PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SOLAR OVEN USING KAPOK WOOL AS INSULATION MATERIAL
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Date
2020-12
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Abstract
Solar ovens are among common devices which utilize insulation materials
because of their ability to retards heat transfer by acting as barriers in the
path of heat flow. Previous solar box cookers have used cotton, saw dust, and
fibre-glass as insulation materials but none has used Kapok wool despite its
potential. This study is aimed at the performance evaluation of solar oven
using Kapok wool as the insulation material. The solar box oven designed is of
the size 59 x 56 x 36cm dimensions made of plywood, with an aperture area
of 3304cm2 double glass cover and an oven’s floor area of 1225cm2 made of
aluminum. Kapok wool was used to line the oven’s walls and floor serving as
insulator. The solar box oven was tested at the University of Maiduguri, Borno
State, Nigeria. It was tested without load to determine its stagnation
temperature and to check its endurance under stagnation conditions. Similarly,
a water boiling test was conducted to cook rice and beans. The results show
that maximum stagnation temperature was 165.1°C and maximum overall
daily thermal efficiency of 19.44% was achieved on a clear day test without
reflector. The field test of the solar oven demonstrated its ability to cook rice
and beans well with 1 kg of rice cooked under 2 hours, while 1 kg of beans
was cooked under 1 hour 45 minutes on the same day. This performance
demonstrated the suitability of Kapok wool as insulation material for solar
ovens.