Efficient heat batteries for performance boosting in solar thermal cooking module

Abstract Heat batteries show outstanding charging and discharging thermal energy capability with the latent heat of fusion (Hm) for solar thermal application. In this work, novel magnesium nitrate hexahydrate (MNH) based heat batteries are fabricated and tested for 1000 sequential thermal cycles. The MNH heat batteries demonstrate a high level of operational stability with the least corrosive rate. Real-time performance of the heat batteries was studied by incorporating them in the parabolic solar thermal cooking module. The developed MNH heat batteries based solar cooking module illustrates excellent heat retention capacity over 6 h after the sunshine. Temperature profiles under no load and full load conditions reveal the moderation and enhancement in the solar thermal cooking module's operational efficiencies. The solar cooking module's efficiency with the heat batteries reaches a maximum of 22.8% and 42.5%, under no load and full load conditions, respectively. Real-time cooking capacity with different edible materials under both outdoor and indoor environments proves the effective performance. Further, it is estimated that MNH heat batteries can be in full performance for a minimum of 2 years with maintenance-free and emission-free operations.