Charging Energetic and Exergetic Evaluation of A Combined Solar Cooking and Thermal Energy Storage System

Experimental charging energy and exergy results of the thermal performance of a solar cooker combined with a thermal energy storage system are presented. The combined solar cooking and storage system comprises of parabolic dish which has a diameter of 1.8 m, and it focuses solar radiation onto a receiver consisting of an oil circulating coil and a cooking plate. Sunflower oil is heated while circulating in the coil to charge the storage system as well as simultaneously heating up water in a black stainless-steel pot that is placed on the cooking plate of the receiver. Charging experiments are carried out with four different flowrates (2,3, 4 and 5 ml/s). The average charging energy rate and the charging efficiency increases with the flowrate apart from the highest flowrate (5 ml/s) due to lower solar radiation conditions during the experimental test. This indicates that environmental conditions affect the performance of the reported system. The average charging exergy rate and exergy efficiency increase with the flowrate with expect for the 5 ml/s case.