DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A DC SOLAR COOKER
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The design and construction of a direct current (DC) solar cooker aims at designing and fabricating an effective cooker that uses solar energy as the primary source of energy, utilizing and using green renewable energy to cook food by harnessing solar energy in order to provide an alternative to gas, electric stoves and the use of firewood, as well as using the mains as a secondary means of energy. In the design of the DC Solar Cooker, the top-down method was adopted which involves partitioning the system into smaller subsystems and further giving a description of the components to be used that shows the structural and behavioral representation of the system. The design includes a Nichrome heating coil which is supplied by a 24V 100Ah lithium battery pack and supplemented by the MCU (Microcontroller Unit) that sends signal commands to the IRF3205 MOSFET switching circuit unit, used for the switching effect. The battery and the output power control, controls the output power duration to the heating element which is dependent on the operating frequency selected. The design for this system was rated 2052Wh; therefore the DC solar cooker runs for approximately 1 hour 20minutes due to the high wattage consumption of the Nichrome wires that produces heat at a very high temperature.
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