DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE TESTING OF A LIGHT WEIGHT PORTABLE SOLAR RICE COOKER IN RURAL AREAS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Generally sunlight is one of the most potential sources of
energy on earth. Among the total energy consumption,
energy consumption for cooking is a leading component
in developing countries. Most of the rural people in
Bangladesh use biomass fuel for cooking such as wood,
cow dung, jute sticks or other agricultural wastes. Hence,
there is an attentive necessity for the improvement of
alternative, suitable, cheap mode of cooking in
Bangladesh. This paper presents the thermal performance
of a light weight Portable Solar Cooker (PSC) using
parabolic shaped umbrella with aluminum foil coating.
An umbrella of 125 cm diameter was used as a frame of
the portable cooker because it is more convenient to
transport and its surface area is almost parabolic. The
aluminum foil was attached to the inner side of the
umbrella with white glue which acts as reflector plate.
The focal length of the parabolic surface was 26.16 cm.
The maximum temperature of the experimental water
recorded was 98ËšC at around 12 PM. The investigational
time was from 10:00 AM to 01:00 PM. The cooking
power and energy efficiencies of the PSC were in the
range 37W to 149.3 W and 2.8 % to 11.59%,
respectively.