflector (34.5 × ambient temperature is measured using a mercury
34.5 cm2) is also attached with cover lid of SRC. This thermometer placed in an ambient chamber. To measure
reflector can be adjusted at different angles to get reflected water temperature inside the container, a small hole with
solar radiations on cooking container. For convenience in air tight cork, is provided at the upper surface of
handling a water proof hand bag is also designed to keep container.
SRC when it is not used for cooking.
The schematic diagram and a photograph of SRC are B. Thermal Performance
shown in Fig. 3.
The cooking of 400 g rice which needs 800 g water for
cooking (total load 1.2 kg) in a solar cooker, is possible
if it is kept at 80 ºC, for at least 40 min. Therefore, the
thermal performance of SRC is measured with 1.2 kg
water load in a container for two situations: (i) when water
is loaded for full day length (ii) when water is loaded for
pre noon to mid noon and then the same amount of water
is reloaded at room temperature as the representative of
the second meal cooking for the duration of noon to
afternoon. During both the experiments temperatures of
upper and lower surfaces of the container and inside water
temperature with solar insolation values are measured
with Indian standard time (IST). These temperature
profiles are shown in Fig. 4 and 5.

Fig. 4: Temperature profiles of different region of SRC and

variation in solar insolation (Is) (with reflector, with 1.2 kg
water load for full day length on 26 Sept. 2011) with the
standard time (Tct, Tcb are container's top and bottom surface
temperatures respectively. Ta,Tw are ambient and water
temperatures, respectively.)

Fig. 3: Schematic diagram and photograph of SRC

 Table 2: Comparison of performance of SRC with other box type
solar cookers

Ref. Max. Ta Time Is Date

Temp. (ºC) (IST) (W/m2) of exp.
(ºC)
Nahar [4] 132 28 14:00 760 -
Negi [5] 140 27 12:00 750 Mar.
2002
Harmani 140 48 12:00 960 23/7/
[6] 2008
SRC 142 36 13:00 800 26/10/
2011

Fig. 5: Temperature profiles of different region of SRC and

4. Experimental Findings
variation in solar insolation (with reflector , with 1.2 kg water
reloded at 13:00 IST on 11 Oct. 2011) with the standard time Fig. 4 shows that the upper surface of cooking container
( all the symbols are same as in Fig. 4 ). attains 100 ºC temperatures within only 20 min and the
highest temperature attained by this is about 142 ºC that is
C. Cooking Performance comparable with the other box type solar cookers as
revealed from Table 2. It is found that water temperature
Cooking of 400 g rice, twice in a day is also performed for inside the container remains higher than 80 ºC for long
many days. During the cooking, temperatures of different duration i.e. 5 h this indicates low value of heat loss
regions of container are also measured; one of the coefficients for transparent side walls.
representative data is presented in Fig. 6.
The temperature profiles in case of reloading of 1.2 kg
water (Fig. 5) shows that during first loading water
temperature remains at 80 ºC for more than 30 min before
13:00 IST and after that in second loading it attains this
temperature within 1.5 h i.e. the cooking of 400 g rice that
need 800 g water to be cooked can be easily done twice in
a day. Fig. 6 shows the thermal profile during actual
cooking of 400 g rice. The cooking of first meal is done
from 10:00 to 13:00 IST and second meal is cooked from
13:00 to 15:30 IST. It is found that the rice cooked in SRC
has better taste and aroma than the rice cooked through
conventional methods besides being rich in nutrients on
accounts of slow cooking. In addition with the specific
containers, SRC can also be used to cook some special
Indian dishes viz. Idly and Khaman.

Fig. 6: Temperature profiles of different region of SRC during 5. Conclusion

two meal cooking (400 g rice /meal) and variation in solar
insolation (with reflector on 25 Sept. 2011) with the standard The developed solar cooker has the novel feature of
time ( all the symbols are same as in Fig. 4 ). transparent side walls that enhance solar radiation inside
the trap and improve the thermal and cooking
D. Comparative Study performance. Due to less dense transparent glaze material
SRC is light in weight. Its thermal performance is found
In the experimental study of a box type solar cooker the satisfactory to cook two meals (rice) on a clear day. Due
maximum temperature attained by the absorber plate to reasonable cost, this rice cooker is within the reach of
without any water load, is an important figure and many middle income group people of developing countries.
authors have mentioned it for their developed solar
cookers. In the case of SRC if upper surface of container
is assumed like absorber plate, then maximum
Acknowledgement
temperature attained by it can be compared with absorber
plate. This comparison is presented in Table 2. Authors, Sunita Mahavar, Manisha Verma and Poonam
Rajawat are grateful to Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, for grant of
Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) for pursuing their
Ph.D. work.
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