Numerical and experimental investigation of electrical domestic oven's performance

Efficient use of energy issues and the struggle of domestic ovens manufacturers to find a place in the market have increased studies related to the performance of domestic ovens steadily. The performance of a domestic oven is determined by two important parameters, namely the energy consumption and the cooking quality. This study aims to design the air distribution system to increase the performance of domestic electric ovens A literature survey has been carried out to establish the methods used to increase the performance of domestic electric ovens and to determine the design phases of the air distribution system. Patents have been investigated to find methods practiced by domestic oven manufacturers while designing air distribution systems and to determine the geometries of the air distribution systems. Experimental studies were carried out in two phases, pre-design studies and the ones carried out according to the results of the design. Pre-experimental studies included the following; to determine the temperature distribution inside the domestic oven while only the upper and bottom heaters were powered and to determine the boundary conditions to be used in the cooking experiments and the numerical model. The air distribution system was designed using Computer-Aided Design software and Computational Fluid Dynamics software. The numerical solution results were interpreted to make a couple of corrections on the design and the final geometry of the air distribution system was established. During the second part of the experimental studies, a prototype of the air distribution system was built according to the results of the design studies. Flow rate and temperature distribution measurements inside the domestic oven were performed using the prototype and the results were compared with results found from the numerical solution. In addition, utilizing the new air distribution system, cooking experiments at the static mode (upper and bottom heaters) were carried out to compare the cooking time, temperature distribution and the cooking results. Keywords: Oven, air distribution system, computational fluid dynamics, Fluent, computeraided design, experimental study