Finite Element Modeling of a Solar Box Cooker: Temperature and Fluid Velocity Distributions

We studied the temperature distribution and fluid velocity in a box-type solar cooker by using the Finite Element Method (FEM) in Ziguinchor southern of Senegal. Indeed, this is one of the sunniest countries in the world: more than 3000 hours of sunshine per year with an average temperature of around 30˚C. This abundant and exploitable solar energy contributes to the development of more efficient, profitable and clean sources of energy. This will help to satisfy the increasing demand of energy. This numerical model was validated by comparing the numerical results with those of the experiment carried out on a single day. The relative error obtained is below 3%. The model results confirmed the performance of this cooker as its cooking temperature is available for more than seven hours. They have shown that the temperature and internal fluid velocity fields are not homogeneous. The results, although preliminary and encouraging, are a first step towards the complete simulation of a solar cooker integrated into a drying column.