ARTICLE IN PRESS

Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Technical Note

Design optimization of solar cooker

U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal
Department of Physics, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur 342 005, India
Available online 12 June 2007

Abstract

Various designs of solar cookers have been theoretically investigated with a view to optimize their performance. Starting from a
conventional box type cooker, various combinations of booster mirrors have been studied to arrive at a final design, aimed at providing a
cooker, which can be fixed on a south facing window (for countries of northern hemisphere, mainly situated near the tropic of Cancer).
This cooker, with a rear window opening, may provide higher cooking temperature for a fairly large duration of the day. Two or three
changes in positions of the side booster mirrors, without moving the cooker as a whole has been proposed. The new design has been
experimentally implemented and compared with a conventional box type solar cooker. Besides the convenience of a rear window
opening, the cooker provides temperatures sufficiently high to enable cooking two meals a day.
r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Solar energy; Solar cooker; Solar thermal devices

1. Introduction allowing intervention. This is because; whenever the lid,

Solar cooker is an environmental friendly and cost
effective device for harnessing solar energy. A convention-
ally used solar cooker, promoted by government agencies
in India, is shown in Fig. 1(a). This is a low cost device with
horizontal doubly glazed top surface and a booster mirror,
which can be tracked accordingly to the seasonal variations
in the position of sun. The cooker has top opening and
requires frequent tracking. The tracking is two ways;
firstly, the angular position of the lid mirror is changed as
sun changes its latitudinal position and secondly, for an
effective use of the device, it has to be rotated in the
east–west direction, so that the mirror faces the sun. The
latter tracking is more difficult and impractical especially,
when the cooker is loaded. Also, in summer a large
northward tilt is required, which results in user facing
reflections in mid summer days. Further, the cooking is a
continuously interacting process. In the conventional
design, it is expected that the material (food) is put once
in the box and is taken out at an appropriate time, not
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: usmirdha@yahoo.com (U.S. Mirdha),
dhariwalsr@yahoo.com (S.R. Dhariwal).
which is also the energy collecting surface, is opened a large
amount of trapped heat goes out. Due to these difficulties,
the conventional cooker does not satisfy its users [1,2]. The
conventional design has been studied and modified
continuously since 1980s and various designs have been
extensively investigated [3–21]. However, even with all
these efforts, it still remains to develop a really efficient
cooker, which is user friendly.
A cooker which could be fixed on south facing window
(in countries of upper hemisphere) with a rear window
opening inside the room (kitchen) is more user friendly [6].
This will allow a freedom of interactive cooking and
supplementation by other sources of energy available in the
kitchen. Further, it does not require the user to go out in
the sun, during its use and for its hourly tracking, as
required in conventional cookers.
In this paper, the various possible designs of tilted
surface cookers with various positions of booster mirrors
in the north–south direction as well as in the east–west
direction (for tracking during the day) are analyzed, so that
a few changes in the mirror positions suffice for the
tracking. By this analysis, a final design of the solar cooker
has been achieved, which has been practically implemented
and some preliminary experimental results are reported.

0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2007.04.009
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U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544 531

Nomenclature L, L1 , L2 , L3 , L4 , L5 and L6 various lengths shown in

FD collection coefficient of a cooker for direct
incident radiation
F R1 and F R2 collection coefficient for reflections
F Rh collection coefficient for reflections from ver-
tical south facing fixed mirror
F RN1 and F RN2 collection coefficient for reflections
from north facing fixed mirror
F RS1 and F RS2 collection coefficient for reflections from
south facing lid mirror
F RSide 1 collection coefficient for reflections from ver-
tical wing mirror
F RSide 2 collection coefficient for reflections from tilted
wing mirror
F RSide 3 collection coefficient for re-reflections from
vertical wing mirror
FT net collection coefficient of a cooker
F T_norm normalized collection coefficient of a
cooker
F T_RSide net collection coefficient for radiation reflected
by east–west booster wing mirrors
I incident solar intensity (W=m2 Þ
Figs. 1, 2 and 6 (m)
L0 ; L01 ; L02 ; L03 ; L05 ; L005 and L06 part of booster mirror
lengths, used for energy collection by reflections
(m)
R reflectivity of mirror
T steady state temperature
TA ambient temperature
UL overall heat loss factor of cooker under one
node assumption (W=m2 K)
ðtaÞe effective absorptance–transmittance product
for absorbing surface
a; a1 and g inclination angles of booster mirrors
o hour angle
b tilt angle of the collecting surface
y angle of incident radiation at the given latitude
f latitudinal angle of given place
d declination of sun with respect to equator
fcan latitudinal angle of tropic of Cancer (23:45 )
ymax maximum angle of incident radiation with
respect to vertical
dmax maximum declination in sun position with
respect to equator (jdmax j ¼ 23:45 )

2. Considerations with respect to north–south plane (ii) As y changes further, only a part of the reflected
radiation is collected by the collecting surface. The
This section deals with the effect of latitudinal position effective length L0 from which the collection takes
of the sun on energy collection by various solar cooker place, is given by
designs. For calculations in this section, the sun is assumed cosð2a  yÞ
to be in the north–south plane corresponding to the solar L0 ¼ L . (3)
sinðy  aÞ
noon position (hour angle, o, is assumed to be zero).
For this case, the fractional increase in radiation
arriving at the collecting surface, due to reflection
2.1. Conventional solar cooker
from the booster, is given by
A conventional solar cooker is shown in Fig. 1(a). The F R2 ¼ R cosð2a  yÞ. (4)
angle, y, which the incident radiation makes with the
vertical at a given latitude, f, is given by Of the above, F R will have the lower of the two values F R1
y ¼ f  d, (1) and F R2 . The maximum value of F R will be attained, when
reflection from the mirror fully covers the collecting surface
where d is an angle of declination of the sun. Since the (L0 ¼ L), so that
booster mirror is fixed on the lid itself, the length of the
mirror and that of the collecting surface of the cooker are F R1 ¼ F R2 (5)
equal. For a given position of the mirror, denoted by angle and
a with respect to the vertical, depending on the angle of
incidence two situations may arise: cosð2a  yÞ ¼ sinðy  aÞ. (6)
The best position of the mirror for a given f is, when
(i) The entire reflected radiation is received by a part of the
1 p
collecting surface. For this case, the fractional increase a¼ 2y  . (7)
in reflected radiation receiving by the collector is 3 2
F R1 ¼ R sinðy  aÞ, (2) This requires continuous tracking of the mirror round the year.
The direct radiation incident on the collecting surface
where R is the reflectivity of the booster mirror. The has a direction cosine,
above equation will hold till the reflected light covers
the entire length of the collector. F D ¼ cos y, (8)
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532 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

Fig. 1. (a) Conventional box type solar cooker with south facing mirror in its lid; (b) a cooker with south tilted collecting surface with south facing mirror
in its lid; (c) cooker with south tilted collecting surface and north facing mirror in its lid; (d) cooker with south tilted collecting surface and north facing
mirror as lid of the cooker with a fixed south facing vertical mirror.

so that the net collection coefficient is given by 2.2.1. South facing booster mirror [Fig. 1(b)]
For this case, various collection coefficients will be
F T ¼ F D þ F R. (9)
F R1 ¼ R sinðy  aÞ, (11a)

2.2. Solar cookers with south tilted glazed surface F R2 ¼ R cosðb þ y  2aÞ, (11b)
(for countries of northern hemisphere) with
cosð2a  b  yÞ
Now, for a south tilted glazed surface at an angle L01 ¼ L1 . (12)
sinðy  aÞ
b with the horizontal, the length of glazed surface
increases to The best results are obtained, when the booster mirror is
kept at
L
L1 ¼ . (10) 1 p
cos b a¼ 2y þ b  , (13)
3 2
Since the lid mirror should cover the entire surface of the where the various symbols have meanings and applicabil-
cooker, the lid will also be of the same length. ities as discussed for conventional cooker in Section 2.1.
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U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544 533

2.2.2. North facing booster mirror [Fig. 1(c)]

The collection coefficients for this design are as follows:
F R1 ¼ R cosðy þ aÞ, (14a)

F R2 ¼ R sinðb þ y þ 2a  p=2Þ, (14b)

with
sinðb þ y þ 2a  p=2Þ
L01 ¼ L1 , (15)
cosða þ yÞ
and the fractional enhancement, due to reflected radiation
by north facing mirror, will be maximum for a given y,
when
a ¼ 13ðp  2y  bÞ. (16)
2.2.3. Trackable north facing booster mirror with vertical
south facing mirror [Fig. 1(d)]
Since, we are looking for a window model of the cooker
with a rear opening, the south facing booster mirror is kept
at a fixed vertical position without tracking along with a
north facing mirror in its lid, which can be tracked round
the year. The height, h, of the south facing vertical mirror is
kept such that in the extreme winter (maximum value of yÞ,
reflections from the mirror cover the complete collecting
glazed surface. In terms of y and b, the height h of the
south facing vertical mirror is given by
cosðy þ bÞ
h ¼ L1 . (17)
sin y
The fractional enhancement of radiation collected by the
surface is given by
 
h
F Rh ¼ R sin y, (18)
L1
Fig. 2. Improved solar cooker with south tilted collecting surface having a
which has the highest value in the extreme winter, when fixed sized vertical south facing mirror and a fixed north facing mirror
y ¼ ymax . This component will add to the collection along with a trackable south facing mirror in its lid.
coefficient F T .

2.3. A final design mirror is given by

 
L2
As a further improvements, a combination of north and F RN1 ¼ R cosða þ yÞ (20a)
L1
south facing booster mirrors have been introduced as
shown in Fig. 2. In this model, a fixed south facing vertical and when only a part of reflection is received by the
mirror of the same height, h, as for cooker described in collecting surface; the fractional enhancement is given by
Section 2.2.3, has been kept and a north facing mirror is  p
F RN2 ¼ R sin 2a þ y þ b  (20b)
also fixed at an angle a ¼ p=2  ymax , so that, even in the 2
extreme winter, the shadow of this mirror does not fall on with
the collecting surface. The length of the north facing
mirror, L2 , is kept such that the upper end of the mirror sinð2a þ y þ b  p=2Þ
L02 ¼ L1 . (21)
and the box are at the same height. This has been kept for cosðy þ aÞ
convenience of design and also to allow mirror to be useful To this new box, a new lid with a south facing mirror has
even in extreme summer. The length of this mirror is given been attached with the fixed south facing vertical mirror, so
by that when closed, it covers the upper end of the north
sin b facing mirror, and has the length
L2 ¼ L1 . (19) sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
sin a  
2 2 sin b 2
The fractional enhancement in radiation collected by the L3 ¼ h þ L1 cos b þ . (22)
collecting surface, due to reflection by this north facing tan a
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534 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

Here h is the height of south facing vertical fixed mirror, The F RS and F RN are the lower values of the two values
given by Eq. (17) with y ¼ ymax for the extreme winter. F RS1 , F RS2 and F RN1 , F RN2 , respectively.
Due to this south facing mirror, which is attached to the Normalized with respect to the flat horizontal surface,
lid, the fractional enhancement in radiation received by the the collection coefficients for all designs discussed above
collecting surface of the cooker is calculated for two cases. can be written as
Firstly, when the reflected radiation covers only a part of
L1
the length of collecting surface, we have F T_norm ¼ F T . (28)
  L
L3
F RS1 ¼ R sinðf  a1 Þ. (23)
L1 2.4. Comparison of cooker designs
Secondly, when reflected radiation from only a part of the
mirror, In Fig. 3, curves 1–5 correspond to cooker designs
considered in Section 2. The calculations have been done
sinð2a1 þ ymax  yÞ for cookers kept at f ¼ fcan (the tropic of Cancer, which is
L03 ¼ L4 (24)
sinðy  a1 Þ situated typically near cities like Ahmadabad in India). For
designs discussed in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, the tilt angle of
is received by the collecting surface, where L4 is the length the glazed surface, b, has been fixed to be equal to fcan .
shown by dotted line in Fig. 2 and is given by Further, in these calculations, lids of the cookers are fully
cos b tracked round the year.
L4 ¼ L1 . (25) The collection coefficients are calculated at the mid day
sin ymax
position, when the sun is in the north–south plane and are
The fractional contribution in collection coefficient, due to normalized with respect to a similar glazed surface kept
the lid mirror is given by horizontally. The reflectivity of mirrors, R, is assumed to be
  88%. As is clear from Fig. 3, collection coefficient of the
L0 L3
F RS2 ¼ R 3 sinðy  a1 Þ, (26a) conventional cooker, shown in Fig. 1(a), is about 1.33 in
L3 L1
winter and about 1.45 in summer. Therefore, the main
which can be rewritten as drawback of the conventional cooker is that it gives lower
collection coefficient in winter, when the ambient is also at a
sinð2a1 þ ymax  yÞ cos b lower temperature. The collection coefficient of the cooker,
F RS2 ¼ R . (26b)
sin ymax shown in Fig. 1(b), with inclined glazed surface with south
The net collection coefficient of this cooker is then given by facing booster, improves the collection coefficient in
summer. Compared to these, the cooker with north facing
F T ¼ F D þ F Rh þ F RS þ F RN . (27) booster mirror, shown in Fig. 1(c), gives better results in

2.05
2.00
1.95 Cooker design 5 (Fig 2)
1.90 Cooker design 4 (Fig 1(d))
Cooker design 3 (Fig 1(c))
Normalized collection coefficient

1.85
Cooker design 2 (Fig 1(b))
1.80 Cooker design 1 (Fig 1(a))
1.75
1.70
1.65
1.60
1.55
1.50
1.45
1.40
1.35
1.30
Dec 15 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15 Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 15 Sep 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15
month

Fig. 3. Normalized collection coefficients for solar cooker designs, discussed in Section 2, at noon position under lid mirror tracking condition. For these
calculation, f ¼ 23:45 b ¼ 23:45 and R ¼ 88% have been taken. The fixed north facing mirror of Fig. 2 is placed at 43:1 .
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544
winter, but is poorer for use in summer. The cooker of
Fig. 1(d) overcomes these deficiencies and combines the
benefits of the north and south facing mirrors. However, the
best results are obtained for design shown in Fig. 2, which
gives a large collection coefficient in winter and some what
lower value in the summer. However, in summer, due to
higher ambient temperatures even this much collection
should suffice for cooking purpose.
Though the solar intensity is continuously varying
throughout the day, to understand the relative importance
of the two designs; conventional box type solar cooker
(Fig. 1(a)) and new improved solar cooker (Fig. 2), their
performance is compared by assuming a steady state
condition corresponding to the noon position of the sun,
for which the energy balance equation is given by
F T ½ðtaÞe I ¼ U L ðT  T A Þ.
The steady state cooker temperature for this case is, given
by
F T ½ðtaÞe I
T¼ þ T A,
UL
where T A is ambient temperature, U L is overall heat loss
coefficient under one node assumption, ðtaÞe is effective
absorptance transmittance product for absorbing surface of
the cooker and I denotes the intensity of incident radiation
on a flat surface perpendicular to the direction of insolation.
By assuming I ¼ 800 W=m2 , U L ¼ 8 W=m2 K and ðtaÞe ¼
61:44% the attainable temperatures are shown for conven-
tional box type cooker and new improved cooker in Fig. 4,
under fully tracked condition. It is worth a mention here, that
160
150
140
130
120
temperature (°C)
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Dec 15 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15 Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 15 Sep 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15
Fig. 4. Calculated plate temperatures at noon under steady state assumption for fully tracked new cooker (Fig. 2) and conventional box type cooker are
shown. For these calculations, I ¼ 800 W=m2 , U L ¼ 8 W=m2 K and ðtaÞe ¼ 61:44% have been assumed. Other parameters are similar to those given in
Fig. 3.
535
these results are calculated for a steady state at mid day
insolation. Such a steady state is usually possible only in
summer when the radiations are sufficiently intense and the
day is sufficiently long. In winter, the actual attainable
temperatures will be lower than those shown in the figure,
because of the shorter duration of the day during which the
steady state may not be actually attained. Therefore, these
results should be taken only as indicators of the trend and
more exact evaluations of the transients become necessary for
prediction of the actual performance throughout the day [22].
In the improved design, the glazed surface angle, b, has
been kept at fcan , which corresponds to the central part of
India. However, cookers so designed should work even
when they are moved to other latitudinal positions.
Therefore, variations in the collection coefficient by
moving the cookers up and down in its latitudinal position
(29) by 5 from the tropic of Cancer have been studied and are
shown in Fig. 5. For increasing latitudinal angle, an overall
improvement in the performance of cooker is found. The
experimental work reported in Section 4 has been
performed at our laboratory in Jodhpur (India), which is
(30) situated at latitude of 26:3 , which is nearly 3 above fcan .
Response of the cooker designed with b ¼ fcan , as placed
at the latitudinal position of Jodhpur is also shown in the
figure. A theoretical improvement in the performance
during summer is established. However, when one goes
down in latitudinal position, losses occur and it is
recommend that for such cases, cooker be designed by
keeping the angle of glazed surface, b, equal to the actual
latitudinal angle or the cooker designed by keeping b ¼
fcan be tilted northward, as a whole, by an angle equal to
the difference in latitudinal position and fcan .
Cooker design 5 (Fig 2)
Cooker design 1 (Fig 1(a))
Typical ambient temperature
month
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536 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

2.05

2.00

1.95

1.90

1.85

1.80 Improved cooker at

latitude 23.45 degree
Collection coefficient

1.75 latitude 23.45 + 5 degree

latitude 23.45 - 5 degree
1.70 latitude 26.3 degree (Jodhpur)

1.65 Conventional cooker at

latitude 23.45 degree
1.60 latitude 23.45 + 5 degree
latitude 23.45 - 5 degree
1.55 latitude 26.3 degree (Jodhpur)

1.50

1.45

1.40

1.35

1.30

1.25
Dec 15 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15 Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 15 Sep 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15
Months

Fig. 5. Effect of variation in latitudinal position by 5 from f ¼ fcan on improved solar cooker designed with b ¼ fcan and on conventional box type
solar cooker. Predicted performances at Jodhpur (f ¼ 26:3 ) are also shown.

3. Calculations with respect to east–west plane
The design considerations discussed in Section 2 are
based on the calculations for mid day solar insolation,
when the sun is in the north–south plane. For
optimum collection throughout the day east–west tracking
is also required. In conventional design, it is done by
hourly movement of the cooker from east to west as the
sun changes its position. This is a difficult proposition and
user, in practice, is not in a position to follow such an
hourly tracking. As an alternative option, side mirrors
have been proposed by some workers [4,5,7,10], which
seems to be a better option for practical operation of the
device. Movement of the cooker especially, when it is
loaded, is not convenient and should be avoided. With
this objective in view, two side mirrors to the improved
design are attached; so that it becomes a complete box type
design and when closed become leak proof for heat
losses. The height of side mirrors at the south facing end
is equal to the height of the vertical south facing fixed
booster mirror, whereas at the north facing end it is
equal to that of north facing fixed booster mirror.
Combinations of these side mirrors are to be kept such
that the collection becomes optimum, throughout the day,
when hour angle, o, changes from p=2 to p=2. To
determine these, the following combination of the side
mirrors are considered. For simplicity the declination of
the sun is assumed to be zero.
The combination of side booster mirrors as shown in
Fig. 6(a); corresponds to a horizontal collecting surface
with a vertical side mirror and an inclined side mirror at an
angle g with respect to the horizontal. Under this type of
combination, three different reflections will be received by
the collecting surface and hence three different collection
coefficients have been analytically calculated:
(i) Contribution of vertical wing mirror: As sun goes
upwards from hour angle joj equal to 90 in the
morning to 0 in the noon, contribution in energy by
the side vertical mirror comes from the length,
W
L05 ¼ , (31)
tan joj
and the fractional enhancement in radiation collected
by this length of vertical mirror is given by
 0
L
F RSide 1 ¼ R 5 sin joj. (32)
W
This partial contribution of vertical side mirror length
continues up to o ¼ tan1 ðW =L5 Þ and after that as o
reduces further, full length of side vertical mirror will
be in use.
(ii) Contribution of tilted wing mirror: The inclined side
mirror reflects to the collecting area, when the hour
angle joj has value lower than ðp=2  gÞ. Reflections
from it will either be collected directly by the cooker
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Fig. 6. Schematic diagram showing positions of booster wing mirrors: (a) shows direct reflections from vertical and tilted side booster mirror to the
collecting surface, whereas (b) shows re-reflections, due to the combined effect of side mirrors.

surface or through re-reflection from vertical side re-reflection is given by

mirror as described below.  00 0 
2 L5 L6
The collection coefficient of tilted side mirror is F RSide 3 ¼ R cosðg þ jojÞ. (38)
WL6
given by
  Here L06 is a part of the length L6 , from where
L5 reflections are collected by the collecting surface of the
F RSide 2 ¼ R cosðg þ jojÞ. (33)
W cooker and is given by
This equation is valid till the hour angle joj is L06 ¼ W tanð2g þ joj  p=2Þ. (39)
greater than jo0 j, obtained by the following 0
Thus, when joj becomes less than jo j, radiations will
equation:
be reflected twice before being collected at the surface
L5 sinð2g þ jo0 j  p=2Þ of the cooker; the radiation will be first reflected from
¼ , (34) tilted side mirror and then from vertical side mirror.
W cosðg þ jo0 jÞ
This combination of side booster mirrors will be
at this position, reflections from full length of side
effective till joj4ðp=2  2gÞ. When joj becomes equal
tilted mirror cover the glazed collecting surface.
to or less than ðp=2  2gÞ, the re-reflected energy will
Thus, tilted side mirror contribute completely in
not be received by the cooker surface.
radiation enhancement, when jo0 jojojoðp=2  gÞ.
For the values of hour angle joj less than jo0 j, the
length of side tilted mirror for radiation enhance- The net enhancement in collection by these side mirrors
ment reduces to is given by

sinð2g þ joj  p=2Þ F T_RSide ¼ F RSide 1 þ F RSide 2 þ F RSide 3 . (40)

L05 ¼ W
cosðg þ jojÞ
and the collection coefficient becomes
 0
L
F RSide 2 ¼ R 5 cosðg þ jojÞ.
W and therefore an east facing vertical side mirror with a
(iii) Combined effect of side mirrors: The reflection by the
remaining part of tilted side mirror, L005 ¼ L5  L05 , will
be received by the vertical side mirror, as shown in
Fig. 6(b). These reflections on the side vertical mirror
will cover the length of mirror given by
L6 ¼ L5 sin g  ðW þ L5 cos gÞ tanð2g þ joj  p=2Þ.
(37)
The length L6 increases from zero to full length of
vertical mirror L5 as o moves towards noon. The
reflected radiation received by this length will again
re-reflect. Therefore, enhancement in collection by
(35)
Hence, the side vertical mirror will be in effective mode
upto noon position while the tilted side mirror and their
combination will contribute during ðp=2  2gÞojojo
(36) ðp=2  gÞ. The sun before noon lies in eastward direction
tilted west facing side mirror at the inclination g is required
and in afternoon position of sun, the east and west facing
mirror positions will be interchanged to give the same
effect.
The above calculations cannot be used rigorously for
the calculation of increase in the collection coefficient;
as for this purpose declination of the sun, the actual
duration of the day and trapezoidal shape of the mirrors
will have to be taken in to account. However, these
calculations help us in determining the angles at which the
side mirrors can be placed for their optimal use. Thus,
if one assumes the solar noon at 12:00 am and choose
to track the mirrors, instead of the hourly movement
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of the cooker as a whole as required in the conventional (b) When the mirror positions are chosen to be
cooker, the following angle positions of side mirrors can be 8 
chosen: <0
> for 6: 00 am to 7: 30 am;
 
g2 ¼ 90 and g1 ¼ 22:5 for 7: 30 am to 9: 00 am;
>
: 45
(a) When the mirror positions are chosen to be for 9: 00 am to 12: 00 am;
 

0 for 6: 00 am to 9: 00 am; where subscripts 1 and 2 are for mirrors placed in east
g2 ¼ 90 and g1 ¼
45 for 9: 00 am to 12: 00 am: and west side, respectively, and are interchanged in the

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35
I
Collection coefficient

0.30

0.25
Net collection factor, due to side booster mirrors
Due to vertical east facing booster mirror
0.20 Due to titled west facing booster mirror only
Due to re-reflection by vertical east facing
mirror of that by west facing booster mirrror
0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00
Time

0.60

0.55

0.50

0.45

0.40
I II
Collection coefficient

0.35

0.30

0.25 Net collection factor, due to side booster mirrors

Due to vertical east facing booster mirror
0.20 Due to titled west facing booster mirror only
Due to re-reflections by vertical east facing mirror
of that by west faing booster mirror
0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00
Time

Fig. 7. Effect of side booster mirrors in enhancing the energy collection is shown in (a) for combination of wing mirror positions as shown in inset I, while
(b) for combination of wing mirror positions as shown in inset I upto 9:00 am and then as shown in inset II.
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afternoon. The above mentioned timings will have to 4. Experimental results

be corrected for difference in the local time and
standard time.
Fig. 7(a and b) shows the fractional energy enhancement
by the side mirrors for tilt angles of combinations (a) and
(b) described above. To reduce, the frequency of tracking;
the early morning and late evening positions in the above
combination are not of practical interest and can be
avoided.
For a comparative study, solar cookers of the improved
design, discussed above and of the conventional type have
been fabricated. Photographs of these are shown in Fig. 8.
The bases of both the cookers are designed to have same
lengths and widths equal to 20 in each. Height of
conventional cooker box is 6 in, whereas of improved
design cooker varies from 6 in in front and 15 in at the
back. The glazed surface of the improved cooker has been
kept at an angle b ¼ fcan . Black painted aluminum sheet

Fig. 8. Proposed improved solar cooker and conventional solar cooker of the same base dimensions installed at Jodhpur, India (73 010 E, 26 180 N).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
540 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

Fig. 8. (Continued)

has been used as absorbing surface. The insulation is
provided by 1 in thick glass wool. Further 4 mm thick
glasses have been used for doubly glazed radiation
collecting surface. In conventional solar cooker, the top
opening has been provided by lifting up the glazed surface
whereas in case of improved solar cooker, a 600  1600
double walled door has been provided at its back. The lid
of both the cookers as well as side booster mirrors of the
improved solar cooker have been attached through hinges.
Positions of the lid of improved cooker can be adjusted
with the help of a piano-hinge arrangement whose other
end has been fixed on a virtual wall as shown in Fig. 8(b).
For temperature measurement Pt-100 sensors have been
used.
All the experiments have been performed on Indian
standard time (IST) scale at Jodhpur (India). The local
apparent time of Jodhpur (73 010 E, 26 180 N) can be
calculated by using expressions given by Duffie and
Beckman [23] and time correction for a particular set of
observations has been given in figure caption.
Fig. 9 shows the experimental results of the improved
cooker, discussed above and of conventional solar cooker, in
no load condition. In agreement with the theoretical
predictions, one finds that the new design is much improved.
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U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544 541

160

150

140

130

120

110
Temperature (°C)

01 April 2005
100 Jodhpur, India. (φ = 26.3°)

90
Improved cooker
80 Conventional cooker
Ambient temperature
70

60

50

40

30

10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00
Time

Fig. 9. Experimental comparison of thermal performance of improved solar cooker with conventional box type solar cooker under no load condition. The
hourly tracking of box type cooker has not been done, while for the new design combination (b) for side mirrors as discussed in Section 3 has been used.
Observations have been taken on Indian standard time (IST) scale and the local apparent time legs behind the IST by 33 min.

160

150

140

130

120

110
Temperature (°C)

100
Date: May 12, 2005 with 500ml load
90 Conventional cooker
Improved cooker
80 Ambient temperature

Date: May 11, 2005 without load

70 Conventional cooker
Improved cooker
60 Ambient temperature

50

40

30
09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00
Time

Fig. 10. Thermal performances of conventional cooker and improved cooker under passive load of 500 ml engine oil and without load are compared. The
hourly tracking of box type cooker has not been done, while combination (b) for side mirrors as discussed in Section 3 has been used for proposed design.
The local apparent time legs behind the IST by 41 min.
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542 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544

Also, temperature above 100  C can be obtained from this and 11. In Fig. 10, the results correspond to both the cookers
improved design, even in the late evening. The effect of being loaded with 500 ml of engine oil throughout the day,
thermal load on these cookers has also been studied in Figs. 10 whereas in Fig. 11, a load of 1000 ml has been provided. For

160

150

140

130

120

110
Temperature (°C)

100

Date: May 13, 2005 with 1000ml load

90
Conventional cooker
Improved cooker
80 Ambient temperature

70 Date: May 11, 2005 without load

Conventional cooker
Improved cooker
60 Ambient temperature

50

40

30
09:00 09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00
Time

Fig. 11. Thermal performance comparison of conventional cooker and new solar cooker under passive load of 1000 ml engine oil and without load. Other
conditions are same as given in Fig. 10.

170

160

150

140

130

120
Temperature (°C)

110

100
Date: April 13, 2005
90 Improved cooker
Conventional cooker
80 Ambient temperature

70

60

50

40

30
10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00
Time

Fig. 12. Effect of active load of 1000 ml on improved cooker and conventional box type cooker for 1 h loading from 11:00 am to 12:00 noon and again
from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Other conditions are as described in Fig. 11. The local apparent time legs behind the IST by 37 min.
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U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544 543

higher thermal load, the performance of new design is during the day, the response curve becomes quite flat which is
substantially improved and the plate temperature above an indication of good performance. The above two loads are
100  C can be retained even beyond 17:00 hours (IST). Also passive, ones kept once throughout the day. The responses of

170

160

150

140
Maximum attained plate temperature (°C)

130

120

110

100
Improved cooker
90 Conventional cooker
Ambient temperature
80

70

60

50

40

30

20
Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15
Date

Fig. 13. Seasonal variation of maximum attained plate temperature of conventional box type solar cooker and of the new improved cooker without load
condition.

140

130

120

110

100
Temperature (°C)

Date: June 02 to 04, 2005

90 Imrpoved cooker with side mirrors at positions:

(b) of section 3 on June 02, 2005
(a) of section 3 on June 03, 2005
80
No side mirrors on June 04, 2005

70 Ambient temperature on June 02, 2005

Ambient temperature on June 03, 2005
Ambient temperature on June 04, 2005
60

50

40

30
09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30
Time

Fig. 14. Effect of side booster mirrors in improving the performance of proposed solar cooker (Fig. 8(b)) without load for combination (a) and (b) as
described in Section 3 and when no side boosters are used. The local apparent time during the measurements legs behind the IST by 40 min.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
544 U.S. Mirdha, S.R. Dhariwal / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 530–544
cookers to active loads have also been shown in Fig. 12. Both
the cookers were provided with a load of 1000 ml engine oil.
For the first time, the load was put at 11:00 am and
withdrawn at 12:00 am and again for the second time, put at
3:00 pm and withdrawn at 4:00 pm. The loading shows a
transient dip in plate temperature as should be expected due to
heat extraction by the load. However, while the conventional
cooker does not recover from the loss of heat during the
second loading, the present cooker has recovered fairly well.
This clearly shows that while the conventional cooker is
suitable only for cooking in the early part of the day and
therefore useful for a single cooking, the improved cooker can
be used to cook meals twice in a day. Further, since the plate
temperature remains fairly high even after second loading, by
keeping suitable storage materials in this cooker, it would be
possible to keep higher temperature in late evening.
The above results are for response of cookers on
particular days. Seasonal variations in the response of
cookers are shown in Fig. 13 in terms of maximum attained
plate temperature. Trends are similar to those predicted
theoretically in Section 2.4. However, the exact compar-
isons cannot be made as the theoretical results are based on
the steady state, whereas the experimental results corre-
spond to maxima of the daily variations arising due to
transients in solar intensity and ambient temperature.
The above results are for the improved cooker with side
booster mirrors discussed in Section 3. To study as to how
effective these side mirrors have been, experiments on the
new cooker with combinations of side mirrors discussed in
Section 3; (a) and (b) and with no side mirrors have also
been done. Fig. 14 shows plate temperatures of improved
design under these different side mirrors combinations as
discussed and verifies the theoretical predictions.
5. Conclusion
Various possible designs of solar cookers to optimize
their thermal performances with respect to north and south
facing booster mirrors have been analyzed theoretically.
Based on these calculations, an improved design was
finalized and a solar cooker of this design was fabricated.
For comparison, a conventional box type solar cooker of
exactly the same material and dimensions was also
fabricated. Comparison of experimental results, show
clearly that the proposed new cooker can provide higher
temperature throughout the day and round the year. It can
be used successfully for preparation of two meals in a day
and can be used to keep the food warm in late evening.
Further the design allows the cooker to be installed in a
south facing window and can be operated from a rear
opening from inside the kitchen. Thus, a more efficient and
user friendly solar cooker has been developed successfully.
Acknowledgment
U.S. Mirdha is thankful to the CSIR, New Delhi, India for
granting a fellowship. The authors are grateful to Dr. N.M.
Nahar, Dr. P.C. Pande and Dr. P.B.L. Chaurasia of CAZRI,
Jodhpur for useful discussions. Abhishek Mirdha, Jasa Ram
and Manu Smrity are also acknowledged with thanks.
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