Performance of the Dual Tank System While Charging.

Abstract

The performance of a dual tank system that consists of a charging unit integrated with a cooking unit and a thermal energy storage(TES) tank suitable for solar cooking applications has been tested and analyzed. The experimental set-up consisted of a charging unit(tank), a cooking unit, connecting pipes, a data acquisition unit and a manual control valve. The charging unit was filled with 10litres of AXCL Thermic oil while the TES tank was filled with 100litres of AXCL oil and heat transfer is such that hot oil flowed by gravity from the top of the heating element (which is placed in the charging unit) to the bottom of the cooking unit which is in contact with the oil and further expanding to the upper connecting pipe which lead it to the TES tank and back to the charging unit through the lower connecting pipe. Cooking experiments were carried out for known quantities of water and dry beans .The system was able to boil 0.5Kg of dry beans on a cloudy day until they were ready for simmering and this took 2hours and 21minutes. Energy used to cook these dry beans was estimated to be 0.9KWh which is very achievable on sunny days with a clear sky. The experimental results show that cooking while charging does not affect the charging. The volume of oil in the charging unit can be adjusted accordingly using the manual valve to raise or lower the floater in the Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank so as to attain the required temperatures for cooking considering the weather as well as the irradiance for a particular day.