Cookers for solar homes

Means of piping solar energy into kitchens were investigated. Two different solar cookers utilising the heat-pipe principle were designed, constructed and tested. A cooker utilising an east-west line focusing collector, designated Mecca-1, was developed for this purpose. The second cooker was a flat-plate heat-pipe cooker, Mecca-2. A single heat pipe in each cooker absorbed the energy at the collector, transported it into the kitchen and delivered it to an insulated oven at the condenser end. Various heating and boiling experiments conducted on the two cookers demonstrated the feasibility of the concept. It was found that the Mecca-2 cooker with triple glazing had a utilisation efficiency of up to 19 per cent and could boil 1 litre of water in 27 min for a solar insolation of 900 W/m2.

Temperature drops in heat pipes

The rôle of entrainment in limiting heat pipe power handling capacity is discussed. The effect of entrainment on the measured temperature field in the integral heat pipe of a split system solar cooker is analyzed. An experimental set-up depicting a heat loop is presented, along with test results.