Improved uniformity of microwave heating by control of the depth of a load in a container
US4990735A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 1, 1989 |
| Grant date | Feb 5, 1991 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 1, 2009 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S99/14
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A product comprises a shallow container and a load located therein for heating by microwave energy. This product is designed either to be used with, or itself to incorporate, a structure for generating or enhancing at least one mode of the microwave energy of an order higher than a fundamental mode that is determined by boundary conditions resulting from the lateral dimensions of either the container of the load or both. The invention resides in controlling the depth of the load in the container in such a manner that, upon irradiation of the product with the microwave energy, the power absorbed by the load from a higher order mode is at or near a maximum value, while preferably the power absorbed by the load from the fundamental mode is at or near a minimum value. Since uneven heating would ordinarily be associated with the predominance of a fundamental mode, the result of this invention is to increase the intensity of a higher order mode relative to the fundamental mode intensity, and thus provide improved microwave heating uniformity.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.