CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction:
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-
evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaic, solar thermal energy, solar
architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis.
It is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as
either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or
convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic
systems, concentrated solar power and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar
techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal
mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

A '''Solar cooker''' is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or
pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively
inexpensive, low technology devices, although some are as powerful or as expensive as
traditional stoves, and advanced, large-scale solar cookers can cook for hundreds of people.
Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many non-profit organizations are
promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs (especially where monetary
reciprocity is low) and air pollution, and to slow down the deforestation and desertification
caused by gathering firewood for cooking.
The two designs of box type cookers have been tested. The first type has a painted black base
and second type has a pained black with coal. These designs were examined under two modes of
operations: at fixed position and on tracking system. The cooker at a fixed position had recorded
thermal efficiencies ranging from 25.2 % to a sharp peak of 53.8% at the maximum solar
intensity of the day with an average overall efficiency around 32.3%. Whereas, cooker with
black coal pained installed on a sun tracking system gave higher water and pot temperatures, and
thermal efficiency ranged from 28% to 62.1% with an average overall efficiency around 43.8 %.
Developing countries are facing with the problem of fossil fuel shortage, due to a large amount
of consumption in these countries. To solve this problem, the use of renewable energy with
Long term objectives are advised. In some of these countries, the energy used for domestic
Purposes such as cooking, is mostly provided by elementary means like wood.

Using wood for cooking increases the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to CO2 generated by
burning lumber and fewer numbers of trees consuming it. Considering the large number of
developing countries in the world, and the amount of wood consumed in the villages for cooking,
this phenomenon, in long term can have a negative impact on the environment. One way to solve
this problem is to expand the use of solar cookers in these areas. Doing so can prevent more trees
from being cut for cooking purposes, and therefore, can reduce the amount of CO2 emissions.
The cooking time depends primarily on the equipment being used, the amount of sunlight at the
time, and the quantity of food that needs to be cooked. Air temperature, wind, and latitude also
affect performance. Food cooks faster in the two hours before and after the local solar noon than
it does in either the early morning or the late afternoon. Large quantities of food, and food in
large pieces, take longer to cook. As a result, only general figures can be given for cooking time.
With a small solar panel cooker, it might be possible to melt butter in 15 minutes, to bake
cookies in 2 hours, and to cook rice for four people in 4 hours.

Fig: 1.1: SOLAR COOKER

TYPES OF SOLAR COOKERS:

1. DIRECT TYPE SOLAR COOKER:

The direct type solar cooker includes hot box and parabolic type concentrator cooker.
Concentrator solar cookers in which the cooking pot is placed at the focus of a concentrating
mirror have not been widely adapted due to need of continual adjustment of its orientation. Box
and parabolic concentrator type solar cooker is widely used because of its simple design and
operation. Solar cooker are becoming popular today because of fuel which this cooker required
is available at free of cost (from sun) and it is environment friendly too. There is no loss of
nutrients present in food during cooking because the food is cooked slowly at low heat. Solar
cookers having so much of advantages but it has limitations too; cooker is able to cook food only
in sunny days in day time only. So it limits there use in day time cooking only; night cooking is
not possible with this type of cookers. For overcoming this problem we need a storage unit
which stores the solar energy during day time and cooks food at night also or provides the
opportunity of indoor cooking.
2. INDIRECT TYPE SOLAR COOKER:
The indirect type solar cooker includes flat plate solar collector cooker and evacuated tube solar
collector cooker. The indirect solar cooker use solar radiation to heat a thermal fluid that
transports this heat to the place of cooking process. These types of solar cooker provide high
thermal storage, temperature without tracking and at the same time cooking can take place in
shadow or in conventional kitchen inside buildings. Due to the reversed cycle of during night and
cloudy periods an effective heat transfer system is necessary to maximize the rate of heat
transfer. Evacuated tube solar collector type solar cooker based on vacuum provided between
a. Panel Cookers:
Panel cookers resemble an open, three sided box. The bottom and side panels of the box are
covered with shiny material creating reflectors. The sun rays hit the shiny panels and are
redirected into the center of the box.

A “heat trap” is used in the center of the box to capture the sun rays. Heat traps can be made
from anything that is clear and allows the UV rays to pass through. Common heat traps are clear
cooking bags used to cook turkeys; large glass bowls with one turned upside down on top of the
other; and a small, clear jar placed inside of a larger clear jar.

The dark cooking container is placed inside of the heat trap. When the redirected UV rays hit the
pot, the molecules begin vibrating which creates heat. The heat trap prevents the heated
molecules from dissipating, creating a super heated vessel. Temperatures reach 250° F (121° C)
– 300°F (149°C). This type of cooker is good for general cooking of soups, meats, vegetables,
and desserts.

Fig1.2: Panel Solar Cookers

B.Parabolic Solar Cookers:
Parabolic solar cookers are shaped like parabolic satellite dishes. The dish is covered with a
shiny material that makes the entire surface reflective. In short, sunlight comes into the dish and
is reflected back up to a center focal point. A cooking vessel is placed above the reflective
surface at the focal point. The concentrated UV rays reach extremely high temperatures of 533K
(260°C) – 644K(371°C) that are capable of frying, and grilling.

Fig 1.3: Parabolic Solar Cooker

C.Evacuated Tube Cookers:

Evacuated tube cookers are fairly new on the market, but are quickly becoming everyone’s
favorite. Made from a large evacuated glass tube, surrounded by shiny reflector panels, the glass
tube can reach temperatures of 840K (290°C) or greater. The cooker gets hot enough to cook
meat, bread, vegetables, and dessert. Evacuated tube cookers are still solar cookers and need the
sunlight to cook, however, the tube cookers does well even under cloudy skies.

Fig 1.4: Evacuated Tube Solar Cookers

D.Box Oven Solar Cookers (Indirect type Solar Cooker):
The box oven is the most well known type of solar cooker. It is very much like the panel cooker
above, except that the open side is covered by clear glass or Plexiglas, creating an air tight heat
trap or oven in the center of the box. Commercial brands, as well as homemade models, have a
layer of insulation between two walls that holds in the heat. In addition, the inside of the box is
usually painted black to create a heat sink as well. Finally, most box oven cookers also have
large shiny panels to redirect the UV rays down into the heat trap.

Because the center cavity of the oven is usually larger than the heat trap found in the panel
cooker, the box oven can hold a larger cooking pot. Because the center cavity of the oven is well
insulated, it can reach higher temperatures than a panel cooker. Temperatures reach between
394K (121°C) – 477K (204°C). By and large, even with all of the differences, panel cookers and
box ovens are very much the same. Because the solar oven gets hotter, it will of course cook
faster. However, given a little bit of extra time, the panel cooker will produce the same amazing
results.

A box type solar cookers are the most common and inexpensive type of solar cookers. These box
cookers have a very simple construction and they are made of low cost materials, which
essentially consist of a black painted metallic trapezoidal tray (cooking tray) and is usually
covered with a double glass window. It is kept in a metal or fiber-glass outer casing and the
space between the cooking tray and outer casing is filled with the insulation like glass wool. The
incoming solar radiation falls onto the double glass lid and passes through it to strike the
blackened cooking pots and the cooking tray. The glass covers, while transmitting radiation of
short wavelength which form major part of solar spectrum, is almost opaque to low temperature
radiation emitted within the box. Thus, the temperature of the box rises until a balance is reached
between the heat received through glazing and heat lost by exposed surface (greenhouse effect).
In addition, a plane reflecting mirror (booster mirror) of about equal size as that the aperture area
is used for augmentation of solar radiation on the aperture. The cooking tray is insulated on the
sides and bottom. The heat is absorbed by the blackened surface and gets transferred to the food
inside the pots to facilitate cooking

Fig1.5:Box Type Solar Cooker

1.2 Problem Statement:
Solar oven generally solely depending on the sun radiation which is not consistent variable from
the effect of changing weather and this situation will directly cause the oven cannot be a function
at optimal efficiency.
Cooking with the sun has become a potentially viable substitute for fuel-wood in food
preparation in much of the developing world. Solar cooking is one possible solution but its
acceptance has been limited partially due to some barriers. Solar cooker cannot cook the food
under low radiation condition
. That drawback can be solved by the storage unit associated with in a solar cooker. So that food
can be cooked at low radiation condition. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt has been taken to
summarize the investigation of the solar cooking system incorporating with thermal energy
storage
.
1.3 Scope of Research:
The design is made by doing some modification of the available design in the market. The design
also needs to meet specific specification such as the solar oven unit can be rotated vertically to
optimize heat radiation through into the oven. There are two types of thermal energy storage in
consideration between latent heat storage like phase change material or sensible heat storage
such as stone.
It is important to conduct a performance analysis of the solar oven to determine the efficiency,
maximum heat temperature and cooking rate. It is important to determine these performances in
order to achieve the objective of this project and overcome the problem statement.
1.4 Research Hypothesis:
WORKING PRINCIPLE:
1) Concentrating sunlight: A mirrored surface with high specular reflection is used to
concentrate light from the sun into a small cooking area. Depending on the geometry of the
surface, sunlight could be concentrated solar power concentrated by several orders of magnitude
producing temperatures high enough to melt salt and metal. For most household solar cooking
applications, such high temperatures are not really required. Solar cooking products are typically
designed to achieve temperatures of {{convert|65|C|-1}} (baking temperatures) to
{{convert|400|C|-1}} (grilling/searing temperatures) on a sunny day.

2) Converting light energy to heat energy: Solar cookers concentrate sunlight onto a receiver
such as a cooking pan. The interaction between the light energy and the receiver material
converts light to heat and this is called conduction. This conversion is maximized by using
materials that conduct and retain heat. Pots and pans used on solar cookers should be matte black
in colour to maximize the absorption.

3) Trapping heat energy: It is important to reduce convection by isolating the air inside the
cooker from the air outside the cooker. Simply using a glass lid on your pot enhances light
absorption from the top of the pan and provides a greenhouse effect that improves heat retention
and minimizes Heat transfer convection loss. This "glazing" transmits incoming visible sunlight
but is opaque to escaping infrared thermal radiation. In resource constrained settings, a high-
temperature plastic bag can serve a similar function, trapping air inside and making it possible to
reach temperatures on cold and windy days similar to those possible on hot days.
Below is the basic science for solar panel cookers and solar box cookers. They typically require
more frequent reorientation to the sun, but will cook more quickly at higher temperatures, and
can fry foods. Evacuated tube solar cookers use a highly insulated double-wall glass tube for the
cooking chamber, and do not require large reflectors.

Working Procedure of Solar Cookers:

The Solar Box Cooker (SBC) or Solar Oven consists, largely, of some type of heat trapping
enclosure. Quite often, this takes the form of a box made of insulating material with one face of
the box fitted with a transparent medium, such as glass or plastic. This allows the box to take
advantage of the greenhouse effect and incident solar radiation cooks the food within the box.
The ability of a solar cooker to collect sunlight is directly related to the projected area of the
collector perpendicular to the incident radiation. For example, a large box with a glass lid will
function as a solar box cooker but the losses due to heat loss over a larger surface area will, at
least partially, offset the additional gain through having a larger collector surface. Instead, what
is typically done is to create an insulated box with a glazed surface cover and use reflectors to
increase the apparent collector area. These reflectors can be made from a variety of materials and
their primary purpose is to reflect sunlight through the glazing material and into the cooking
space inside of the box. In most cases, these reflectors are planar in geometry, with parabolic and
other geometries reserved for the more complicated class of solar cookers that utilize high
concentration ratios, as discussed later. While a high concentration ratio allows a potentially
higher temperature and flux, high concentration ratio devices generate nearly point source foci,
which require regular and frequent tracking to follow the sun. Without this tracking, the focus
will quickly deform, resulting in an uneven flux and potentially damaging heat gain. One of the
virtues of the solar box cooker is its high acceptance angle and correspondingly high tolerance
for tracking error. A Solar Box Cooker will cook meals unattended for long periods of time
because the sun is able to remain within the view of the cooker. With some other collector
configurations, the sun quickly moves off-axis, causing focus shift that can be highly undesirable
or dangerous.

The solar radiation is focused through a secondary reflector onto the central zone of the storage
block through the cavity in the insulation. The storage is charged for a set period of time and heat
is subsequently discharged to a pot during the night time. The effects on cooker performance are
compared for various numbers of plates in the storage block. The temperature attained at various
stages is studied for various models. This can be used to cook food in a slow manner and can be
kept heated until night.

Different models of thermal energy storage systems and thermal energy utilization are used to
perform charging and discharging simulations in solar cooker. The models of thermal energy
storage systems are validated with computational results. The results show a greater decrease in
temperature value after charging due to uniform distribution as the number of plates is increased
but up to a certain number of plates only, then the highest temperature after discharging also
decreases

Fig 1.6 :BOX TYPE SOLAR COOKE

 Box and panel designs:
A box cooker has a transparent glass or plastic top, and it may have additional reflectors to
concentrate sunlight into the box. The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots containing
food to be placed inside. One or more reflectors of shiny metal or foil-lined material may be
positioned to bounce extra light into the interior of the oven chamber. Cooking containers and
the inside bottom of the cooker should be dark-coloured or black. Inside walls should be
reflective to reduce radiative heat loss and bounce the light towards the pots and the dark bottom,
which is in contact with the pots. The box should have insulated sides. Metal pots and/or bottom
trays can be darkened either with flat-black spray paint (one that is non-toxic when warmed),
black paint, or soot from a fire.

Fig 1.7: Components of a Solar Cooker

Components of a Solar Cooker:
.Important parts of a box type solar cooker:
 Outer Box: The outer box of a solar cooker is generally made of G.I. or aluminium sheet or fibre
reinforced plastic.
 Inner Cooking Box (Tray): This is made from aluminium sheet. The inner cooking box is
slightly smaller than the outer box. It is coated with black paint so as to easily absorb solar
radiation and transfer the heat to the cooking pots.
 Double Glass Lid: A double glass lid covers the inner box or tray. This cover is slightly larger
than the inner box. The two glass sheets are fixed in an aluminium frame with a spacing of 2
 centimetres between the two glasses. This space contains air which insulates and prevents heat
escaping from inside. A rubber strip is affixed on the edges of the frame to prevent any heat
leakage. This glass sheet covers does not allow the solar energy to flow out in the form of radiant
heat. Thus it traps more and more heat rays of the sun thereby producing green house effect.That
is why glass lid is used in the solar cooker
 Thermal Insulator: The space between the outer box and inner tray including bottom of the tray
is packed with insulating material such as glass wool pads to reduce heat losses from the cooker.
This insulating material should be free from volatile materials.
 Mirror: Mirror is used in a solar cooker to increase the radiation input on the absorbing space
and is fixed on the inner side of the main cover of the box. Sunlight falling on the mirror gets
reflected from it and enters into the tray through the double glass lid. This radiation is in addition
to the radiation entering the box directly and helps to quicken the cooking process by raising the
inside temperature of the cooker.
 Containers: The cooking containers (with cover) are generally made of aluminium or stainless
steel. These vessels are also painted black on the outer surface so that they also absorb solar
radiation directly.

Advantages and disadvantages of Solar Cooker:

Advantages:
1. Conventional solar box cookers attain temperatures up to 140oC to 202oC.They can heat water
or prepare most foods that can be made in a conventional oven or stove, including bread,
vegetables and meat over a period of hours.
2. Solar cookers use no fuel. This saves cost as well as reducing environmental damage caused
by fuel use. Since 2.5 billion people cook on open fires using biomass fuels, solar cookers could
have large economic and environmental benefits by reducing deforestation.
3. When solar cookers are used outside, they do not contribute inside heat, potentially saving fuel
costs for cooling as well. Any type of cooking may evaporate grease, oil, and other material into
the air, hence there may be less clean-up.
4. Reduces your carbon footprint by cooking without the use of carbon based fuels or grid
electricity from traditional sources.

5. No requirement of cooking gas or kerosene, electricity, coal or wood.

6. No need to spend on fuel, as solar energy is available free.
7. Food cooked in solar cooker is nutritious. About 10-20% of protein retention is more as
compared to that in conventional cooking .Vitamin thiamine retention is about 20 to 30% more
whereas vitamin A is retained 5 to 10% more when food is cooked in solar cooker.
8. Solar cooking is pollution free and safe.
9. Solar cookers come in various sizes. Based on the number of family members, the size of the
cooker can be chosen.
10. All cooking activities (like boiling, roasting) can be done using a solar cooker.
11. There are government schemes which offer subsidies to purchase solar cookers.

Disadvantages:
1. Solar cookers are less useful in cloudy weather and near the poles (where the sun is low in the
sky or below the horizon), so an alternative cooking source is still required in these conditions.
2. Also solar cookers can be used to cook food only during the daytime. They cannot retain heat
for a long period of time.
3. It can cause burns if the device is not built and handled properly
4. It can destroy your eyesight if the beam of the sunlight gets reflected to your eyes.
5. Also sometimes it takes a long time to cook food so it is better to cook in normal pressure
cooker.
6. Strong winds too can delay the cooking process of the solar cooker.
7. Lastly it can only be used in places where there is excessive sunlight.
8. The cooking process takes several hours; hence patience should be kept by the maker
9. It may not be possible to safely or completely cook some thick foods, such as large roasts,
loaves of bread, or pots of soup, particularly in small panel cookers; the cook may need to divide
these into smaller portions before cooking.
10. Some solar cooker designs are affected by strong winds, which can slow the cooking process,
cool the food due to convective losses, and disturb the reflector. It may be necessary to anchor
the reflector, such as with string and weighted objects like bricks.

1.5 Objectives:
The first objective of this project is to design and fabricate a functional solar oven. This solar
oven will be fabricated using wood as a main body. The container part from aluminium inside
the solar oven will act as rack to hold the food container and energy storage application.
 The second objective is to integrate thermal energy storage into the design to store energy and
for longer and better heat distribution in the oven. This application will prevent oven from losing
heat during the drop of solar radiation due to changing weather condition.
The last objective of this project is to study the characteristics and performance of the system.
After the fabrication process done, the solar oven will be tested and go through analysis to
determine the performance such as cooking rate and temperature rate.

1.6 Organisation of report:

PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL (PCM):

Phase change materials are latent heat storage materials and energy release occurs when a
material changes its phase from solid to liquid or vice versa. In general, they absorb and release
heat at constant temperature and can store more heat per unit volume than sensible heat storage
materials. Fatty acids have high heat of fusion values comparable to that of paraffin’s and their
major drawback is 2–2.5 times costlier than paraffin’s. In the current work stearic acid and
acetanilide is used as PCM.

Characteristics of Phase Change Materials. Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid with an 18-
carbon chain. It is a waxy solid and chemical formula is C17H35CO2H. Stearic acid can store the
thermal energy and chemical phase will change from solid to liquid and from liquid to solid
during thermal process.

Similarly, acetanilide is a solid chemical used to store the thermal heat energy in the form of
latent heat. It is also known as N-phenylacetamide, acetanil, and acetanilide. In many cases, solar
thermal energy can be used directly; in other cases heat storage is required. To date, most heat
storages are water based and their capacity depends largely on the storage size and operating
temperature. In order to expand the solar thermal usage, new storage concepts and technologies
must be developed – not only for industrial processes but also in all sectors possible. Where large
water tanks are not feasible, either thermo-physical methods (e.g. using phase-changing
materials) or thermo-physical processes could store large amounts of energy in the future.
Energy storage is the most fundamental requirement of all solar energy systems. Phase change
materials offer the best solution to this fundamental requirement thereby resolving the problem
met during the time of peak demand.

Principle: The principle on which the Phase change material works; the material absorbs the
available heat from the atmosphere when the ambient temperature reaches above the transition
temperature. Similarly, it emits the same heat to the atmosphere when the ambient temperature
falls below the transition temperature, thereby, maintain the ambient temperature equal (±1o C)
to the transition temperature. The main advantage during the use of phase change materials are
these materials occupy less space to store the same amount of energy, which can be accounted
due to the high latent provided by these materials. This is illustrated by the fact that the sensible
heat capacity of concrete is approximately 1.0 kJ/kg, compared with calcium chlorine, which
during phase transition, can store or release 190 kJ/kg Due to the large volume of material
required, sensible heat storage is not suitable for retrofit applications and does not conform to the
current trend for lightweight structures. Another major advantage with latent heat storage is that
heat is stored under isothermal conditions, which means they can deliver or store energy at a
constant temperature. The use of latent heat storage is especially suited to the storage of solar
energy where it can result in high solar collection efficiency, which can mean that solar collector
area can be reduced by 30%.

Types of PCM:

PCMs can be broadly classified as :

1. Organic based PCMs: These PCMs contains 90-95% or more organic material. Organic
PCMs offer several advantages:
a. They possess a wide range of melting points

b .Non toxic and Non corrosive

c. Chemically stable

D.Compatible with most building materials,

e. Have a high latent heat per unit weight

f.Melt congruently and most importantly exhibit negligible super cooling .

Some disadvantages of organic PCMs are:

a. High cost

b. Low density, and low thermal conductivity in comparison to inorganic compounds, but this
can be addressed by the addition of filler with a high thermal conductivity or the use of
aluminum honeycombs or matrixes.

2. Hydrated salt based PCMS: These are mainly inorganic chemicals, with/without water of
crystallization.

The advantages that salt hydrates offer are:

a. Low cost in comparison to organic PCMs

b. High latent heat per unit mass and volume.

c. High thermal conductivity.

d. Offer a wide range of melting points from 7-117° C.
The disadvantages that salt hydrates offer are:

a. Loss of water when subjected to long-term thermal cycling.

b. Corrosion.

c. Degrade over time due to decomposition because of which it melts incongruently and
produces two separate parts, an aqueous phase and a solid phase, which possesses different
densities, consequently the denser solid phase settles at the bottom of the container and this
process is irreversible. This process results in low latent heat of fusion.

Table 1.1: Properties of PCM (stearic acid) :

Melting temperature 52°C

Density 847-965 (kg/m3)

Appearance White solid Storage

temperature 2–9°C

Refractive index 1.429

Thermal conductivity 0.29 (W/m K)

Latent heat of fusion 169.0 169.0 (kJ/kg)

Specific heat 1.590 (kJ/kg K)

APPLICATIONS AND USES OF SOLAR COOKER

Applications and Uses of Solar Cooker are:-

 Water Distillation
 Solar Smelting
 Roasting coffee and peanut for commercial purposes.
 Separation of Beeswax and capping
 Wax melting
 Sterilization of Medical apparatus
 Grain Sterilization
  Ironing
 Water Purification
 Dehydration

1. Water Distillation:-
We use this setup for distillation of water also. With the help of a parabolic cooker along with a
distiller setup above the pot receptacle for keeping the water constantly boiling.

2. Solar Smelting:-
This setup in large scale industries can also achieve high temperatures which are more than 2400
C with the help of a solar concentrator and which can melt iron.

3. Roasting Coffee and Peanut for commercial purposes:-

Usage of solar cooker can help in efficient use of renewable energy for roasting of consumption
items such as coffee beans, peanuts, popcorn.

4. Separation of Beeswax and melting capping:-

This process usually prefer solar cooker because it is natural and won’t damage sensitive food
products such as in honey manufacturing. Separating the beeswax and melting the capping is
done using this method.

5. Wax Melting:-
Commercial usage of melting and repurposing wax from the leftover wax and waste wax is done
using the solar cooker.

6. Sterilization of Medical apparatus:-

Nowadays, medical industry is becoming efficient in utilizing the solar energy. Doctors use
panel style cookers and solar ovens for sterilizing instruments such as needles, gauge bandages
and prevent the spreading of infection and diseases.

7. Grain Sterilization:-
The more effective way of sterilization of grain is done by using solar oven to kill bugs and
weevil which may have infested the grain.

8. Ironing:-
Usage of that old style hot irons are not ideal now compared to heating the iron on parabolic
cooker which gets hot enough and fast enough for ironing purposes.
9. Water Purification:-
Solar cookers are used all around the world for purification of water and pasteurization on a
larger scale. Water is heated for domestic purposes like bathing, washing clothes or doing dishes.

10. Dehydration:-
For domestic use, such as dehydrating food in a solar box style in which the vents are partially
open for circulation of air and also the lid/door are partially open to prevent from excess heating.