Verification of the performance of parabolic concentrating solar cooker on some food stuffs cooked in bauchi — North East, Nigeria

A parabolic solar cooker was designed to cook four different types of common food stuffs (White rice, Parboiled rice, Beans and Yam), characterized the food items and to reduce continuous reliance on conventional source of energy for cooking. The test performance of the solar cooker was carried outin Bauchi, North-East, Nigeria to ascertain the level of its performance when it was place under the sun and positioned and position in the east-west orientation at a slope of 10.3°. The research revealed that 1 kg of white rice was completely cooked in 1 hour 15 minutes at an average beam radiation of 623W/m² after attaining maximum temperature of 368K under clear weather condition. Parboiled rice of 1 kg was completely cooked in 1 hour 15minutes at the same average beam radiation of 623W/m² after attaining maximum temperature of 367K. Beans of 1 kg was cooked at an average beam radiation of 536.5W/m² in 1 hour 30minutes at an average wind speed of 0.5m/s, and Yam of 1.1kg was cooked in just 1 hour 30 minutes at very low beam radiation of 430.1 W/m². The highest temperature reached for this test was 364K. It was established that this type of parabolic solar cooker can comfortably cooked these varieties of our local dishes within the range of 1 hour to 1 hour 30minutes under clear weather condition in the Bauchi, north-east of Nigeria. In view of the significance of this research and looking at the cost of energy in the developing nations, the researchers are convince that the parabolic solar cooker is an answer to the perennial energy needs facing the poor and will also go a long way in reducing the cost of energy particularly amongst local and urban dwellers in Nigeria.