A new design for a solar cooking system could help rural communities prepare food more sustainably, a new study reports. The materials used in this system must be easily accessible for people in places where there are few options besides burning wood or coal.

Nigerian engineers have developed an improved solar cooking system designed to replace cooking over charcoal, wood or other fires, a new study reports. Frontiers of energy research. There are still many parts of the world where people cook directly over such fires, harming the environment as well as the health of the local community. This new approach combines two designs of conventional solar ovens and aims to provide a cleaner and healthier alternative.

“Cooking by burning firewood and other non-environmental and non-ecological fuels is still prevalent in most developing countries, especially among people living in rural areas and some urban cities,” said the President. lead author, Dr. Clement A. Komolafe, Landmark University.

“In order to discourage the use of hazardous fuels for cooking, we thought of combining the types of solar boxes and dishes to produce a new solar cooking system using locally sourced materials.”

A combination of two models

There are two main layouts for conventional solar cookers. The first is a box (often made of glass or a transparent material) that retains heat from the sun’s rays. The second is a parabolic or spherical structure that reflects and concentrates sunlight to intensify heat.

This latest cooker combines both approaches to capture even more heat. The first tests showed that the cooker obtained a heating power (wattage) of up to 58.2 W, which was enough to boil water, as well as to cook rice and plantains. This performance compares well to current trends in solar cooking technologies.

Design features also include being easy to use for one person and simple to assemble. Also, no special training would be required to use the device.

Locally sourced parts and materials

The team used easily accessible materials such as aluminum sheets, iron, steel pipes, plywood and reflective glass to build the device. The team also compared two heat storage materials that would be easy to access: black coated gravel (granite) and used motor oil. A tracking device provided the electronics needed to measure temperature and humidity for the study.

“Next steps include design changes to further reduce the rate of heat loss through the cookbox wall for better efficiency,” Komolafe said. “For rapid redistribution of this new device design to rural communities, we invite interested individuals, businesses and parastatals to sponsor or partner with the project.”