Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

A parabolic solar cooker with automatic two axes sun tracking system
Mohammed S. Al-Soud a, Essam Abdallah b, Ali Akayleh a, Salah Abdallah c, Eyad S. Hrayshat a,*
a
Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tafila Technical University, P.O. Box 66, Tafila 66110, Jordan
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, FET, AL-Balqa Applied University, Amman, Jordan
c
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Applied Science University, Jordan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A parabolic solar cooker with automatic two axes sun tracking system was designed, constructed, oper-
Received 8 June 2009 ated and tested to overcome the need for frequent tracking and standing in the sun, facing all concentrat-
Received in revised form 12 August 2009 ing solar cookers with manual tracking, and a programmable logic controller was used to control the
Accepted 24 August 2009
motion of the solar cooker. The results of the continuous test – performed for three days from 8:30 h
Available online 16 September 2009
to 16:30 h in the year 2008 – showed that the water temperature inside the cooker’s tube reached
90 °C in typical summer days, when the maximum registered ambient temperature was 36 °C. It was also
Keywords:
noticed that the water temperature increases when the ambient temperature gets higher or when the
Parabolic solar cooker
Programmable logic controller
solar intensity is abundant. This is in favor of utilizing this cooker in many developing countries, which
Sun tracking are characterized by high solar insulations and high temperatures. Besides cooking, the proposed cooker
could be utilized for warming food, drinks as well as to pasteurize water or milk.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction of a communal dining center, cooking for up to 30 children, once

Solar cookers have long been presented as an interesting solu-
tion to the world’s problem of dwindling fuel wood sources and
other environmental problems associated with fuel demand for
cooking. The use of solar cookers results in appreciable fuel and
time savings as well as increased energy security for rural house-
holds using commercial fuels [1].
Biermann et al. [2] conducted a one year comparative field
test – of different types of cooking appliances including seven
brands of solar cookers. The test took place in three study areas
in South Africa and involved 66 families, who expressed their pref-
erences for certain cooker types. Solar and wood (stoves and open
fires) cookers were the most used cooking appliances. The families
used solar cookers for about 38% of overall test days and for 35% of
overall cooked meals and used wood cooking appliances for 42% of
overall test days. Fuel consumption measurements showed overall
fuel savings of 38% resulting in estimated payback periods
(through monetary fuel savings) from 8 months onwards, depend-
ing on the cooker type and region.
Solar cooking in boarding schools and communal centers in iso-
lated areas demands heating of large quantities of food. Franco
et al. [3] presented three different kinds of absorbers, optimized
to fulfill different functions in a concentrator of an area of 2 m2.
These alternatives allowed the possibility of satisfying the needs
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +962 777499430; fax: +962 32250431.
E-mail address: ehrayshat@yahoo.com (E.S. Hrayshat).
each concentrator has been installed.
The policy formulation for substituting cooking energy by
renewable energy is addressed in multi-criteria context. In this re-
gard, a survey was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of differ-
ent decision making groups on present dissemination of various
cooking energy alternatives in India [4,5]. Nine cooking energy
alternatives were evaluated based on 30 different criteria, among
which were technical, economic, environmental, social, behavioral
and commercial issues. It was found that liquefied petroleum gas
stove is the most preferred device, followed by kerosene stove,
box type solar cooker (BSC) and parabolic solar cooker (PSC).
PSC were investigated by many researchers. Ozturk [6] con-
structed and designed a low cost PSC and experimentally evaluated
its energy and exergy efficiencies. The energy output of the PSC
varied between 20.9 and 78.1 W, whereas its exergy output was
in the range of 2.9–6.6 W. It was found that the energy and exergy
efficiencies of the PSC were in the range of 2.8–15.7 and 0.4–1.25
respectively. Petela [7] analyzed a PSC of cylindrical trough shape
from exergy point of view. Equations for heat transfer – between
three surfaces: (i) cooking pot, (ii) reflector and (iii) imagined sur-
face making up the system – were derived. The exergy efficiency of
the PSC was found to be relatively very low (equals approximately
1%), and about 10 times smaller than the respective energy effi-
ciency which was in agreement with experimental data. Sonune
and Philip [8] designed a Fresnel type domestic concentrating coo-
ker, which has an aperture area of 1.5 m2 and a focal length of
0.75 m and was found to provide an adequate temperature needed

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.08.035
464 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470
for cooking, frying and preparation of chapattis and capable of
cooking food for a family of 4–5 persons.
The BSC has also been a subject of investigations conducted by
many researchers. El-Sebaii and Aboul-Enein [9] presented a tran-
sient mathematical model for a BSC with one step outer reflector
hinged at the top of the cooker. The model was validated by com-
paring the temperature distribution obtained by computer simula-
tion with experimental results. Good agreement between
experimental and theoretical results was observed. The perfor-
mance of a BSC with auxiliary heating was studied and analyzed
with the aid of (i) a built-in heating coil inside the cooker and
(ii) a retrofit electric bulb in a black painted cylinder [10]. The re-
sults showed that with the use of auxiliary energy, when neces-
sary, a solar cooker may be used throughout the year in areas
where electricity is available. The study also recommended (i) to
place electric heating elements below the absorber tray in solar
cookers which are to be built and (ii) to place a retrofit electric bulb
for heating on the absorber tray for year-round cooking for cookers
which have been already built. El-Sebaii [11] presented a simple
mathematical model – for a BSC with outer–inner reflectors –
based on analytical solution of the energy-balance equations for
different elements of the cooker. The cooker performance was
investigated by computer simulation in terms of the cooker effi-
ciency as well as characteristic and specific boiling times. Numer-
ical calculations were carried out for different tilt angles of the
outer reflector on a typical winter day in Tanta/Egypt. It was shown
that at the optimum tilt angle of the outer reflector, which equals
60 °C, the specific and characteristic boiling times are decreased by
50% and 35%, respectively, compared to the case without the outer
reflector. The overall utilization efficiency of the cooker was found
to be 31%. A hot BSC was designed, manufactured and tested in
Istanbul Technical University [12]. In the theoretical analysis, the
differential equations have been solved numerically by the
fourth-order Runge–Kutta method. The obtained theoretical re-
sults were compared with the experimental ones and showed a
good match. A model to predict the cooking power of a solar
cooker – based on three controlled parameters (solar intercept
area, overall heat loss coefficient and absorber plate thermal con-
ductivity) and three uncontrolled variables (solar insulation, tem-
perature difference and load distribution) – was presented [13].
The model was validated for commercially available solar cookers
of both the box and concentrating types. The model basis was a
fundamental energy balance equation. Coefficients for each term
in the model were determined by regression analysis of experi-
mental data. The valid range of model application included most
of the feasible design space for family-sized solar cookers. The
model was found to be applicable for estimating the cooking
capacity of existing box type and concentrating type solar cookers
and for determining the combinations of intercept area and heat
loss coefficient required to cook a given quantity of food in a given
climate. A simple wooden, hot box, with one reflector solar cooker
was designed and several demonstration units were fabricated by
El-Ghetany and Abdel Dayem [14]. The units were field tested
and showed acceptable performance. Maximum inner temperature
of the units reached 160 °C under field conditions of Giza, Egypt
(30°N). Different foods were cooked successfully such as rice, meat,
fish, beans, etc. The time of cooking ranged from 1 to 2.5 h. A series
of tests were carried out during nine days to compare the Sudanese
BSC with some similar Indian designs [15]. Sudanese BSC showed
better thermal performance. Using internal, external reflectors
and sloping of the top cover enhanced – significantly – the thermal
performance. This was revealed by the amount of heat absorbed
and hence the achieved plate temperature. Algifri and Al-Towaie
[16] outlined a method to determine a reflector’s performance
and its orientation factors that depend upon the elevation angle
of the sun, the solar surface azimuth angle and the reflector tilt an-
gle. The analysis was applied to a cooker placed in the city of Aden
in Yemen. The results indicated – with proper cooker orientation –
improvement in the performance of the cooker due to the reflector.
It reached – during the winter season – more than 100% at lower
elevation angles and more than 60% at high elevation angles. Fac-
tors governing the operation of three BSC models (HS7534, HS7033
and HS5521) were described [17]. The results showed that HS5521
is cheaper, and its volume is only 35% compared to HS7033. Com-
paring the performance of HS7033 and HS5521 was also performed
based on the data collected during testing with and without load.
The results showed that the HS5521 has the same heat collection
rate and is able to cook as fast as HS7033. Ekechukwu and Ug-
wuoke [18] presented the design philosophy, construction and
measured performance of a plane reflector augmented BSC. The
experimental solar cooker consisted of aluminum plate absorber
painted with black matt and a double glazed lid. Predicted water
boiling time using the two figures of merit compared favorably
with the measured values. The performance of the cooker with
the plane reflector was improved tremendously compared to the
cooker performance without the reflector. A hot BSC with used en-
gine oil as a storage material was designed, fabricated and tested to
enable cooking even in the late evening [19]. The performance and
testing of the cooker was investigated by measuring the stagnation
temperatures and conducting cooking trials. The efficiency of the
hot box storage solar cooker was found to be 27.5%. Kumar inves-
tigated the top heat losses, constituting the major losses in the BSC
and affecting its thermal performance [20]. The investigation re-
vealed that the pot water required less time to reach a certain tem-
perature with an increase in solar radiation level, while, as
expected, it took longer time with higher values of load of water
in the pots. Reddy and Rao [21] showed that the performance of
conventional BSC can be improved by better designs of cooking
vessels with proper understanding of the heat flow to the material
to be cooked. An attempt was made to arrive at a mathematical
model to understand the heat flow process to the cooking vessel
and thereby to the food to be cooked. The mathematical model
considered a double glazed hot BSC loaded with two different
types of vessels, kept either on the floor of the cooker or on lugs.
It was found – experimentally and by modeling – that the cooking
vessel with a central cylindrical cavity lugs results in higher tem-
perature of the thermal fluid than that of a conventional vessel
on the floor or on lugs. El-Sebaii and Ibrahim constructed and
tested a BSC with one or four cooking pots under the weather con-
ditions of Tanta city in Egypt [22]. Experiments were performed
during July 2002 using the cooker with and without load. The coo-
ker was able to cook most food kinds with an overall utilization
efficiency of 26.7%. Amer introduced a novel design of solar cooker,
in which the absorber is exposed to solar radiation from top and
bottom sides [23]. A set of plane diffuse reflectors were used to di-
rect the radiation onto lower side of the absorber plate. The perfor-
mance of the new cooker and the conventional BSC was
investigated under same operating conditions. The obtained re-
sults show that the absorbers of the BSC and the double exposure
cooker attain 140 °C and 165 °C respectively. Sharma et al. investi-
gated the thermal performance of a prototype solar cooker based
on an evacuated tube solar collector with phase change material
(PCM) storage unit with commercial grade erythritol as a latent
heat storage material. [24]. Solar energy was stored in the PCM
storage unit during sunshine hours and was utilized for cooking
in late evening/night time. Noon and evening cooking experiments
were conducted with different loads and loading times. Cooking
experiments and PCM storage processes were carried out simulta-
neously. The system was found capable to cook successfully twice
(noon and evening) in a single day during Japanese summer
months. Noon cooking did not affect evening cooking, and the
evening cooking using the PCM heat storage was found to be faster
 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470
than noon cooking. It was noticed that the PCM did not melt in Jan-
uary (winter) in Japan. In summer, PCM temperatures reached
more than 110 °C at the time of evening cooking. Hence, erythritol
was found to be a promising PCM for solar cooking. Sharaf [25] re-
vealed the concept of conical focus and explained the design of a
solar cooker on its basis. The conical cooker was practically tested
for grilling both white and red meat in a record time and a method
for obtaining real boiling temperature of water (100 °C) using a so-
lar heater was reported. The results showed that the conical cooker
has advantages regarding ease of manufacture, low price, light-
weight and efficiency. It also demonstrated its ability and suitabil-
ity for cooking different kinds of meat and legumes. Narasimha Rao
Fig. 1. Front view of the proposed PSC.
Fig. 2. Side view of the proposed PSC.
465
and Subramanyam investigated the role of the vessel inside the so-
lar cooker [26]. It was found that raising the vessel by providing
few lugs made the bottom of the vessel a heat transfer surface. This
change improved the system’s performance by improving the heat
transfer rates in both heating and cooling modes.
Despite their ability to provide adequate temperatures needed
for cooking, frying and preparation of chapattis, all the aforemen-
tioned types of concentrating solar cookers, suffer – like all concen-
trating solar cookers with manual tracking – from the need for
frequent tracking, and standing in the sun. However, this main
drawback could be readily resolved by using an automatic sun
tracking system [8,27,28] with the solar cooker. In this context, this
paper presents the design, construction and operation of a PSC
with automatic two axes sun tracking programmable logic control-
ler (PLC) system, characterized by a fairly simple electromechani-
cal setup which reduces cost, maintenance and the possibility of
failure.
2. Construction of the proposed PSC
2.1. Mechanical design of the PSC
The amount of power produced by a solar system depends upon
the amount of sun light to which it is exposed. As sun’s position
changes throughout the day, the solar system must be adjusted
so that it is always aimed precisely at the sun in order to produces
the maximum possible power. This requires the use of tracking
systems. Single axis tracking systems are considerably cheaper
and easier to construct, but their efficiency is lower than that of
two axes sun tracking systems. Therefore, only two axis tracking
is utilized with some solar systems [29,30].
Figs. 1 and 2 show the front and side views of the proposed PSC.
It consists of a half cylinder made of steel, the inner side of
which contains small mirrors – with dimensions of (6  6) cm
each – adhered by silicon. The mirrors reflect and concentrate
the sunlight on a blackened 10 cm diameter steel tube, placed on
the focus line in the half cylinder. The proposed PSC operates in
the following manner: The liquid is poured through an opening
466 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470

into the cylindrical tube, where it is cooked for the desired time. Table 1
When the cooking is finished, the same opening is used to let Functions of the PLC inputs.

the food out. When dirty, the tube can be easily removed for Input Function
cleaning. I1 Push button to start automatic mode of tracking
In the mechanical design of the proposed PSC the following I2 Push button to stop tracking
principles were used: (1) concentrating sunlight into a small area; I3 Switch for manual operation of tracking in the forward direction of
(2) converting the light into heat by means of a blackened tube, M1
I4 Switch for manual operation of tracking in the backward direction for
which absorbs almost all of the incident sunlight and turns it into M1
heat; (3) trapping heat by using plastic bag to cover the half cylin- I5 Limit switch to backward the system to the start position (zero
der with blackened tube and (4) tracking the sun disk. position) for M1
I6 Limit switch to stop the vertical motor M1 at the start position
I7 Switch for manual operation of tracking in the forward direction for
M2
2.2. Electromechanical system of the PSC I8 Switch for manual operation of tracking in the backward direction for
M2
The electromechanical system consists of two drivers as shown
in Fig. 3. The first one uses the drive motor (M1) for the joint rotat-
ing around the vertical axis to track the solar azimuth angle (cs)
the speed of M1 to the desired value [31–33]. The PLC has eight in-
and the second one uses drive motor (M2) for the joint rotating
puts, and four outputs with functions exhibited in Tables 1 and 2
around the horizontal axis to track the zenith angle (hz).
respectively.
The system has two bridge rectifiers (PS1 and PS2). PS1 converts
the 220 VAC of the supply network into 24 VDC to power the PLC,
while PS2 converts the 220 VAC of supply network into 24 VDC to 2.3. Programming of the control system
provide the electrical motor M2 with 24 VDC. The frequency inver-
ter (FI) is used to provide the electrical motor M1 with controlled According to Duffie and Beckman [34], the optimal PSC
voltage and frequency. It serves as an electrical gear to reduce positions can be defined by two angles: b (surface slope) and c

Fig. 3. The electromechanical circuit for driving the two motors of proposed parabolic solar cooker.
 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470 467

Table 2 (the surface azimuth angle). For two axes tracking, the cooker posi-
Functions of the PLC outputs. tions are determined as follows:
Output Function
b ¼ hz ð1Þ
Q1 Represents the motion in the forward direction of M1 through the
relay R1 c ¼ cs ð2Þ
Q2 Represents the motion in the backward direction of M1 through the
relay R2 Calculations of the required – for this investigation – different
Q3 Represents the motion in the forward direction of M2 through the solar angles for Amman city/Jordan have been performed. They al-
relay R3 lowed the calculation of the optimal position of tracking surface
Q4 Represents the motion in backward direction of M2 through the
during the daylight hours. The latest were divided into four identi-
relay R4
cal time intervals (T1, T2, T3 and T4), during which the motor speeds

Fig. 4. The functional PLC program for the plane rotation around the vertical axis in forward (a) and backward (b) directions.
468 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470

(deg/s) were determined. Then the PLC programming was executed
based on the solar angles’ analysis and motor speed calculations.
The PLC controls the intermittent position adjustments made by
the motors. This means that the motor for tracking around the hor-
izontal axis will be idle for 10–20 min according to the time inter-
vals and works only for a few seconds. The motor for vertical
tracking will be idle for 15–35 min and works for a few seconds.
In this investigation the LOGO 24 RC PLC system – which uses
the functional diagram language of programming – is employed
to control the motors operation [35–37].
The PLC program of the system driving the vertical tracking mo-
tor is represented in Fig. 4. The program consists of two parts re-
lated to the forward and backward motions. From the theoretical
calculated results of the solar azimuth angle (cs), it is deduced that

Fig. 5. The functional PLC program for tracking the slope angle in the up (a) and down (b) directions.

Fig. 6. The hardware components of the control circuit (a), front view (b) and side view showing the mechanical base and driving motors (c) of the proposed PSC.
 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470 469

the forward motion will cover all the time intervals, i.e., T1, T2, T3
and T4, represented by blocks B7, B11, B14, and B16 respectively.
The clocks actuate the recycles B5, B9, B12, and B17, which represent
the on–off timers. The clocks must be adjusted to the calculated
positions as a function of time. The block B19 will operate the ver-
tical tracking motor in the backward direction after sunset.
The PLC program of the system driving the slope angle of the
tracking motor in the up and down directions is represented in
Fig. 5. From the theoretical calculated angles’ values, it is noted
that b (slope) decreases from its maximum at sunrise until its
reaches its minimum at noon. This represents the motion in the
up direction, which is covered by time intervals T1 and T2. Motion
imum values around noon hours when global solar radiation val-
ues are the highest. After that, water’s temperature decreases
due to the sunset. The water temperature inside the tube reached
90 °C in typical summer days, where the maximum registered
ambient temperature was 36 °C. It was noticed that the water tem-
perature inside the tube increases when the ambient temperature
is higher or when the solar intensity is abundunt. This shows that
water temperature inside the tube could still reach further higher
rates on hotter days. This is in favor of utilizing this cooker in many
5.5
24.05.2008 12.06.2008 16.08.2008

GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION (kWh/m2)

in the down direction occurs from noon till sunset, where b is a 5
maximum. This period of time is covered by time intervals T3
and T4. Blocks B25, B30, B34, and B39 are clocks that represent the 4.5

four above mentioned time intervals. The clocks actuate the recy-
4
cles B23, B28, B32 and B37, which represents the on–off timers. The
clocks must be adjusted to the calculated position as a function 3.5
of time.
3

3. Experimentation and results 2.5

2
Experiments on the proposed PSC with two axes sun tracking 8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:30
system were carried out on May 24, 2008; June 12, 2008 and Au- TIME OF THE DAY (HOUR)
gust 16, 2008. The experimental work was fully carried out in
the renewable energy laboratory at the Applied Science University Fig. 8. Hourly variation of the global solar radiation, measured during the test
located in Amman/Jordan. Each experiment started from 8:30 h to period.
16:30 h. The electronic measurement instruments and devices
were tested and calibrated before being used. The global solar radi-
100
ation on a horizontal surface was measured using Kipp and Zonen 24.05.2008 12.06.2008 16.08.2008
pyranometer. Calibrated thermocouples (type – K) coupled to dig- 90
WATER TEMPERATURE (C)

ital thermometer were used to measure the temperature. Fig. 6

exhibits the proposed PSC and the electronic measurement instru- 80
ments and devices utilized in its testing.
Fig. 7 shows the ambient temperature measured at the site dur- 70

ing the test hours for the three days in which the experimental part
60
was conducted. Higher temperatures were observed during the
daytime with peaks occurring between 12:30 h and 14:30 h. 50
Hourly variation of the global solar radiation, measured during
the test period is exhibited in Fig. 8. Higher values of global solar 40
radiation were noticed between 12:30 h and 14:30 h with a peak
30
occurring at about 13:30 h.
8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:30
Figs. 9 and 10 show the measured values of hourly variation of
TIME OF THE DAY (HOUR)
water temperature inside the collecting tube, and the tube’s sur-
face temperature, respectively. An increase in water’s temperature Fig. 9. Hourly variation of water temperature, measured inside the collecting tube
was noticed during early hours of the day until it reaches its max- of the PSC during the test period.

40 85
24.05.2008 12.06.2008 16.08.2008 24.05.2008 12.06.2008 16.08.2008
80
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE (C)

35 75
TEMPERATURE (C)

70

30 65

60

25 55

50

20 45

40

15 35
8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:30 8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30 14:30 15:30 16:30
TIME OF THE DAY (HOUR) TIME OF THE DAY (HOUR)

Fig. 7. Hourly variation of the ambient temperature, measured during the test Fig. 10. Hourly variation of the tube surface’s temperature, measured during the
period. test period.
470 M.S. Al-Soud et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 463–470
developing countries, which are characterized by high solar insula-
tions and high temperatures.
When utilizing this system for cooking or simply heating water,
the latitude of location, season, and wind speed and weather con-
ditions, i.e., as cloudy days or dusty days should be considered. It
should be remembered that food containing moisture cannot get
hotter than 100 °C, so it is not necessary to cook at the highest
reached temperature as indicated in standard cookbooks. Because
the food does not reach too high temperature, it can be safely left
in the cooker all day without burning. This type of cookers can be
used to warm food, drinks as well as to pasteurize water or milk.
4. Conclusions
The current investigation introduced the design, construction
and the test results of a new PSC with two axes sun tracking to re-
solve the problem of frequent tracking and standing in the sun,
which are the main drawbacks of most concentrating solar cookers
with manual tracking. The proposed PSC demonstrated its ability
to heat water inside the cooker’s tube to 90 °C in typical summer
days, where the maximum registered ambient temperature was
36 °C.
The proposed PSC exhibits the following advantages:
 Simple electromechanical setup which reduces cost, mainte-
nance and the possibility of failure.
 Ability to cook different kinds of food and leaving it in the cooker
all day without burning.
 Ability to warm drinks as well as to pasteurize water or milk.
Acknowledgment
The authors express their sincere gratitude to Eng. Dana Sala-
meh – supervisor of the automation laboratory in the Applied Sci-
ence University/Jordan for her valuable assistance in conducting
the experimental part of this investigation.
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