Evaluating Thermal Performance of Solar Cookers under Jordanian Climate

This study presented a short review on the solar cooker designs and applications. Two designs of cookers were tested. The first type has a painted black base and second has internal reflecting mirrors. These designs were examined under two modes of operations: at fixed position and on tracking system. The cooker at a fixed position had recorded thermal efficiencies ranging from 17 % to a sharp peak of 41.2% at the maximum solar intensity of the day around 11-12 am with an average overall efficiency around 27.6%. Whereas, cooker with internal reflecting mirrors installed on a sun tracking system gave higher water and pot temperatures, and thermal efficiency ranged from 25.3% to 53.1% with an average overall efficiency around 40.6 %. Cookers installed on sun tracking system had the advantage of maintaining a higher and closer range of thermal efficiencies through the daylight than the ones at fixed positions.