Insulation Testing

Abstract

The insulation in the solar box cookers play a vital role in performance. The current insulation technique involves using wood shavings in the gaps in the wall and in the bottom of the box cooker. This is done to reduce the convective heat transfer in the walls and floor of the oven. While this is the currently practiced technique for insulation, it is a known fact that the box ovens perform better during their first year of operation than in the years after. One of the theories associated with the diminished performance of the ovens over time is that the constant heat flow through the walls causes the insulation to settle to the bottom, and at that point the insulation would no longer be preventing convective heat transfer in the upper regions of the wall. And with an expected life of 10-12 years, diminished operation after the first year is something that needs to be analyzed. The motivation for this experiment is to essentially prove or disprove theories on the insulation in the box cookers and to improve the design in the most effective and economical way possible.

Experimental Setup