Study and Simulation of the Thermal Behaviour of a Box Solar Cooker using Comsol Multiphysics Software and its Experimental Validation under GhardaÏa Climate

In order to study the thermal performance of a solar cooker used for food cooking, we conducted an experimental and numerical study to examine the temperature distribution and profiles of a prototype of box type solar cooker realized by the small thermodynamic power plants of Applied Research Unit in Renewable Energies (URAER, GhardaÏa). The numerical simulation takes into account the initial conditions, the weather conditions and the boundary conditions. The water temperature values in the pot and on the absorber plate were obtained by the Comsol software. The experimental tests (stagnation and sensible heating tests) were carried out under the climatic conditions of the GhardaÏa city (located at a latitude $of 32.39 ^{\circ}$, a longitude $of 3.78 ^{\circ}$ and an altitude of 463m at sea level). The tests were carried out on a clear days in a summer month under global solar radiation received on a horizontal surface varying between 800 and $1000\text{W}/ \text{m}^{2}$ and an ambient temperature varying from 28 $to 30 ^{\circ}\text{C}$. The experimental results and those of the simulation are compared and analyzed.