Numerical simulation and control strategies for energy reduction in domestic ovens

In recent decades, the increasing focus on energy efficiency and sustainability has led to stricter regulations on household appliance energy consumption. Electric ovens, although widely used, still show relatively low average efficiency (10–12%), mainly due to poor temperature uniformity and suboptimal control of heating elements. Since optimization through physical prototyping is costly and time-consuming, numerical modeling represents a strategic tool for performance analysis and improvement. The research is structured on two integrated levels. In the first phase, steady-state CFD simulations provide detailed maps of air temperature, velocity, and heat flux distribution within the oven cavity, accounting for convection, radiation, and conduction. Local heat transfer coefficients obtained from CFD are then used in a second phase within a dynamic model developed in MATLAB/Simulink. This model reproduces the transient behavior of the system using thermal nodes representing air, walls, heating elements, and the reference brick defined by EN 60350-1. The first case study examines an electromechanical oven equipped with a traditional thermostat. The model identified the heating elements as the main contributors to heat losses and accurately reproduced the cyclic temperature oscillations caused by on–off control. The second case study focuses on an electronically controlled oven and introduces an innovative optimization strategy. The cooking cycle is divided into three phases, during which each heating element operates at a specific percentage of its nominal power. The combined CFD and dynamic approach enabled the identification of an optimal control profile, achieving a 14% reduction in total energy consumption while maintaining equivalent thermal performance. Experimental validation confirmed the predictive accuracy of the model. A third study extends the CFD analysis by incorporating water evaporation phenomena and latent heat effects. Overall, the proposed methodology proves to be a reliable and effective tool for supporting design innovation and sustainable development in domestic ovens.