Induction cooking .. energy efficiency ..

Induction cooking (or magnetic induction cooking) was a totally new experience for me at home.

Due to the recent strike by the Gas cylinder transporters, the gas cylinder refill did not come to my home on time. I was forced to buy a new cooking contraption. Since I had got fed up of electric coil heaters which was a guzzler of electrical energy and bloated electricity bills at the end of the month, I was hesitant to buy the same.

Even though I had not tried  an induction heater till then, I thought of giving it a try ..

Bought a pigeon induction cooktop. We got a steel base cookware free with the stove. That helped us on the first day to do basic cooking with rice, pooris, cooking basic vegetables etc..,. We had to buy a tawa to be able to make chappathis and dosas. I found that any steel base vessel could do the cooking well.

The electro magnetic field produced in the coil inside the stove, induces an electric current in the steel vessel (in which we cook)  which causes the atoms in the steel vessel body to vibrate and heat up the vessel. ie. there is no other heating other than by atoms inside the vessel body. Therefore the heat lost to the surroundings is less. It is said that in terms of thermal efficiency, an induction cooktop has 90% efficiency, while an electric heater gives 55% efficiency and a gas cooking top has 50% efficiency.

Here are some links which gives some idea of this..

The other advantages are that the cleanup of the outside of the vessel is nil as there is no heating or deposition of soot or anything of that sort. Only the base of the vessel is heated, so even a very hot vessel can be removed with plain hands off the stove. A different cooking experience. The microwave oven has an efficient cooker at 64%. The induction cooker thus tops the available cooking media in efficiency and convenience.

http://www.hk-phy.org/energy/domestic/print/cook_phy_print_e.html

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/40784/induction-cooktop-comparison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

ge..