Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Theoretical and experimental assessment of a double

exposure solar cooker
Emad H. Amer *

Department of Mechanical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufiya University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt
Received 2 August 2002; accepted 26 December 2002

Abstract
A novel design of solar cooker is introduced in which the absorber is exposed to solar radiation from the
top and the bottom sides. A set of plane diffuse reflectors is used to direct the radiation onto the lower side
of the absorber plate. The performance of the new cooker and the conventional box type solar cooker is
extensively investigated. The general energy balance of the cooker is derived and is used to predict the
temperature variation of each part of the cooker under both steady and transient conditions. The predicted
values are compared with measurements made under actual weather conditions. Results under the same
operating conditions show that the absorbers of the box type cooker and the double exposure cooker attain
140 and 165 °C, respectively. The temperatures of the air inside the two cookers are 132 and 155 °C, res-
pectively. The predicted temperatures agree with measurements under transient conditions within
1.2 °C
for the absorber plate,
1.8 °C for the oven air and within
2.5 °C for the glass cover. The time taken for
cooking of several foods and for boiling the same amount of water is obtained for the two cookers under
the same conditions and at the same location. The double exposure cooker reduces the cooking time by
about 30–60 min. The taste and appearance of the food is quite good.
Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords: Solar energy; Box cookers; Temperature variation; Cooking time

1. Introduction

Solar energy can make a major contribution to the energy needs for cooking food. This
is particularly true for remote and rural areas where solar radiation is available at a large scale
and there is a lack of other energy forms. Even when other sources of energy are available,

*
Tel.: +20-48-221549; fax: +20-48-235695.
E-mail address: amer_h_emad@yahoo.com (E.H. Amer).

0196-8904/03/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

doi:10.1016/S0196-8904(03)00022-0
2652 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

Nomenclature

A surface Area (m2 )

C specific heat (kJ/kg K)
F view factor (–)
h convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
IT solar radiation on tilted surface (W/m2 )
K thermal conductivity (W/m K)
m mass (kg)
q rate of heat exchange (W)
T temperature (K)
t time (s)
Greeks
a absorptance to solar radiation (–)
s transmittance (–)
q reflectance to solar radiation (–)
d thickness (m)
Subscripts
a1 air in upper cabinet
a2 air in lower cabinet
amb ambient
c heat transfer by conduction
f food
g top glass cover
g1 bottom glass cover
ins thermal insulation
p absorber plate
r heat transfer by radiation
ref reflector
v convection heat transfer

environmental and economic benefits dictate the implementation of new alternative energy
techniques. Solar cookers are used primarily to cook food and pasteurize water. Additional uses
are continually being developed. However, there are many factors that affect peopleÕs approach to
solar cooking. Among these factors are access to materials, availability of traditional cooking
fuels, climate, food preferences, cultural factors and technical capabilities.
Solar cookers (or commonly solar ovens) are one of two types, box type cookers and con-
centrating cookers. In concentrating cookers, the radiation is concentrated by a paraboloid re-
flecting surface. The cooking vessel is placed at the focus of the paraboloid reflector and is, thus,
directly heated. This results in a remarkable reduction of cooking time, and temperatures above
 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2653

200 °C can be achieved in such a cooker. A common problem in concentrating cookers is food
spillage, unless a vapor tight vessel is used. Further, some form of tracking is needed which adds
to the cost of the device. The box type cooker is the simplest device to collect the incoming solar
radiation and convert it into heat energy. Part of this heat is delivered as useful energy to the
cooked food. Box type cookers have the advantage of being simple in design and do not cost
much. It requires no tracking, which allows unattended cooking. Also, diffuse radiation con-
tributes to the heat input.
Box type solar cookers are suitable mainly for the boiling type of cooking. The cooking tem-
perature is, in this case, close to 100 °C. A large fraction of the mass of most food products is due
to water, and more water may be added in the boiling type cooking. L€ of [1] has stated that the
quantities of heat required for the physical and chemical changes involved in cooking are small as
compared to the sensible heat of increasing the food temperature and the energy required for
meeting heat losses. Thus, once the contents of the vessel have been sensibly heated to 100 °C, the
speed of cooking is practically independent of the heat rate as long as the thermal losses are
supplied. The differences in the time required to cook equal quantities of various foods in cookers
are due mainly to different sensible heating periods.
Solar cookers have attracted the attention of many researchers. Khalifa et al. [2] have studied
the heat transfer in the cooking process as an approach to develop outdoor and indoor cookers.
Channiwala and Doshi [3] have presented a correlation for the determination of the top loss
coefficient in terms of cooker configuration, optical properties and wind velocity. Grupp et al. [4]
have presented a novel design of the box type solar cooker in which the cooker has a fixed cooking
vessel in good thermal contact with the conductive absorber plate. The cooking vessel is also set
into the glazing to enable easier access to the vessel. The cooker has been used for boiling water,
and it has been reported that 5 liters of water per square meter of opening surface can be brought
to full boiling in less than one hour. Bushnell and Sohi [5] have reported the performance mea-
surements of a solar cooking oven design that collects solar energy and stores it in a phase change
material located in a heat exchanger. Mohamad et al. [6] have investigated theoretically the
performance of a box solar cooker during the year. The effect of cooker configuration and solar
insolation on the performance has been investigated. Results of experimental verification on two
different cookers have been reported. It has been concluded that the cooker aspect ratio, reflector
angle and cooker orientation are the main factors affecting the cooker performance. It has been
reported that an improved performance has been achieved by considering a transparent south
facing side of the cooker. Suharta et al. [7] have described several generations of solar ovens and
their field testing in Indonesia. It has been reported that an oven temperature up to 175 °C has
been reached and that solar ovens proved their ability to cook effectively. However, results ob-
tained under the local environmental conditions are very few.
In this investigation, the performance of box type solar cookers is evaluated both theoretically
and experimentally. Modifications to the conventional cooker are introduced. The bottom in-
sulation is removed and a glass cover is provided at the bottom. A set of reflectors is used to direct
the radiation on the backside of the absorber plate. The variation of temperature for the cooker is
predicted numerically and compared with experimental measurements. The response of different
parts of the cooker to changes in solar radiation has been estimated and verified by comparison
with measured values. Further, the cookers have been used to cook equal food quantities, and the
time needed for cooking is obtained for various kinds of food.
2654 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

2. Cooker description

The simple box type solar cooker consists mainly of an outer box, a dark absorber plate and
one or more glass covers. The gap between the box and the absorber plate is filled with thermal
insulation. The box is usually provided with a lid whose inner face is covered with a reflecting
surface. The cooked stuff is kept in a pot placed on the absorber inside the cooker cabinet. Fig. 1
shows a schematic sketch of the box type cooker. If the bottom insulation is removed, the heat
loss from the bottom would increase unless a means is provided to overcome these losses. The
modified cooker is constructed exactly as the conventional box cooker but without thermal in-
sulation at the bottom. Another glass cover is used at the bottom and the cooker is supported on a
stand whose height above ground level can be changed. Diffuse reflectors are placed at appro-
priate distances and tilt angles to reflect radiation onto the lower side of the absorber. In this
manner, the absorber is exposed to solar radiation from two sides, and the cooker is referred to as
the double exposure cooker. A computer program is constructed to determine the optimum lo-
cation and tilt of each reflector at every hour of the day such that the reflection from each reflector
falls on the middle of the absorber, and the shadow of any reflector should not fall on the other. A
schematic sketch of the double exposure cooker is shown in Fig. 2.
The cookers used in the current investigation have outer boxes made of 4 mm plywood of
dimensions 70 cm  70 cm  30 cm. An opening is provided on one side of the box to take in and
out the cooked stuff and for periodic inspection of the cooking process. The corners and edges of
the box are well covered with silicon sealant to prevent any air leakage or infiltration. The ab-
sorber is made of 0.5 mm thick copper sheet of a tray shape having an area of 60 cm  60 cm, and
the sides are tilted at an angle of 20°. The absorber is painted matt black. Transparent covers are
made of 5 mm thick window glass. The distance between the absorber and the first glass cover is 7
cm. Each cooker has a means of fixing two more glass covers, 3 mm thick each, at the top of the
first cover. The spacing between successive covers is 5 cm. Cooking pots of about 2 liters capacity

Glass cover Cooking vessel

Reflector

Absorber

Door
Insulation

Box

Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of the box type cooker.

 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2655

Glass cover Cooking vessel

Reflector

Insulation
Door
Absorber

Box

Air
Glass cover

Stand

Reflector

Fig. 2. Schematic sketch of the double exposure cooker.

are made of copper sheets of cylindrical shape having 18 cm diameter and 8 cm depth. The pots
have tight covers to prevent vapor condensation on the lower surface of the glass cover, which
would reduce the transmittance of the cover system to the incoming solar radiation. All reflectors
are made of 3 mm thick glass mirrors.

3. Theoretical analysis

The general energy balance of any cooker component states that the energy absorbed from
solar radiation equals the sum of the energy stored in the material due to its thermal capacity, the
total heat losses and the useful energy of that component.

qstored ¼ qabsorbed  quseful  qloss ð1Þ

Applying this balance to each part of the cooker yields the following set of equations.
Upper glass cover:

dTg
mg C g ¼ ag qs þ qv;a1g  qv;gamb  qr;gsky ð2Þ
dt
2656 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

where
qs ¼ Ag IT þ Frefp Aref IT;ref ð3Þ

qv;a1g ¼ ha1g Ag ðTa1  Tg Þ ð4Þ

qv;gamb ¼ hgamb Ag ðTg  Tamb Þ ð5Þ

qr;gsky ¼ reg Ag ðTg4  Tsky

4
Þ ð6Þ
and
Tsky ¼ Tamb  6 ð7Þ
Absorber plate:
dTp
mp C p ¼ sg ap qs  qv;pa1  qc;pamb  qv;pa2 þ sg ap qbooster ð8Þ
dt
where
qv;pa1 ¼ hpa1 Ap ðTp  Ta1 Þ ð9Þ

qv;pa2 ¼ hpa2 Ap ðTp  Ta2 Þ ð10Þ

Tp  Tamb
qc;pamb ¼ dp d
ð11Þ
1
Kp Ap
þ Kinsins;side
Aside =Ap
þ hpamb Ap

Oven air (upper cabinet):

dTa1
ma1 Ca1 ¼ qv;a1p  qv;a1g  qv;a1f ð12Þ
dt
where
qv;a1f ¼ ha1f Af ðTa1  Tf Þ ð13Þ
Food:
dTf Af Af
mf Cf ¼ rf af sg qs þ ½qv;a1f þ qc;pf ð14Þ
dt Ag Ag
where
Tp  Tf
qc;pf ¼ dp d
pot;bottom
ð15Þ
Kp Ap
þ Kpot Apot =Ap

where rf is unity if the food is exposed to direct radiation, and otherwise, it is set equal to zero.
Oven air (lower cabinet):
dTa2
ma2 Ca2 ¼ qv;pa2  qv;a2g1 ð16Þ
dt
Lower glass cover:
dTg1
mg1 Cg1 ¼ ag qbooster þ qv;a2g  qv;g1amb  qr;g1amb ð17Þ
dt
 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2657

where
qbooster ¼ Frefp Aref IT;booster qbooster ð18Þ

qv;a2g1 ¼ ha2g1 Ag1 ðTa2  Tg1 Þ ð19Þ

qv;g1amb ¼ hg1amb Ag1 ðTg1  Tamb Þ ð20Þ

4 4
qr;g1amb ¼ reg1 Ag1 ðTg1  Tamb Þ ð21Þ
The coefficients of heat transfer by convection are obtained from Ref. [8] for the conditions of
free or forced convection, depending on the studied part of the cooker. The total radiation in-
cident upon any tilted surface is calculated according to Ref. [9]. The view factors, needed to
calculate the exchange of heat by radiation between surfaces, are obtained from Ref. [10]. The
above equations form a set of first order ordinary differential equations. The system is solved
numerically using the fourth order Runge–Kutta method [11]. The design parameters of the
cooker are used to calculate the thermal capacitance of each part. The densities and specific heats
of materials are obtained from appropriate tables. The values estimated for the thermal capaci-
tances of the absorber plate, glass cover, air in upper cabinet, air in lower cabinet and cooking pot
are 0.632, 2.875, 0.07, 0.043 and 0.061 kJ/K, respectively.
The change in temperature of the cooker components has been calculated theoretically for
unsteady periods. The input values to the computer program are the weather conditions, initial
temperatures and the dimensions and properties of the materials, as well as the calculation in-
terval. The time step for calculation is taken as one second. The cooker was assumed to be
working in steady state, and then, a sudden change in radiation is forced by shielding the sun. On
the other hand, a step up transient could be forced by exposing the cooker suddenly to the sun
after being covered for a period of time. The history of the temperature of each part is calculated,
and a sample of such results is presented in Fig. 3. The figure shows that when the cooker is

140

130 Absorber

120

110 Oven air

Temperature ( C)

100

90

80

70

60

50

40
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Time (s)

Fig. 3. Predicted variation of temperature for double exposure cooker under forced transient conditions.
2658 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

exposed suddenly to the sun, all temperatures rise rapidly initially, and then, the rate of increase is
reduced slowly until a steady state value is reached. The increase in temperature is fast in the case
of the absorber plate and slower in the air cabinet. It takes a little more than 190 s for the absorber
to reach a new equilibrium state after the changes in radiation, while the response period for the
oven air is about 400 s.

4. Experimental investigation

An extensive experimental investigation has been conducted under actual weather conditions.
The experiments can be classified into three broad groups.
(1) Stagnation tests: The cookers are exposed to steady weather under no load conditions.
These experiments are conducted once at no wind, and then, wind is created at several speeds over
the cookers. Experiments are conducted using one, two and three glass covers. In the stagnation
tests, the temperatures of each cooker component are recorded for a complete day.
(2) Transient tests: Sharp transients are forced on the double exposure cooker by shielding the
sun repeatedly. The response of each cooker component to changes in solar radiation is measured.
This set of experiments is conducted also under no load conditions.
(3) Cooking tests: The cookers are used to cook equal amounts of the same food, and the time
needed for cooking is estimated. Firstly, the cookers are used to boil one liter of water, and then,
several foods have been tried.
During the course of any experiment, it is required to measure simultaneously the temperatures
of the cookers, ambient temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. Copper-Constantan thermo-
couples have been used for the temperature measurements. The accuracy of the thermocouples is

0.5 °C. Eppley pyranometers are used to measure the global and diffuse radiation in the hori-
zontal plane. A wind cup anemometer is used for wind speed measurements. It gives the cumulative
distance covered by the wind during a time interval measured by using a stopwatch. All measuring

Fig. 4. Stagnation test of the conventional cooker.

 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2659

transducers are connected to a data acquision system interfaced to a host computer. The sensors
are scanned every 2 s.

5. Results and discussion

Both the conventional and the double exposure box cookers are exposed to the sun under
steady weather conditions. The wind speed was less than 0.5 m/s, on average, during the day. The

Fig. 5. Stagnation test of the double exposure cooker.

140

Double exposure
130

120 Conventional
Temperature ( C)

110

100

90

80

70
10:30 11:30 12:30 13:30
Time of Experiment

Fig. 6. Comparison between absorber plate temperature of the conventional and double exposure cooker.
2660 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

changes in the temperatures of each part of the two cookers are presented in Figs. 4 and 5, res-
pectively. Fig. 4 shows that the change in temperature has the same trend as that of the solar
radiation. It increases at the start, continues to increase till around noon and then decreases after
noon. The absorber attains the greatest temperature, while the cover has the smallest value of
temperature. Similar behavior is seen from Fig. 5 for the double exposure cooker. However, the
order of magnitude of all temperatures is higher than the corresponding values for the conven-
tional cooker. It could be noted that the trend of temperature of the absorber plate in Fig. 5 looks
like saw teeth. This is attributed to the inaccurate adjustment of the position of the reflectors.
When the reflectors are aligned properly, the trend is corrected, and the temperatures increased

140
Absorber

120
Oven air

100
Temperature ( C)

80
Top cover

60

Bottom cover

40
Ambient

20
11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00
Time of Experiment

Fig. 7. Variation of temperature for the double exposure cooker under naturally variable weather conditions.

130
Absorber
120

110
Oven air
Temperature ( C)

100

90

80

70

Top Cover
60

50
13:15 13:45 14:15 14:45 15:15
Time of Experiment

Fig. 8. Variation of temperature for the double exposure cooker under forced transient conditions.
 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2661

continuously as shown in Fig. 6. It is also seen that the presence of the booster has resulted in an
increase in the absorber temperature of about 15 to 20 °C as compared with the conventional type
cooker.
The results of this set of experiments show that the maximum attained temperatures for the
absorber and cabinet air are 165 and 155 °C, respectively, at a radiation level of 1000 W/m2 .
Under transient conditions, the variation of temperature for the double exposure cooker is
shown in Fig. 7 for naturally variable weather and in Fig. 8 for artificial transients. It is noted that
there is a short time lag for the cover before the change in temperature starts, whereas in the cases
of the absorber and the cabinet air, the changes start directly after the onset of the transient effect.
This may be attributed to the higher thermal capacitance of the cover.

140

Theoretical
130
Measured
Temperature (°C)

120

110

100

90

80

70
12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30
Time of experiment

Fig. 9. Comparison of measurements with theoretical predictions for absorber plate temperature.

120
Theoretical
Measured
110
Temperature (°C)

100

90

80

70
12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30
Time of experiment

Fig. 10. Comparison of measurements with theoretical predictions for oven air temperature.
2662 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663

A comparison of measurements with the theoretical prediction under transient conditions is

shown in Figs. 9–11 for the absorber plate, oven air and glass cover, respectively. These figures
show that the agreement between measurements and prediction is acceptable, particularly during
the transient phases. The average deviations of the predictions from the measurements are
1.2,

1.8 and
2.5 °C, respectively, for the absorber plate, oven air and glass cover. These deviations
increase slightly during the steady phases of operation, but still, the agreement is satisfactory.
The effectiveness of the cookers has been verified in actual testing by cooking known amounts
of food, and the time taken for each food to be cooked is recorded. The results from these sets of
experiments are listed in Table 1 for the two cookers, along with some observations on the ap-

80

Theoretical
Measured
Temperature ( °C)

70

60

50
12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30
Time of experiment

Fig. 11. Comparison of measurements with theoretical predictions for glass cover temperature.

Table 1
Cooking time of different foods
No. Food Conventional Double exposure Remarks
Cooker (h:min.) Cooker (h:min.)
1 1 liter of water 1:34 0:53 –
2 Roasted potatoes 3:05 2:45 Normal
3 1/4 kg rice in 500 cm3 water 1:40 0:50 Over cooked
4 1/4 kg gourd in 400 cm3 tomato 2:50 1:55 Well done
sauce + 50 gm meat cubes
5 1/2 kg aubergine in 400 cm3 tomato sauce 2:47 1:30 Well done
6 1/4 kg potatoes in 500 cm3 tomato sauce 1:50 1:00 Well done
7 Cake 2:20 1:50 Dark yellow.
Well risen
8 1/2 kg green beans in 500 cm3 tomato 2:55 2:20
sauce
9 1/4 kg ladyÕs finger in 400 cm3 tomato 1:10 0:45
sauce
10 1/2 kg meat cubes in 500 cm3 water 3:51 3:23 Cloudy weather
11 1/2 kg chicken in 500 cm3 water 2:00 1:24 Well done
 E.H. Amer / Energy Conversion and Management 44 (2003) 2651–2663 2663

pearance of food. It could be seen that the double exposure cooker enables faster cooking for all
tested stuffs. The time saved during the cooking process ranges generally between 30 and 60 min.
This could be considered a remarkable improvement despite the need for periodic adjustment of
the diffuse reflectors. It has to be mentioned that though things were cooked slower than they
usually are, it tasted the same. In fact, some items even tasted better.

6. Conclusions

A modified cooker is introduced in which the absorber is exposed to solar radiation from the
top and the bottom sides. A set of plane diffuse reflectors is used to direct the radiation onto
the lower side of the absorber plate. The performance of the cooker is extensively investigated
under the Egyptian climate. The general energy balance of the cooker is derived and is used to
predict the temperature variation of each part of the cooker under both steady and transient
conditions. The predicted values are compared with measurements made outdoors under actual
weather. With proper alignment of reflectors, the temperature of the absorber plate and oven air
can reach as high as 165 and 155 °C, respectively. The predicted temperatures agree with mea-
surements within
1.2 °C for the absorber plate,
1.8 °C for the oven air and within
2.5 °C for
the glass cover. One liter of water is brought to full boiling in 53 min using the double exposure
cooker. The times taken for cooking of several foods are obtained for the two cookers. The double
exposure cooker reduces the cooking time generally by about 30–60 min.

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