Experimental determination of effective concentration ratio for solar box cookers using thermal tests

Solar box cookers (SBCs) are generally equipped with a booster reflector to increase the radiation flux; consequently, the heating of the absorber plate and for fast cooking. Hence, it is crucial to assess the impact of booster reflector and quantify the Opto-Thermal performance of the SBCs considering the enhanced radiation flux. In the present work, Effective Concentration Ratio (ECR) is defined to assess the effectiveness of booster reflector. ECR is determined experimentally using two thermal tests; with and without booster reflector employing the Cooker Opto-Thermal Ratio (COR) as a thermal performance parameter (TPP). It is shown that, ECR enables the assessment of the effect of the booster reflector in the estimation of Opto-Thermal performance of the SBCs. The value of ECR for specified SBC is determined to be 1.33.