DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED TRACKER FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF ENERGY AVAILABILITY IN A SOLAR BOX OVEN

Abstract

The study focuses on the enhancement of the energy available in a solar box oven, by designing and testing an automated pendulum system to efficiently track the sun’s position during the course of the day; using locally available material. The pendulum mechanism is made of a support stand of mild steel rods and steel pipes, bearings fixed on the stand as fulcrum, string connecting the pendulum with the reflectors, buckets and water. The pendulum mechanism pulls on strings to move the reflectors on the solar box cooker slowly tracking the sun. A drain device is attached to one of the bucket while the other bucket is filled with water; allowing the water to drip out of the bucket while the other bucket was half filled. The tracker performance was evaluated by comparing the expected theoretical angle of tilt over the operational period with the measured angles of tilt of the reflectors during experimentation. Results obtained revealed that the maximum tilt angle deviation was 2o . No significant difference between the theoretical and experimental results was observed using the Chi-square statistical analysis method. The performance level is a good approximation to the expected results. Based on the simplicity of the developed solar tracker and the construction costs, this type of solar box cooker with tracker will address the issue of energy sustainability in the rural areas as well provide the much needed technology for the less privileged people.