Estudo de viabilidade térmica de um forno solar fabricado a partir de uma geladeira em desuso

Abstract

The processes of manufacturing and assembling a solar box-type oven with the base element of a disused refrigerator for food baking are presented. The main feature of this oven was its ability to bake various foods simultaneously, in addition to its low cost, as it can be manufactured from recyclable elements. An energy balance of the proposed solar oven was presented, determining its thermal loss and yield. The proposed solar oven was tested to produce the baking of various types of food. The solar oven proved to be feasible to produce the five-bolus bake, with a load of 3.62 kilos, in only 70 minutes, presenting superiority over the conventional gas-fired oven, with a capacity of only two baking cakes, in about 50 minutes. The efficiency of the furnace under good solarimetric conditions, between 10:00 am and 4:00 p.m., was 66.5%, competitive with other solar furnaces already studied in the LMHES and presented by the solar literature for food cooking, between 40 - 70 %. The economic feasibility of the studied solar furnace was also approached aiming at verifying the possibility of use in poor communities, being able to become a source of generation income and employment, as well as diffusing and massifying the use of solar energy for the roasting of food, minimizing the serious ecological problems generated by the use of firewood as a source of energy for cooking.