Low-cost solar concentrating collector-receiver system as an effective enabler for clean cooking and heating in urban areas

The present work reports a dual-purpose solar concentrating cooker's design and thermal performance. The uniqueness of the proposed system is the simultaneous dual-mode operation that enables cooking and heating. The Cooker Opto-Thermal Ratio (COR) as a Thermal Performance Parameter (TPP) allows the solar concentrating cooker's (SCCs) rating using glycerin as a cooking load (test load). The energy and second law analyses account for the thermal analysis of the water heater. The Levelized cost of cooking a meal (LCCM) comments on the economic analysis of the proposed system. The mean value of COR for the SCC (with simultaneous water heating at different flow rates) is 0.0908 +/- 0.0032 and remains approximately the same. The exergy efficiencies of water heating at flow rates of 10, 15, 20, and 30 kg/h are 0.71, 0.81, 0.72, and 0.57 %, respectively. Additionally, the average values of the exergy factor at the specified flow rates are 0.034, 0.029, 0.024, and 0.018, respectively. The LCCM for the proposed system is 0.021 USD/meal. Thus, the proposed solar concentrating cooker combined with a water heater is a unique and low-cost dual-application system that efficiently performs simultaneous cooking and water heating.