INSULATED SOLAR ELECTRIC COOKER

WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL

A SEMINAR REPORT
Submitted by

Ms. ASWATHI ELIZABETH JACOB

in partial fulfilment for the award of the
degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
of

A P J ABDUL KALAM TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

at

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ADOOR

DECEMBER 2021
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar report titled ‘INSULATED SOLAR ELECTRIC
COOKER WITH PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL’ is a bonafide record of the ME451
seminar presented by ASWATHI ELIZABETH JACOB (ADR18ME044) in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University at College of
Engineering, Adoor during the year 2021-2022.

Oral presentation held on 10th November 2021

Prof.MANU M JOHN Dr.SURESH KUMAR N

Seminar Coordinator Head of the Department

 ACKNOWLEGMENT

First of all, I thank The Almighty God for blessing and supporting me throughout the
endeavour.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. K.Sunilkumar, Principal, College of

engineering Adoor for equipping with all the facilities during the development of
seminar.

I am grateful to Dr.Suresh kumar N, Head of The Department , Department of

Mechanical Engineering for his guidance and inspiration for the successful completion
of my seminar.

I make use of this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to our seminar

coordinators Prof. Manu M John, Dr. Venkitaraj K P, Dr. Jose Mathew, Assistant
Professors, Department of Mechanical Engineering for their valuable suggestions and
guidance in the preparation of this seminar report.

I am also obliged to the staff members of the division for their cooperation during the
period of the seminar. Finally, we thank my parents and friends, near and dear ones who
directly and indirectly have contributed to the successful completion of my project.

Adoor Aswathi Elizabeth Jacob

01/01/2022
 ABSTRACT

The World Health Organisation estimates that three billion people cook with biomass
and coal causing four million deaths per year from breathing associated emissions. As
cost of PV panels are continuously declining, solar electric cookers could be a solution
for this problem. A concept called Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC) was
introduced in 2015 and further studied [1].

A 100 W solar panel directly powering an Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC) can
slowly cook 5 kg of food over the course of a day. However, 0.4 kWh of the day’s
energy can be stored in 2.5 kg of erythritol phase change material, allowing ISEC to
cook more rapidly, as well as cook after sunset. By controlling supercooling by forcing
crystallization, makes erythritol an ideal thermal storage material for cooking and other
thermal-storage processes, but the erythritol degrades in quality when cycled for several
months over 180ºC. The efficiency of thermal storage is comparable to that of more
expensive systems using battery storage and induction cooktops and it is noticed that
for hours long boil and simmer cooking, ISEC with PCM is more suitable and efficient
than uninsulated battery - electric systems. ISECs can be built in low-income
communities, and the best design varies depending on availability of materials, access
to building technologies, and local preferences and hence is a step in making clean and
modern energy cooking transition in developing countries [2].

Department of Mechanical Engineering ii College of Engineering, Adoor

 CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations iii

Chapter-1. Introduction 1

Chapter -2. Literature review 3

Chapter-3. Insulated Solar Electric Cooker 4

1.1 Thermal Energy Storage 5

1.2 PCM 6

1.2.1.1 Criteria for selection of PCM 6

1.2.2 Erythritol 7

Chapter –4. Experiment 8

1.3 Experimental Setup 8

1.4 Experiment: Simulating Cooking After Dark 9

Chapter-5. Results and conclusion 11

1.5 Efficiency 11

1.6 Conclusion 12

Chapter-6. References 13

Department of Mechanical Engineering iii College of Engineering, Adoor

 LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

ET Erythritol
ISEC Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (Cooking)
LHS Latent Heat Storage
PCA Phase Change Assembly
PCM Phase Change Material
TES Thermal Energy Storage

Department of Mechanical Engineering iv College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The World Health Organization estimates that three billion people cook with biomass
and coal causing 4 million deaths per year from breathing the associated emissions
(WHO, 2016). Besides the dangers of indoor air pollution, cooking over open fires also
results in deforestation, and climate change emissions of CO 2 and soot. The negative
effects of current cooking methods can be reduced but not eliminated by the use of fuel-
efficient stoves. While solar cookers eliminate health and environmental impact, they
are often not readily adopted for reasons including inconvenience, dissimilarity to
traditional cooking methods, and lack of power. Natural gas cooking alleviates the
health concerns of indoor air pollution, but remains a costly option. Electrical cooking
eliminates health concerns, although the environmental impact will depend on the
method of electricity generation. Additionally, typical electrical cooking technologies
require grid connection or some other powerful electrical supply that in many places is
prohibitively expensive, unreliable, or non-existent. As the cost of photovoltaic (PV)
solar panels continues to decrease, Solar Electric Cooking (SEC) will become
increasingly cost competitive. We are developing Insulated Solar Electric Cookers
(ISEC) in order to reduce required power and the associated costs while adapting and
accommodating the technology to different community cooking practices. The goal is
to develop the appropriate cooking technology by the time the price of solar panels is
low enough to make ISEC the best cooking option. It’s well known that one can cook
on an electric range powered by solar panels. Limiting power to 100 W reduces the cost,
but is insufficient to cook food by means of a stove top. However, if no heat is lost to
the environment, 100 W brings one litre of water from 20 °C to boiling in 55 min. Thus,
by insulating the cooker we can reduce heat losses enough to slow-cook between 4 kg
and 8 kg of food over the course of the day. Compared to conventional solar cooking
technologies that rely on direct thermal conversion of sunlight, ISEC first converts the
sunlight to electricity, physically disconnecting the collection of solar energy from the
cooking, resulting in:

Department of Mechanical Engineering 1 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

a) reduction in conversion efficiency;

b) an increase in heating efficiency through use of opaque insulation; and

c) ability to build a stationary, indoor cooking facility [1].

While low-power is ideal for day-long “boil and simmer” cooking, users consistently
request both increased power and the ability to cook after sundown. Hence additionally,
adding PCM stores the heat and improves efficiency [2].

Main objective of this report is to study the possible design of a solar cooker that
decreases required cook time with the ability to cook after sundown by minimizing its
cost so that it can be manufactured for rural areas by its residents.

Department of Mechanical Engineering 2 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review has been conducted at the start of the seminar in order to obtain
useful information about the works performed similar to the seminar topic. Some of
them were regarding the insulated solar electric cooker. The list of collected papers,
referred text book and manuals are given below.

T. Watkins, et al [1] studies the possibility of insulated solar electric cooker which
was a step towards making clean and modern energy cooking transition in developing
countries.

Martin Osei, et al [2] studied how the efficiency of ISEC could be improved. They
did several experiments with ISEC using PCM to compare the efficiency and found that
it was comparable to that of battery/solar electric systems for a small portion of the cost
and also can be built-in low-income communities.

Justin Brett Unger, et al of California Polytechnic State University [3] did a project
work on insulated solar electric cooker using PCM. They went through several phases
and finally came up with an affordable, efficient model in which ET was used as PCM.

From all these references it can be concluded that ISEC with PCM is a better
alternative for cooking with more power and versatility with minimum health hazards.

Department of Mechanical Engineering 3 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 3

INSULATED SOLAR ELECTRIC COOKER[ISEC]

Insulated solar electric cooker was first introduced in 2015.It is simply an arrangement
of solar panel, electric heater and an insulation. The electric heater could be the one
with resistors or with diodes. Heating with diodes effectively couple power from solar
panel over a wide range of intensities. On normal days, there is no much difference in
its performance. But on cloudy days, only a little solar energy available, hence diodes
outperform resistors.

Fig 3.1
Schematic diagram of ISEC [4]

ISEC utilizes solar electricity to directly cook food in a well-insulated arrangement.

Sunlight falls on the solar panel which covers the solar energy to electrical energy. The
solar panel is connected to a heater which is attached beneath a pot via wires. The inner
side of the pot is insulated to reduce heat loss. Another pot is kept inside the insulated
pot in which the food is being cooked.

A 100W solar panel generates 0.5kW electricity on a sunny day which is enough to
bring 5kg of food to boil. Electricity can also power an inexpensive USB charging

Department of Mechanical Engineering 4 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

accessory. Although low power is ideal for all day long boil and simmer cooking, users
request both higher power and ability to cook after sundown [2].

3.1 THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE(TES)

TES stocks thermal energy by heating or cooling storage medium which can be later
used for heating & cooling applications. So, we choose TES with phase change. Many
thermal storage systems utilize mediums which do not undergo a phase change within
their operating temperatures. These types of thermal systems store all their thermal
energy in the elevated temperature of the medium which means that in order to store a
large amount of thermal energy their medium must reach a very high temperature, or a
large amount of medium must be used. This makes such a medium non-ideal for our
application, as we need to stay within our range of operating temperature, and wish to
create a device that is both compact and relatively lightweight for thermal efficiency
and portability. Thermal storage systems with mediums designed to undergo phase
change, however, can store a very large amount of thermal energy in the form of latent
heat which allows for greater temperature control with a small amount of medium.
Further research confirmed that PCMs were commonly used in thermal storage systems
for this very reason, and felt phase change materials were the ideal candidate for thermal
storage system within ISEC.

Thermal energy stored in a PCM allows the user both access to greater power (by
rapidly drawing the stored heat) as well as the ability to cook when the sun is not out.
Additionally, inexpensively storing variable renewable energy is universally important
beyond cooking, and a wide variety of PCMs have been explored. Many solar cooking
designs have incorporated a variety of PCM storage strategies, but share some
challenges related to the need to access sunlight while insulating the stored thermal
energy. Simple box cookers can incorporate PCM on the base of the cooker, but are not
able to get very hot. Solar concentrators can achieve high temperatures, but require
either a complicated, expensive pumping system or a mobile phase change assembly
(PCA) to move the PCM to where it can be insulated and/or used. Because the ISEC
cooking unit receives electrical energy via a wire, the PCA is a stationary part of the
cooking system itself, reducing cost and complexity.

Department of Mechanical Engineering 5 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

3.2PCM

PCMs are materials with high heat of fusion. They are capable of storing and releasing
large amounts of energy during melting & solidifying processes in their transition
temperature. Energy is released or absorbed when phase change occurs, hence, PCM
can be classified as latent heat storage (LHS). LHS by PCM can be attained by solid–
liquid phase change (melting), liquid-solid phase change (freezing), liquid–gas phase
change (vaporization), and solid–gas phase change (sublimation). Sublimation is a slow
process and only a low heat of transformation can be attained. Vaporisation has high
heat of vaporisation but it is not practical as high pressure or large volumes are required
to store materials as gas. Hence freezing and melting are the only phase changes used
for PCMs.

There are some materials which change their crystalline structure from one lattice
configuration to another, when heated, i.e., they undergo solid to solid transformation.
This transformation can involve latent heat comparable to the most effective solid/liquid
PCMs and these materials can be utilized for those PCM applications where their slower
speeds are not inconvenient. Since such materials undergo solid–solid phase change,
there is no visible change in the appearance of the PCM (other than a slight
expansion/contraction).

3.2.1Criteria for selection of PCM

After selecting the method of thermal storage, the temperature range was used to
establish requirements and search criteria for the PCM. For manufacturability purposes,
a solid to liquid PCM was desirable. Any PCM that would sublimate or evaporate would
need to be carefully contained with relatively complex methods. Although complex
sealing methods could possibly be achieved, a long-term goal is to have these units
manufactured within the communities they serve. It is unlikely that these communities
would have these capabilities. Solid to liquid PCMs that would boil within the
temperature range must be avoided for the same reasons. A non-boiling, solid to liquid
PCM is also favourable from a performance standpoint given that the thermal
conductivities of liquids and solids are, on average, orders of magnitude higher than
gases. The PCM for our particular application should be non-toxic and non-corrosive

Department of Mechanical Engineering 6 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

as it deals with cooking of food. The classes of PCMs appropriate for cooking (50–200
º C) are paraffins, salt hydrates, sugar alcohols, nitrates and hydroxides.

3.2.2Erythritol (ET)

Erythritol, a sugar alcohol has been explored as a PCM with a melting point of 118 º
C, although two different melting points (105 º C and 118 º C) have also been reported.
Volumetrically, ET has a heat of fusion slightly more than that of water, and a liquid
heat capacity slightly less than water. 2.5 kg of ET releases about 0.4 kWh of thermal
energy in cooling from 180 º C to 70 º C; enough thermal energy to bring more than 4
kg of water to a boil. 1000 melting cycles to 120 º C has been observed to result in a
10% loss of ET’s heat of fusion implying thermal degradation of ET over time.

Liquid ET doesn’t immediately crystallize and release the heat of fusion as it cools
through the melting point, but cools to a lower temperature before crystallization is
initiated, raising the temperature back to the melting point. This "supercooling" is a
problem because it allows the temperature to drop below the melting point, reducing
the temperature and power of delivered thermal energy. While some dismiss ET as a
PCM because of supercooling, others recognize supercooling as a means to store latent
heat at lower temperatures (and thus reduced thermal loss) until needed. Physical
properties of ET are mentioned in the table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Physical Properties of ET

Physical Property Value

Solid Density 1.48 g/cm3 at 20º C
Liquid Density 1.30 g/cm3 at 140º C
Melting Point 117-120º C
Boiling Point 330.5º C
Heat of Fusion 315-379.6 J/g
Solid Specific Heat 1.38 J/ g º C
Liquid Specific Heat 2.78 J/ g º C
Solid Thermal Conductivity 0.733 W/m º C at 20º C
Liquid Thermal Conductivity 0.326 W/m º C at 140º C

Department of Mechanical Engineering 7 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 4

EXPERIMENT

An experiment was conducted to find out the efficiency of ISEC with PCM over other
methods using ET as PCM with an insulated pot setup.

4.1EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

A 12 V, 100 W solar panel has a maximum power point (MPPT) voltage of about 18
V, driving about 5.5 A of current through either a resistive heater or a chain of diodes.
Rather than slowly cook food at 100 W, the heat can instead slowly melt a PCM housed
in a Phase Change Assembly (PCA), to heat food later. The schematic diagram of the
setup is shown in fig 4.1. PCA houses 2.5 kg of ET, between two concentric pots. An
electric heater is physically and thermally attached to the bottom of the smaller, inner
PCA pot, immersed in the PCM. Hot ET dissolves plastics, insulating foam, and high
temperature silicone wire insulation.

Fig 4.1
Schematic diagram of ISEC with PCM arrangement [2]

Hot ET does not seem to react with JB-Weld epoxy and PFA insulation. Thus, wires
can be insulated with PFA, or protected by covering with JB-Weld and/ or unbiased
metal. The PCA is completely surrounded by insulation in a bucket, reducing both heat
loss and risk of burning people. An airtight gasket of silicone RTV on the lid and a tube
of high-temperature silicone allows water vapor to vent without soaking the insulation.

Department of Mechanical Engineering 8 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

ET and aluminium have thermal conductivities of 0.73 W/m/K, and 205 W/m/K,
respectively. Lack of thermal conductivity will limit thermal flow to the food, but a
thermally conductive phase change composite (PCC) can be made by percolating
aluminium filler into the ET.

4.2EXPERIMENT: SIMULATING COOKING AFTER DARK

In order to simulate cooking after dark with stored thermal energy, an insulated PCA
was heated from room temperature with 100 W for 6 h, disconnected the power for three
hours, and then inserted the cookpot containing 1.5 kg of cold tap water. Temperature
data were taken with a 4-channel type-K thermocouple data logger by Gain Express
with 0.1 º C precision and 1 º C accuracy. The figure shown documents the temperature
evolution of the water and in two places on the PCA. While energy is flowing into the
PCM (the first 6 h), the inner PCA (to which the heater is attached) is hotter than the
outer PCA because the PCM must melt before the outer PCA’s temperature can exceed
118 º C. When energy flows from the PCM to the food (between 9 and 13 h), the inner
PCA (closer to the water/food) is colder than the outer PCA. The surfaces are near the
same temperature when the only energy flow is the low-power thermal loss through the
insulation (between 6 and 8 h; and after 14 h). The total energy delivered to the water
is the sum of the two following energies:
i. the energy to raise the water to the boiling point, EΔT = mCΔT (where m is the
mass of water, C is the specific heat capacity of water and ΔT is the change in
temperature of water), and
ii. the energy to boil away the amount of water lost, Ev = mvHv (where mv is the
mass of water vaporized and Hv is water’s heat of vaporization).
These energies, respectively, for the experiment illustrated are: 0.50 MJ and 0.58 MJ.

Thermal conductivity between the PCM and food is crucially important in providing
adequate power, because of the small temperature difference between the food and
PCM. In order to heat food, the stored thermal energy must first transfer from the PCM
to the inner PCA pot and then to the cookpot. Four experiments were conducted where
1.0 kg of water was added to a ~142 º C PCA. The shortest boiling time of 25 min was
recorded when the water was added without a cookpot directly to the PCA with no
aluminium added to the PCM. The time to boil is increased by adding aluminium

Department of Mechanical Engineering 9 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

shavings and foil into the PCM and also by including the cookpot between the PCA and
water. The added thermal barrier of the added cookpot is reduced if a drop of cooking
oil is placed between the cookpot and PCA. On comparing, it is seen that adding
aluminium shavings and foil to the PCM increases the time to boil, but decreases the
total boiling time, while boiling away the same amount of water; indicating that the
added aluminium decreases the thermal flow in liquid PCM (by decreasing convection)
but increases thermal flow in solid PCM because of aluminium’s high thermal
conductivity. The thermal flow depends greatly on the temperature difference between
the PCM and food. In a different experiment, 1.0 kg of water was added directly into a
180 º C PCM with no added aluminium, bringing the water to a boil in 5 min, 20 s,
corresponding to an average power of 1000 W; and an average of 1500 W for the first
two minutes.

Fig 4.2
Temperature Vs Elapsed Time [2]

Department of Mechanical Engineering 10 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 5
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

5.1EFFICIENCY OF ISEC WITH PCM

Efficiency is the ratio of the heat delivered to the food to the electrical energy received
by the cooker. In the experiment illustrated, the energy delivered to the ISEC was 100
W × 6 h = 0.6 kWh = 2.16 MJ. Accordingly, the 1.08 MJ of energy to heat and boil the
water corresponds to an efficiency of 50%. In this experiment, energy is not transferred
to the food either that initially “used” heating the PCM to 100 º C or heat “lost” to the
environment through the insulation. Thus, the ISEC’s thermal energy efficiency will
increase with shorter energy storage times, increased insulation, and if the PCM starts
warm from the previous day. If the ISEC is used hot (with liquid ET), the efficiency is
the ratio of the energy absorbed by the food to the total energy harvested. If the average
temperature = 130 º C, then the difference in temperature to the outside world is about
110 º C, corresponding to losing heat through the insulation at about 11 W or, 264 Wh
over the course of the day. The total heat harvested is about 81 W * 6 hrs (full sunlight)
+ 37 W * 18 hrs, at night, corresponding to an efficiency of about 77%, or about 45%
if there were no 12 V power supply. It may be instructional to compare the efficiency
of this thermal storage to that of a solar electric/battery/induction cooker. Electric
battery storage has ~90% efficiency and induction cookers have 72% efficiency
yielding a total “solar electricity to hot food” conversion efficiency of about 65%.
However, electrical cooktops are typically not insulated, so after the food is at the
boiling point, close to 100 W is necessary to maintain this temperature for a 4-quart pot.
Consequently, electric cooktops may have better efficiency (than ISEC) for very short
cook times, but for hours-long “boil and simmer” cooking, the efficiency of an
uninsulated battery – electric system will be very low [2].

Department of Mechanical Engineering 11 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

5.2CONCLUSION

ISEC was a step in making clean and modern energy cooking transition in developing
countries and it can be more effective and convenient by storing the day’s energy in
PCM, allowing to cook after dark and with increased power. TES efficiency is
comparable to that of battery/solar electric systems for a small portion of the cost and
also can be built-in low-income communities. There are few limitations which can be
overcome in the future. The biggest future improvement to implement would be to have
some degree of conduction assistance throughout the PCM. Another improvement to
the device would be inclusion of chargers for other electronics.

Department of Mechanical Engineering 12 College of Engineering, Adoor

Insulated solar electric cooker
with phase change material Semester VII 2021

CHAPTER 6
REFERENCES

[1] T. Watkins, P. Arroyo, R. Perry, R. Wang, O. Arriaga, M. Fleming, C. O’Day, I.

Stone, J. Sekerak , D. Mast , N. Hayes , P. Keller , P. Schwartz ,Insulated “Solar Electric
Cooking – Tomorrow's healthy affordable stoves?” , ELSEVIER , development
engineering volume 2 , 2017, pages 47-52

[2] Martin Osei , Owen Staveland , Sean McGowan , Justin Brett Unger c, Nathan
Robert Christler c, Matthew Weeman , Marcus Edward Strutz , Matthew
Walker , Megan Belle Maun , Nicolas C. Dunning , Marcorios M. Bekheit , Jon
Christian Papa Abraham , Liam Cox , Grace Gius , Olivia Hansel f , Emmanuel Osei
Amoafo , Nichole Hugo , Pete Schwartz ,“Phase change thermal storage: Cooking with
more power and versatility”, ELSEVIER , Solar energy volume 220, 15 May 2021
Pages 1065-1073.

[3] Justin Brett Unger, Nathan Robert Christler , Matthew Weeman , Marcus Edward
Strutz , California Polytechnic State University , San Luis Obispo , project report on
“Insulated solar electric cooker with phase change thermal storage medium”

[4]https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a9fddb_2a75449f42644d7db57ee0ee6a1736cc~
mv2.png/v1/fill/w_771,h_597,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/ISEC%20Gra
phic-02.png

Department of Mechanical Engineering 13 College of Engineering, Adoor