Design, realization, and tests of a portable solar box cooker coupled with an erythritol-based PCM thermal energy storage

Coccia, Gianluca; Aquilanti, Alessia; Tomassetti, Sebastiano; Comodi, Gabriele; Nicola, Giovanni Di

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2020.03.031

Cited by 81 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…With the intention of improving the efficiency of solar cookers using natural substances such as SAs, in the present study a portable solar box cooker was tested with a xylitol-based TES. This work continues the authors' research on sugar alcohols combined with solar cookers; in a recent paper, in fact, the same portable solar box cooker was tested with erythritol [16]. Based on the authors' knowledge, there is no study in the literature that involves the use of xylitol as HSM to be used with solar cookers.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Then, a detailed description of the TES used in this work is presented, along with the main details of the solar box cooker and of the experimental methodology. Since the optical analysis, the materials and the procedure used for the manufacture of the cooker were extensively described in a previous work [16], in the following subsections only its main properties will be presented.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 4 shows the thermal energy storage (TES) chosen to perform the tests. The TES was filled with commercial-grade xylitol and its detailed description can be found in a previous work [16]. In the present work, however, the TES was also equipped with a manual device for the mechanical agitation of the sample, with the aim of triggering xylitol nucleation.…”

Section: Thermal Energy Storage Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental Analysis of Nucleation Triggering in a Thermal Energy Storage Based on Xylitol Used in a Portable Solar Box Cooker

et al. 2021

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Sugar alcohols have interesting thermodynamic properties that make them good options as heat storage materials (HSMs) to be used in solar cookers. Among sugar alcohols, xylitol is affected by severe supercooling that can significantly alter its usefulness in thermal energy storage (TES) systems. To overcome the supercooling issue, in this work the thermal behavior of a xylitol-based TES installed in a portable solar box cooker was investigated experimentally. The solar cooker has a 4.08 concentration ratio and the TES is a double-pot system filled with 2.5 kg of commercial-grade xylitol. The TES includes a manual mixing device that can be used to trigger the nucleation of xylitol. The effectiveness of the TES system with and without triggering was assessed through several outdoor tests, divided into heating and cooling phases, using silicone oil as absorbing media. It was found that the average load cooling time, in the temperature range of the test fluid from 110 to 80∘C, increased by about 346% when the solar cooker was equipped with the xylitol-triggered TES. The mixing device can therefore be considered an effective solution for regarding xylitol as an actual and performing phase change material.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thermal Energy Storage Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental Analysis of Nucleation Triggering in a Thermal Energy Storage Based on Xylitol Used in a Portable Solar Box Cooker

et al. 2021

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“…For organic materials, hydrocarbons, lipids and sugar alcohols are commonly adopted in solar applications while, among inorganic materials, salt hydrates and metallics are also broadly adopted. In particular, erythritol [54,55], acetanilide [51,56], acetamide [57] and stearic acid [58,59] are the most frequently used organic PCM in the experimental tests. Inorganic compounds include magnesium nitrate hexahydrate (MNHH) [59,60] and binary nitrate salt KNO 3 -NaNO 3 [61], or ternary [62].…”

Section: Latent Heat Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Solar Cookers and Dryers: Environmental Sustainability and Nutraceutical Content in Food Processing

Battocchio

Bruni

Nicola

et al. 2021

Foods

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This work reviewed the state of the art concerning solar cookers and dryers used in food processing. The general description of solar cookers and dryers was presented, with a specific attention to the equipment where the cooking takes place with the contribution of the direct sunlight. Some insight about the history of design and development of devices that use solar light to process food were provided. The possibility to store the heat produced by solar light using Phase Change Materials was analyzed. Moreover, some “case-studies” were revised and discussed, in which solar light is efficiently used to dry or cook food, focusing on the quality of the food in terms of nutraceuticals content. The analyzed literature points out the necessity for further research about the effects produced by direct solar rays on different foods. The reliable data on this aspect will allow assessment of the quality of food transformation by solar cookers and dryers, adding a strong incentive to the development of such devices, up to now primarily motivated by energy-saving and environmental issues.

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“…Mawire et al (2020) used two cooking pots with sunflower oil sensible heat storage fluid and erythritol phase change material for cooking during on/off sunlight, which is an experimental that sunflower grease cooking vessel has better performance with lesser heat utilization efficiency. Coccia et al (2020) tested a solar cooker provided with dual penned container filled by phase change material of 2.5kg of erythritol. Experimental results proved the extension of load cooling time by 351.16%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microcontroller PIC 16F877A Standard based on Solar Cooker using PV- Evacuated Tubes with an Extension of Heat Integrated Energy System

Shanmugan¹,

Chithambaram²,

Bennet

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The unavailability of sunlight during nighttime and cloudy weather condition has limited the usage of solar cookers throughout the day. This study will attempt to engineer a solar cooker with PV (Photovoltaic panel), evacuated tubes with CPC reflectors, battery and charge controller using the microcontroller PIC 16F877A. A mathematical model is developed to predict the electrical power (Ep) required during cloudy weather condition and nighttime as well as the temperatures occurring at different parts of the cooker. The proposed model is validated against experimental observations gathered for one of the typical working days of the system. The cooker is tested for various cooking loads to find the cooking time and it is proven that the proposed cooker can be utilized over 24/7 without interruption.

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Design, realization, and tests of a portable solar box cooker coupled with an erythritol-based PCM thermal energy storage

Cited by 81 publications

References 27 publications

Experimental Analysis of Nucleation Triggering in a Thermal Energy Storage Based on Xylitol Used in a Portable Solar Box Cooker

Experimental Analysis of Nucleation Triggering in a Thermal Energy Storage Based on Xylitol Used in a Portable Solar Box Cooker

Solar Cookers and Dryers: Environmental Sustainability and Nutraceutical Content in Food Processing

Microcontroller PIC 16F877A Standard based on Solar Cooker using PV- Evacuated Tubes with an Extension of Heat Integrated Energy System

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