Veterinary

Assessment of Solar Energy Potential for Solar Cooking - a Case of Daassenech, Ethiopia

Ephrem Milikias Meja^1* and Addisu Bekele Alemayehu^2
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dilla University, Dilla, Ethiopia
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia
*Corresponding author: Ephremm.2013@gmail.com
 

Abstract
The main aim of this paper is to explore the available solar energy potential for the purpose of designing and experimental analysis of small-scale low-cost solar cookers in the Daassenech area. Solar energy evaluation is done based on sunshine data collected from the Ethiopian national metrology agency and other four satellite-based data are analyzed from different freely accessible international databases. The averages of the five solar radiation data sources are used to estimate the solar energy potential of the area. From the estimated solar energy potential of the study area, the maximum global solar radiation is obtained in the month of February (6.563 KW/m²/day) and minimum in the month of July (5.578 KW/m²/day) and the overall annual average daily solar radiation of the area is 6.134 KW/m²/day. Finally, based on the estimated solar energy potential, a small-scale low-cost solar cooker has been designed and tested. Experimental values of the first figure of merits are 0.1349, 0.1238, and 0.1453 for conventional BSC, improved BSC with and without thermal storage, respectively. The second figure of merits of all solar cookers' average values are calculated as 0.524, 0.97, and 1.0964 for conventional box solar cookers, improved solar cookers with thermal energy storage, and ISC without any TES respectively.

Keywords: Solar radiation, solar energy potential, solar cooker, solar thermal system