Design, construction and field test of hot-box solar cookers for African Sahel region

Cooking energy represents the main energy consumption in most of the African Sahel countries. As the main fuel of cooking in these countries is wood. this led to the problem of deforestation in this area. On the way of thinking to solve this problem, a solar cooker was designed constructed and field tested. The main criteria followed in the design was to develop a simple to construct, simple to use, and simple maintenance solar cooker. A simple wooden, hot box, with one reflector solar cooker was designed and several demonstration units were fabricated. The units were field tested and showed acceptable performance. Maximum inner temperature of the units reached 160 degrees C under field conditions of Giza, Egypt (30 degrees N). Different foods were cooked successfully such as rice, meat, fish, beans,...etc. The time of cooking ranged from 1 to 2.5 hr. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.