Thermal investigation of a solar box-type cooker with nanocomposite phase change materials using flexible thermography

In this study, three SBCs are developed as (i) SBC with phase change material (PCM: waste cooking oil and C4H4O3), (ii) a novel SBC with nanocomposite PCM (NPCM), and (iii) a SBC without NPCM. The novel proposed cooker integrated with NPCM (MgAl2O4/Ni/Fe2O3-PCM) was experimentally developed and its performance was evaluated using fuzzy logic and Cramer's rules, and image processing techniques. The results indicated that the implementation of a bar plate absorber coated with MgAl2O4/Ni-doped, Fe2O3 nanoparticles, and integrated with PCM increases the cooker's internal temperature up to 164.12 °C. The used nanocomposite materials were in the average particle size of 20 μm. The cooking materials were verified with the temperature in the segmentation process. The NPCM indicated the SBC's thermal performance enhancement of 11% in comparison with the SBC with PCM and without NPCM. Additionally, the overall thermal performance of SBCs without NPCM, with PCM, and with NPCM was obtained as 24.90–33.90%, 24.77–45.20%, and 31.77–56.21%, respectively. Moreover, the temperature of the bar plate absorber was achieved as 163.74 °C, 147 °C, and 113.34 °C for the SBC with NPCM, PCM, and without NPCM, respectively, under the solar radiation of 1,037 W/m2.