Solar Stove Research Articles

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ADOPTION OF HYBRID SOLAR-POWERED STOVES: PRODUCT QUALITY, PRICING AND BRAND PERCEPTION IN UGANDA

This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of Hybrid Solar-Powered Stoves (HSPS) in Uganda, with a focus on product quality, pricing strategies, and brand awareness. Using a correlational and cross-sectional design, the research analyzes data from 196 respondents, including employees and customers of Eco Stove and Wuja Stove companies in Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono districts. The study finds that all three variables significantly impact the adoption of HSPS, with product quality emerging as the most influential factor (r = 0.644, p < 0.01), followed by pricing strategies (r = 0.625, p < 0.01) and brand awareness (r = 0.613, p < 0.01). Regression analysis further reveals that these factors collectively explain 59.1% of the variance in adoption, with product quality as the strongest predictor (Beta = 0.543). The study highlights that while brand awareness plays a role, its effect is secondary to the critical importance of product quality and pricing strategies in driving adoption. These findings suggest that companies in Uganda's hybrid solar stove market must prioritize product improvement, competitive pricing, and effective marketing to accelerate market penetration. The study contributes valuable insights for enhancing renewable energy solutions in Uganda, offering a roadmap for overcoming barriers to adoption and promoting sustainable energy practices. Future research could explore broader market dynamics and employ mixed methods approaches to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour. ------- KEY WORDS: Product Quality, Pricing Strategies, Product Adoption

Characterization of a parabolic solar cooker made from recycled materials

Currently, in some communities, firewood is still used to cook or conserve heat; this action generates great problems for health and the environment, one of them is the great risk of fires and/or asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation, another is the deforestation that is carried out to obtain firewood and, finally, the generation of methane, ozone precursors and carbon dioxide when burning any of these. This work proposes the use of a parabolic solar stove, made from recycled materials, such as cardboard, self-adhesive contact paper as reflective material, Masking tape®, which allows reducing manufacturing costs, helping low-income families and being environmentally friendly. The results obtained with respect to the time required for cooking various foods, the temperatures reached throughout the process, as well as information on meteorological variables obtained from the IQUERETA29 meteorological station located at the Technological University of San Juan del Río and administered by the Querétaro State Water Commission are shown.

Studi Ekperimental Penambahan Reflektor Datar Pada Kompor Tenaga Surya Tipe Parabolic

Community needs to meet electrical energy are increasing. This increasing need has not been matched by the supply of energy. Currently, the main supply of energy comes from non-renewable fossils. To maintain energy reselliance, it is necessary to find alternative energy sources, one of which comes from solar energy. In this research, a parabolic solar cooker was made using autodesk and then tested the prototype solar cooker without additional mirrors, one additional mirror, and two mirrors. At the end of the study an analysis was carried out. The energy efficiency results obtained on a parabolic type solar stove without the addition of a flat mirror is 3.19% with an average stove power of 22.33 watts. The energy efficiency obtained on a parabolic type solar stove with the addition of two flat mirrors is 4.87% with an average stove power of 26.01 watts.

Pengaruh Material Reflektor Terhadap Kinerja Kompor Energi Surya

The use of solar energy in Indonesia is the right choice as an alternative energy for energy needs in industry or to meet daily energy needs in households. To utilize solar energy for cooking purposes, a solar cooker can be used. Factors that affect the performance of this solar cooker in addition to the length of time it shines and the intensity of thermal radiation from the sun are the reflexivity of the collector material, the surface area of ​​the collector, the geometric shape and location of the focal point of the collector, the normal direction of the collector surface to the incoming sunlight, and the amount of heat loss to the surroundings. The materials used as reflectors in the research on this solar cooker are zinc (aluminum and galvanized) AL-Zn and black paint back ground mirror glass. This material is re-glued on top of a ready-made parabolic dish from the market. Then look for the focal point that corresponds to the diameter of the parabola. From the results of the study, it can be concluded that the back ground mirror glass material with black paint is better to use than the AL-Zn zinc plate if it is used as a raw material for the surface material (reflector) of solar cooker. Likewise, the efficiency of the solar oven in terms of the amount of heat that is converted into energy for heating the pot is better for a solar oven than a reflector with black paint back ground mirror glass material. And the efficiency of the solar cooker from the black paint back ground mirror on the first day is 16.4% to 25.7% on the second day, while the efficiency of the solar cooker from the AL-Zn zinc plate on the first day is 16.4% to second day 22.8%. The emissivity of the solar stove with AL-Zn zinc plate reflector on the first day was 0.02906 and on the second day 0.02892, while the emissivity of the solar cooker with black paint back ground mirror reflector on the first day was 0.01812 and the second day was 0 0.02544.

Technical design, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions of solar Injera baking stoves

This paper presents the technical design, market penetration, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions of three types of stoves for baking Injera, which is a traditional flat bread and staple food in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The investigated stoves are an improved biomass (Mirt), an electric, and a solar stove. As solar stove, a steam based concentrating high temperature device suitable for indoor cooking, was selected for economic evaluations. Since it is not available on the market yet, material prices and labor costs are considered.After a review of traditional and high temperature solar stoves, a thorough cost analysis is presented. Various economic parameters are quantified, like the discounted payback period for the replacement of a traditional stove by a solar stove.The analysis yields that the levelized cost of useful heat for baking (LCoEuseful) with the Mirt stove is almost 2.5 times as high, and for baking with an electric stove (with domestic electricity prices) it is about 1.1 times as high as baking with the selected solar stove. This is because of fuel costs and very different efficiencies of the stoves.The saving potential of the annual CO2 emissions for substituting all the Mirt and open fire Injera stoves in Ethiopia for solar devices yields about 32.74 million tons. The equivalent CO2 emission reduction from these replacements corresponds to about 22% of the 2010 total CO2e emissions in Ethiopia.

Design development and thermal performance assessment of latent heat storage of a solar stove unit involving NEPCM

In current article, various sizes of copper oxide nano-powders on solidification phenomena through a tank with one sinusoidal adiabatic wall have been investigated. The shape of cold wall was circular and inside the tank filled with water. For enhancing the conduction mode, nanoparticles were dispersed in the PCM. FEM was utilized for simulation in which the region near the solid front has finer grid to capture the temperature gradient easier. The amplitude of adiabatic wall has been considered as another variable in simulations. Outcomes in view of isotherms and profiles were established. With growth of dp from 30 to 40 nm, the solidification time changes from 576.23 to 459.16 s. In addition, augmenting dp from 40 to 50 nm makes the required time to rise about 49.24%. As amplitude of adiabatic wall augments, the required time augments about 22.45%

A mathematical model for solar cookstoves: the relation between thermal and optical parameters

The article presents a mathematical model that relates the thermal properties of a concentration solar cooker with some optical properties of several of the materials used in its elaboration. Solar cookers are studied from the point of view of its functionality through their thermal performance, in terms of calculating the standard cooking power and thermal efficiency with field tests. Some of the materials characteristics that are important to make concentrating solar stoves are: the reflectance of the surface of the concentrator, the transmittance of the cover and the absorbance of the surface of the food container. Through an analysis of heat transfer, it is built a model for calculating thermal parameters depending on the optical parameters. A comparison of the model is made by varying the absorbance and reflectance of the coating that covers the food container. The results of the model agree with those found experimentally.

STUDY OF THE POTENTIAL USE OF PARABOLA SOLAR TYPE STORES TESTED IN 500 GRAM WATER TO SUPPORT ENERGY RESILIENCE

Solar energy is a huge and infinite source of energy so that solar energy can support energy resilience. Parabolic solar cell reflectors use mirrors. The purpose of this research is to determine the thermal collector's power and thermal efficiency on solar stoves. This research methodology is by taking data with time parameters that have been determined according to environmental conditions. The subjects of this study were parabolic solar cookers with a diameter of 84 cm to 500 gram water. The results of the average stove power obtained by 141.71 Watt and the thermal efficiency of the stove by 5.45%. The power of the stove is affected by the difference in temperature of the water after it has been heated by the temperature of the water before it is heated. The greater the temperature of the water after heating it will increase the power of the stove. The greater the overall heat transfer Qm and the smaller the intensity of solar radiation on the reflector using a mirror, the greater the thermal efficiency.

Aprovechamiento de frutas y hortalizas de temporada de la Región de Tabasco, mediante la deshidratación del producto, utilizando una estufa solar

Drying has been the most widely used fruit preservation process for many years. Food dehydration is a process in which heat transfer and mass transfer take place. The main objective of this research is to share the results obtained in the process of dehydration of seasonal fruits and vegetables of the Tabasco region through a dynamic model using a solar stove, through a controllable indirect heating method, which stabilizes the temperature of dehydration, so that there are no alterations in color and flavor of the fruit. The results in the dehydration of seasonal fruits (mango and cambola) are presented in adequate and homogeneous proportions, distributing each piece in the solar stove, exposed to solar energy for three days. A description of the solar drying used, the instrumentation used and the experimental process that was carried out in each of the tests is briefly shown. Solar energy is used as a good source of heat supply for the dehydration of agricultural products and the use of the solar stove gives another alternative to the use of this renewable and sustainable energy, which is available in Tabasco for drying food products, with the purpose of preserving and giving added value to the fruits of this region

Assessment of thermal performance of PCM in latent heat storage system for different applications

This article demonstrates the feasibility of using a phase change material (PCM) in a solar stove for storing energy. The PCM is a material that is able of absorbing and liberating great amounts of energy upon solidification and melting due to its superior latent heat storage capability. In this study, small capsules, used as PCM storage units in the solar stove, were constructed from aluminum and tested for solar energy storage during shiny days. The capsules were placed in a receiver of a parabolic reflector to absorb heat from the reflected sunlight of the parabolic reflector, which was stored as latent heat in the PCM. Acetamide of commercial grade was used as the material for latent heat storage. The solar stove with the PCM storage units had been experimentally tested. The thermal performance was analyzed during idle condition of the fan and at three rates of air flow. The temperature of the PCM capsules decreased rapidly during the first few minutes as the temperature of cooking pan increased at the same rate, and then the two temperatures matched and decreased slowly. The rate of change was higher with increasing air flow rate. Energy effectiveness between the PCM tubes and air flow increased with increasing air flow rate. The results supply significant information to design a prototype of solar stove provided with a good thermal performance material utilized for storing thermal energy.

Review: A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War, by Daniel A. Barber

Daniel A. Barber A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, 352 pp., 136 illus. $39.95 (cloth), ISBN 9780199394012 The pages of Daniel A. Barber's A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War literally glisten. The volume's thick, glossy paper, of a type usually reserved for monographs on canonical figures like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, gives the subject of the postwar solar house a material presence befitting the historical attention it has long deserved but only recently begun to attract. The glare each page casts under overhead light makes the reader feel a bit like a family depicted in one of the book's many revealing archival photographs. A husband, wife, and little boy wear dark sunglasses as they pose for a publicity shot while picnicking on a neat lawn. All around them is the intense shininess produced by a parabolic solar stove kitted out to roast hot dogs and by an expansive solar collector forming the roof of their single-family house—in this case, the fourth experimental demonstration dwelling constructed in the 1950s by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of its Solar Energy Fund. In the photograph, the family gazes out at a bright, hot “possible future,” to use Barber's term, where the confluence of modern design, renewable energy systems, and the single-family house were seen to hold the twin promise of national energy security and new forms of domestic life. In A House in the Sun we look back at that past's future, but with the hindsight that the highly staged photograph stands as much for a vision unattained as it does for a critical, albeit largely forgotten, episode in the history of modern architecture. The historiography of solar power, such as it is, echoes the discontinuous trajectories of the personalities and technologies that constitute its primary subjects. Since the 1950s, when the engineer Maria Telkes led …

Fogão solar: ferramenta viável para cozimento de alimentos a partir de materiais de baixo custo

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1807-0221.2016v13n21p97Na busca do desenvolvimento de projetos voltados à utilização de energia limpa e renovável, a energia solar vem ganhando destaque nos últimos anos. Esta configura-se como uma fonte de energia abundante e inesgotável, uma vez que é proveniente de fenômenos naturais e possibilita a captação e conversão em outras formas de energia. Estudos relatam a importância e viabilidade da utilização de muitos equipamentos, dentre estes, o fogão solar para cocção de vários alimentos. Deste modo, o presente estudo objetivou apresentar uma ferramenta viável e barata para fins de cozimento de alimentos e fervura (desinfecção) da água, a construção de um fogão solar tipo caixa, contribuindo com as futuras operações do Projeto Rondon, as quais têm lugar em regiões com forte incidência de luz solar, norte e nordeste do Brasil. Durante o evento I Jornada de Pesquisa, Extensão e Cultura- I Mostra de Projetos, realizado nos dias 4 a 8 de maio de 2015 na Faculdade de Tecnologia de Jundiaí (FATEC- JD), pode-se compreender o princípio de funcionamento de um fogão solar construído pelos alunos do Curso de Tecnologia em Gestão Ambiental (GAM), sendo possível identificar sua eficiência e bom desempenho ao realizar o cozimento de alimentos. A partir da Mostra de Projetos pensou-se na viabilidade do seu uso em comunidades carentes, principalmente, as que utilizam fogão a lenha, e em regiões com grande potencial solar, caso do Nordeste, podendo ser substituído, parcialmente, para o cozimento de determinados alimentos como arroz, macarrão, além da fervura da água.

The Household Cooking Sector in Nigeria: Environmental and Economic Sustainability Assessment

This paper studies life cycle environmental impacts and costs of the household cooking sector in Nigeria from 2003 to 2030. Five scenarios are considered: business as usual, dominated by fuel wood stoves; low penetration of improved fuel wood and solar stoves, as planned by the government; high penetration of these stoves; increased use of fossil fuel stoves; and increased use of electric stoves. If business as usual (BAU) continues, the environmental impacts would increase by up to four times and costs by up to five times, mainly because of high fuel wood consumption. Implementing the government’s plan to introduce improved fuel wood and solar stoves would yield no environmental advantages, as the proposed number of stoves is too low. A higher number of the advanced stoves would lead to significant improvements in some impacts but would worsen others so that some trade-offs are needed. From the economic perspective, the scenario with a high use of advanced stoves has the lowest total costs but its capital costs are three times higher than for BAU. The government should prioritise the introduction of advanced stoves to reduce health impact from indoor pollution and reduce pressures on biomass resources; however, this may require subsidies. Fossil fuel and electric stoves would also help to preserve biomass and reduce health impacts from indoor pollution but would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and depletion of fossil resources.

English

The aims of these studies were to evaluate nutritive values of dried seablite (Suaeda maritima) and investigate its biological characteristics on health promotion, such as, antioxidant activities. Edible parts were collected, dried with solar stove, determined nutritive values, including proximal analysis of water content, crude protein, crude fat, dietary fiber, total ash content, carbohydrate, total calories, β-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin C, calcium, iron and sodium. The main of nutritive values and antioxidant activities of dried seablite were still remained, however, all of vitamin contents in dried seablite were vanished. In storage condition (sealed in plastic bag), nutritive value and antioxidant activities of dried seablite were remained after kept in 25°C for three months and not different when compared to former. In conclusion, dried seablite was still contained preferable nutritive values with antioxidant activities and non-toxic effect on Vero cell. Key words: Suaeda maritima, seablite, food processing, shelf-life.

Design and Development of Solar Thermal Injera Baking: Steam Based Direct Baking

Ethiopia, the second most populated country in Africa, meets 96% of its energy need from bio-mass and majority of this energy goes entirely to Injera baking. Injera, a pan-cake like bread that is consumed by most of the population, demands a temperature of 180-220 oC to be well baked. Both traditional and newly developed biomass Injera stoves are energy inefficient; besides the kitchen environment is highly polluted with soot and smoke that affect the health of household inhabitants. This article introduces new technology that enables Injera baking using indirect solar stove. A parabolic dish with an aperture area of 2.54 m2, a well-insulated stainless steel pipe of 10mm, a coiled stainless steel heat exchanger, a pressure relief valve and three gate valves were equipped in the system and K-type thermocouples were used to record the temperature. The heat transfer process has been governed by the principle of natural circulation boiling-condensation between receiver and stove. A preset pressure relief valve is used to control the self-circulating working heat transfer fluid (steam at a temperature of 250 oC). The system was developed and tested for steam based direct baking in the same fashion as the traditional Injera stove. In this experiment, heat transport without significant loss from the receiver for baking at some distance is demonstrated. The challenge with manual tracking and direct steam based baking model indicates the performance of the technology can be improved. It can also win more acceptances if it is equipped with auto trackers and heat storage mechanism. In conclusion, unlike previous efforts, the experiment demonstrated that a high temperature indirect baking of Injera is possible.

Rural household energy consumption and its implications for eco-environments in NW China: A case study

Rural household energy consumption plays an essential role in the daily life of farmers, especially in developing regions. In this paper, we present a study of household energy consumption in terms of energy sources and energy end uses, and analysis of technical and economic issues associated with the use of biomass and renewable energy and the replacement of fossil fuels. Results show that energy from biomass represents the largest share of total energy supply, and that 41.15% of total energy is consumed for home heating and cooking. The average cost of household energy is 1259 RMB ($US193.6) and this expense is no longer subsidized by the government. It takes less than one year to make a solar stove profitable and less than two years to pay back the household cost of biogas digesters. An 8 m3 digester can produce as much energy as 500–550 kg of standard coal or 940 kg of firewood, while a solar stove can generate 1.76 × 103 MJ heat each year. Moreover, it is estimated that in rural China the annual reduction of CO2 and SO2 emissions in 2020, due to the replacement of fossil fuel by biomass, will be 68.86 × 106 and 54.37 × 104 tons, respectively. Overall, the investigations and analyses have revealed that the structure of rural household energy consumption is undergoing a transformation from traditional low-efficiency biomass domination to integrated consumption of traditional and renewable energies. Renewable energy will significantly contribute to the sustainable development of rural households.

Modeling of solar tracking for giant Fresnel lens solar stoves

A fundamental modeling for the optical features and control algorithm has been developed for a solar stove heat collection system which uses a giant Fresnel lens. The modeling work helps to implement autonomous solar tracking in the system by controlling the Fresnel lens to maintain a stationary focal point on the heat-collecting surface of the solar stove. Two-axis solar tracking for the particular work was chosen. The update time interval during tracking causes misalignment of the lens’ optical axis versus the sunrays. From modeling, the defocus (due to the misalignment) and the change of the shape and location of the focal point on the static heat-collecting surface could be calculated. The results of the analysis have been incorporated into the control algorithm which has been implemented in the control system of a prototype solar stove which successfully demonstrated the predicted efficient solar tracking.

Mass Transfer Properties of Pears for Different Drying Methods

In the present work, the mass transfer properties of pears were determined for three different drying systems (a solar stove, a direct solar drier, and a drying tunnel), using three calculation methodologies. The results obtained allowed concluding that the best methodology to calculate the mass transfer properties is based on Fick's equation, including shrinkage. The values of the diffusion coefficients in the solar drier and drying tunnel were similar, whereas in the solar stove the diffusivity was lower, indicating that the internal moisture transfer was less efficient. Regarding the mass transfer coefficient, this was higher in the solar drier, demonstrating a better efficiency of surface mass transfer.

Variation of Textural Attributes of S. Bartolomeu Pears at Maturation, Storage, and Drying

In the present work, the pears were dried in two different systems, both having the sun as the energy source: a solar stove with ventilation (ESAV) and a solar drier with natural convection (ESTV). The objectives of this work were to evaluate how instrumental textural properties changed during maturation, storing, and drying, as well as to compare the two different drying methods. The results obtained allowed to see that drying affected the textural properties of pears in a way that hardness decreased very much during drying irrespective of the drying system used.

Comparative Study of the Drying of Pears Using Different Drying Systems

Different methods for the drying of pears, namely a solar stove, a solar dryer, and a tunnel dryer, were studied. All processes were conducted in three consecutive years to analyze if the behavior of each drying method showed evidence of a similar pattern, along with producing products similar to the traditional pears that are dried using direct sun exposure. The results showed that all methods led to a considerable reduction in drying time as compared to open-sun drying. Indeed, the drying time for the solar stove and the solar dryer showed a reduction of more than 40% while in the drying tunnel this reduction increased to more than 60%. In addition, it was also possible to conclude that the properties of the dried pears obtained by the three processes correspond to dried fruits similar to the traditional dried pears.