Solar Energy 77 (2004) 67–71

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Experimental determination of energy and exergy efficiency

of the solar parabolic-cooker
Hasan H€ € urk
useyin Ozt€ *

Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery, University of C

ß ukurova, 01330 Adana, Turkey
Received 30 July 2003; received in revised form 13 March 2004; accepted 13 March 2004
Available online 9 April 2004
Communicated by: Associate Editor Richard Petela

Abstract
A simply designed and the low-cost parabolic-type solar cooker (SPC) was made and tested. The energy end exergy
efficiencies of the cooker were experimentally evaluated. The experimental time period was from 10:00 to 14:00 solar
time. During this period, it was found that the daily average temperature of water in the SPC was 333 K and the daily
average difference between the temperature of water in the cooking pot and the ambient air temperature was 31.6 K.
The energy output of the SPC varied between 20.9 and 78.1 W, whereas its exergy output was in the range 2.9–6.6 W.
The energy and exergy efficiencies of the SPC were in the range, respectively, 2.8–15.7% and 0.4–1.25%.

2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar parabolic-cooker; Energy efficiency; Exergy efficiency

1. Introduction out by many researchers (Habeebullah et al., 1995;

Solar energy, which is an abundant, clean and safe
source of energy, is an attractive to substitute for the
conventional fuels for cooking. Turkey lies (between 36
and 42 N latitudes) in the sunny belt of the world. The
sunshine period of Turkey is 2624 h/year with a maxi-
mum of 365 h/month in July and a minimum of 103
h/month in December. The main solar radiation inten-
sity is about 3.67 kWh/m2 day, which is sufficient to
provide adequate energy for solar thermal applications.
Cumulative total of the solar radiation energy is about
€
1311 kWh/m2 year (Ultanır, 1994). There are very
favorable climatic conditions in Turkey for all solar
energy applications. Solar cookers (SCs) are good can-
didates for widespread use in Turkey.
Concerning the application, designing, and the ther-
mal performance of the SCs, studies have been carried
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-322-3386408; fax: +90-
322-3387165.
€ urk).
E-mail address: hhozturk@cu.edu.tr (H.H. Ozt€
0038-092X/$ - see front matter
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2004.03.006
Balzar et al., 1996; Clark, 1996; Swisher et al., 1996;
Mullick et al., 1996; Nyahoro et al., 1997; Funk and
Larson, 1998; Amoroso et al., 1998; Suharta et al., 1998;
Biermann et al., 1999; Funk, 2000; Algifri and Al-To-
waie, 2001; Ahmad, 2001). Introduction of a rationally
defined efficiency of SC would be useful. Therefore, in
the present paper, the energy and exergy efficiencies of a
solar parabolic-cooker (SPC). defined respectively as the
ratio of the energy, or exergy gained by the SPC to the
energy, or exergy, originally delivered to the solar coo-
ker, are introduced for the first time. The values of these
efficiencies are calculated based on the measurement
results.
2. Description of the system
The experiments were conducted on the roof of the
Agricultural Machinery Department, C ß ukurova Uni-
versity in Adana. The latitude, longitude and altitude of
Adana are, respectively, 37 N and 35 E, 30 m above
sea level. The experiments were conducted on 22–28 July
2002.
68 € urk / Solar Energy 77 (2004) 67–71
H.H. Ozt€
Nomenclature
A intercept area, m2
c specific heat of water, J/kg K
I_ instantaneous solar radiation energy, W/m2
m mass of water, kg
t time, s
SC solar cooker
SPC solar parabolic-cooker
T absolute temperature, K
Greek symbols
g instantaneous energy efficiency of SPC, %
W instantaneous exergy efficiency of SPC, %
2.1. The solar parabolic-cooker
The solar parabolic-cooker (SPC) is a preliminary
construction for experimental purposes. The dimensions
of the SPC are shown in Fig. 1. The overall dimensions
of the SPC are 90 · 100 cm. The SPC is constructed of
steel profile and Cr–Ni alloy sheet. Structural frame of
the SPC, made of steel profile of dimensions 15 · 15 cm
and Cr–Ni alloy sheet, is screwed on the frame. The
thickness of Cr–Ni sheet is 0.5 mm. In the center of the
concentrating reflector, a cooking pot of 10 cm width
and 5 cm in depth is welded. The cooking pot is made of
galvanized steel sheet of 0.5 cm thickness. All outer
surfaces of the cooking pot are painted with mat black.
Thus, Cr–Ni sheet acts as a reflector to concentrate the
Sun’s rays on the cooking pot. There were no clouds so
the reflector acted only on direct solar radiation. The
reflector could be adjusted, according to Funk (2000), by
means of the two screws on both sides of the cooking
pot. The emissivity of the cooking pot and shield sur-
faces are 0.87 and 0.45, respectively.
Fig. 1. The dimensions of the solar parabolic cooker.
Subscripts
a ambient air
f final
i input, initial
s sun
sc solar cooker
w water
2.2. The measurements
The tests for the SPC were conducted during the 7
days. During the experimental period, the following
quantities were measured: ambient air temperature Ta ,
water temperatures profiles in the cooking pot, Tw , total
solar radiation energy I_ on a horizontal surface, and
wind speed. The temperature of the water in the pot
was measured by using calibrated copper–constantan
thermocouples which have the low cost, acceptable
accuracy and rapid response. The location of the three
thermocouples in the cooking pot allowed for deter-
mining the temperature distribution within the water.
Thermocouple beads were immersed in the water 10 mm
above the pot bottom, at the center. The average tem-
perature of the water in the pot was determined by
averaging the measurements of the thermocouples. The
water temperature in the pot was sampled every second.
Every 10 min the recorder averaged and stored the value
of water temperature. Solar radiation at a horizontal
surface and ambient air temperature were also recorded
during the tests. Solar radiation was measured by the
solar energy sensor. The sensing element of the sensor is
a blue-enhanced precision silicon photodiode, with good
stability characteristics. The spectral response is filtered
to give a flat, uniform response to solar energy, inde-
pendent of wavelength. Output of the solar energy sen-
sors is 10.8 mV per kW/m2 of solar radiation. Wind
speed was measured using the Vector A100R anemom-
eter with the range of 0.3–75 m/s. The accuracy of the
anemometer is 1% ± 0.1 m/s. The wind speed was always
below 1 m/s and was recognized as small thus the effect
of wind and its direction, was neglected.
The SPC tests were conducted between 10:00 and
14:00 solar time. The tests were conducted at the
ambient temperature Ta between 20 and C. Experi-
mental data was recorded for water temperatures Tw
between 40 and 90 C. The solar radiation energy I_
varied in the range of 450–1100 W/m2 . The amount of
 € urk / Solar Energy 77 (2004) 67–71
H.H. Ozt€ 69
 335:9

7 kg of water per square meter of intercept area of the 6:3  4200 ð335:9
334:55Þ
302 ln 334:55
SPC were used into the cooking. Since the intercept 600
w¼ "  4  #
area, i.e. the projection area of the SPC, is 0.9 m2 , the 1 302 4 302
cooking pot was filled with 6.3 kg of water. The SPC was 773 1 þ
0:9
3 6000 3 6000
adjusted every 30 min to keep the solar radiation fo-
cused on the cooking pot. ¼ 9:51  10
3
The temperatures of the cooking pot and reflector
surfaces were not determined in the experiment. A
data-logger was used for taking and storing readings
4. Results and discussion
from the sensors. The recorded data were stored in
memory for printing or on disk for using in the com-
The experimental results are shown Figs. 2–5 and the
puter. Readings could be taken at regular intervals,
calculated energy and exergy efficiencies are summarized
different for each channel. The data were registered
in Table 1.
by the data logger in intervals of 1 s and averaged over
Fig. 2 shows the change of the water temperature Tw
10 min.
in the pot as a function of time t. During the experimental
period the solar radiation increased and the water tem-
perature in the pot increased from 313.1 to 346.5 K. This
3. Formulae for the energy and exergy efficiency of the maximum temperature 346.5 K was reached after 4 h
solar cooker from the start of the experiment. The ambient air tem-
perature varied from 297 to 308 K, whereas the solar
In this experimental study, the SPC was tested based radiation ranged from 550 to 1020 W/m2 .
on the test conditions outlined by Funk (2000) who Fig. 3 shows the change of the temperature difference
presented and evaluated the test standard of the SCs DT between the water in the pot and the ambient air
proposed at the Third World Conference on Solar over time. The temperature difference was only 23.2 K
Cooking.
Energy efficiency of a SC can be defined as the ratio
of energy output (only the increase of the water energy
due to temperature growth) to the energy input (the
energy of solar radiation). Thus the instantaneous en-
ergy efficiency of the SPC was calculated as follows:
mcðTwf
Twi Þ
Dt
g¼ ð1Þ
_
IA

Exergy efficiency of any process is a ratio of the exergy

transfer rate associated with the output to the exergy
transfer rate associated with the driving input (Kotas,
Fig. 2. Variation of water temperature Tw and solar radiation
1990). The instantaneous exergy efficiency of the SC can
energy I_ with time of day.
be defined as the ratio of the increased water exergy to
the exergy of the solar radiation:
h i
mc ðTwf
Twi Þ
Ta ln TTwfwi

w¼  Dt

4
 ð2Þ
I_ 1 þ 3 Ts
43 TTas A
1 Ta

In the present work, the Petela expression (Petela, 2003)

was used to calculate the exergy of solar radiation as the
exergy input to the SPC. Assumed are the following
data: the time interval Dt ¼ 600 s, the constant specific
heat for water c ¼ 4:2 kJ kg
1 K
1 , the solar radiation
temperature Ts ¼ 6000 K.
For example using formula (2) the instantaneous
exergy efficiency value for solar time 12:00 was calcu- Fig. 3. Variation of temperature difference DT between water
lating as follows: and ambient air with time of day.
70 € urk / Solar Energy 77 (2004) 67–71
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in the late morning) to 20.9 W (at 14:00 in the early

Fig. 4. Variation of energy and exergy output for solar cooker
with time of day.
afternoon). During the experimental period the average
daily energy output of the SPC was 53.57 W.
The exergy output, shown in Fig. 4, was significantly
different from its energy output. The exergy output
ranged from 2.9 to 6.6 W at the daily average of 4.97 W.
The maximum energy output (78.1 W) occurred at
11:00, while the maximum exergy output (6.6 W) oc-
curred at 11:30. In the first one hour the exergy output
rate was faster than energy output rate. The energy
output for the SPC was always greater than its exergy
output.
The variation of the instantaneous energy and exergy
efficiencies as a function of time for the SPC is presented
in Fig. 5. The energy efficiency of the SPC varied from
2.8% to 15.7%. The daily average energy efficiency of the
SPC was 9.2%. The exergy efficiency of the SPC varied
from 0.41% to 1.25% and the average daily exergy effi-
ciency was found to be 0.9%. Energy and exergy effi-
ciencies are affected mainly by three factors; the level of
water temperature Tw , solar radiation energy I_ and
ambient temperature Ta . The combination of these three
factors generates a characteristic maximum of exergy
efficiency, whereas the energy efficiency monotonously
diminishes during the measurement time period.

5. Conclusion
Fig. 5. Variation of the energy g and exergy W efficiencies of
solar cooker with time of day.
The international standard for testing and reporting
the solar cooker performance was applied to experi-
Table 1 mental determination of the energy and exergy efficien-
Summary of the results cies of the solar parabolic cooker. The time-variations of
these efficiencies were calculated based on the applied
Mini- Maxi- Mean
mum mum formulae and measurement data.
The determined values of efficiencies are relatively
Water temperature Tw (K) 313.1 313.1 333
very low in particular the exergy efficiency. This is a
Temperature difference 23.2 41.7 31.6
DT (K)
rather commonly known fact which applies to all devices
Energy output (W) 20.9 78.1 53.57 utilizing the solar radiation. There is a little chance to
Exergy output (W) 2.9 6.6 4.97 improve economically the exergy efficiency, although a
Energy efficiency g (%) 2.8 15.7 9.2 small improvement could be achieved by playing with
Exergy efficiency W (%) 0.41 1.25 0.9 the radiation properties of surfaces exchanging heat by
radiation or with geometry of the solar parabolic coo-
ker. It would be recommended for the future to inves-
at 10:10 in the morning and it reached 41.7 K at 14:00 in tigate significance, e.g. of the various values of
the early afternoon. The results showed that the SPC emissivities of the heat exchanging surfaces or main
was able to achieve the maximum water temperature in dimensions of the cooker and reflector, especially
the pot 41.7 K higher than the ambient temperature. application of some fins on the cooker surface. For
Fig. 4 shows the variation of the energy and exergy example, two different SPCs could be experimentally
output as a function of time. The energy and exergy investigated simultaneously to ensure the same solar
outputs were calculated according to the respective conditions for comparison.
numerators of the efficiencies expressions (1) and (2). The conversion of solar radiation energy to energy of
The energy output varied from 20.9 to 78.1 W. As water occurs through component phenomena of
indicated in Fig. 4, the energy output increased at a fast absorption and emission on the reflector and cooker
rate in the first 1 h, and then at slow rate during 11:00– surfaces. An improved performance of the SCs can be
14:00. The energy output dropped from 78.1 W (at 11:00 expected when the component phenomena occur with
 € urk / Solar Energy 77 (2004) 67–71
H.H. Ozt€
minimum irreversibility, i.e. at the minimum exergy loss.
Exergy loss can be controlled by selection of the
appropriate optical properties of the SPC surfaces, such
as increased reflectivity of the reflector and increased
absorptivity of the cooking pot. The increased reflec-
tivity of the reflector may be accomplished by a single or
multiple reflective (mirror-like) elements. Since the
absorptivity is equal to emissivity, the cooking pot sur-
face should be made of a high emissivity material. The
dimensions of the SPC can be reduced by replacing a
reflector with high reflective element.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Gazanfer HARZA-
DIN from TARTES Ltd. for providing construction
facilities available at his factory.
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