345results about "Dielectric heating circuits" patented technology

A food product is heated by maintaining the food product in an AC electrical field generated by an RF signal. As the heating takes place, maximum energy is delivered to the food product using automatic impedance matching to adjust the rate of the process.

A microwave oven and a method for heating a load which is placed therein. According to the invention a predetermined mode in the cavity of a microwave oven is fed by means of an associated feeding port which is arranged to feed essentially the intended mode only, the feeding of a mode other than the intended, predetermined mode being essentially prevented.

RF energy provided by electrodes positioned between a product is used to heat a product that exhibits a variable impedance during the heating process. As the product's impedance changes during the heating process, RF heating system impedance can be maintained constant by adjusting the distance between the electrodes, adjusting the impedance of a variable impedance device connected between the RF power source and an electrode, or a combination of electrode distance adjustment and impedance adjustment of the variable impedance device. The system is particularly applicable to the heating or pasteurization of bulk food products with multiple heating zones.

A cooking apparatus, cooking system, and cooking control method using a bar code, in which automatic cooking of food is performed when the bar code attached to a package of the food is lost or damaged. The cooking apparatus for cooking food using cooking data includes a memory for storing identification data and cooking data of the food; an image capture device for obtaining an image of the food; and a controller for identifying the food by comparing the image of the food to the identification data of the food, stored in the memory, obtaining the cooking data of the identified food, and controlling the cooking apparatus so that the cooking of the food is performed based on the cooking data.

Method, apparatus and systems for predicting the cooking time of an item food includes predicting the cooking time based on the rate of change of the internal temperature of the food item. The apparatus includes a processor that implements the calculations and the system may include the apparatus along with a temperature sensor.

An electromagnetic heater for heating an irregularly shaped object, including:a cavity within which an object is to be placed;at least one feed which feeds UHF or microwave energy into the cavity; anda controller that controls one or more characteristics of the cavity or energy to assure that the UHF or microwave energy is deposited uniformly in the object within ±30% over at least 80% of the volume of the object.

A microwave oven, a relay box communicating with the microwave oven and a personal computer communicating with the relay box are provided in private. The personal computer is connected to a host computer storing home page information, through the public Internet. A home page storing unit of the host computer stores, corresponding to each of a plurality of cooking recipes, recipe data directly recognized by microwave oven including heating control data for heating and cooking the cooking recipe by the microwave oven, a button to be operated for transferring the recipe data through the Internet to personal computer and image display data for displaying information related to the cooking recipe as a home page image display. Therefore, in accordance with the heating control data downloaded and supplied to personal computer, microwave oven is controlled to heat and cook the desired cooking recipe.

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for data transmitting / receiving between a microwave oven and an information appliance PDA. The apparatus includes a wireless data transmitting / receiving unit for conducting wireless data communication with an external system including an information appliance; a data storage unit for storing transmitted / received data through the wireless data transmitting / receiving unit and / or downloaded data from Internet; a display unit for displaying transmitted data from the wireless data transmitting / receiving unit; a load drive unit for driving a magnetron and / or a heater; and Micom interfaced with the above elements, and interpreting the transmitted data from the wireless data transmitting / receiving unit and / or checking a state of the microwave oven, and controlling the wireless data transmitting / receiving unit to transmit the data on the state of the microwave oven to an information appliance. According to the invention, although the microwave oven does not include built-in networked communication equipment like a modem, it can interface with Internet through an information appliance, a PDA for example, which download data and transmits to the microwave oven. Thus, increase in price of the microwave oven with the modem is minimized and user interface is provided. Also, repair cost of the microwave oven can be minimized by checking the microwave based on the data on the internal state of the microwave being transmitted to the PDA.

Systems and methods for monitoring conditions that affect the quality of food being served. Conditions such as temperature and elapsed time affect the quality of food and the safety of food consumers. Various embodiments of monitoring systems can be incorporated with different types of food containers. Sensors such as temperature probes can provide temperature information about the container and / or the food being served. The monitoring system can use such information in conjunction with elapsed time information in various ways. The monitored information can be displayed generally “real-time,” or it can be stored for subsequent analysis. The monitored information can also be used to trigger an alarm or similar indicator when a condition detrimental to food-serving is present. Various embodiments of the monitoring system having such features can be packaged in various embodiments, including a self-contained unit and an assembly of modular components linked by wire and / or wireless connections.

A method and apparatus for adaptively maintaining the power-frequency spectrum in a reverberation chamber. The invention is thus capable of maintaining a relatively constant power-frequency spectrum in the chamber even when a device under examination is placed into the chamber which exhibits selective frequency absorption and or directional frequency absorption. The object disposed within the chamber need not necessarily be a device under examination. Rather, the present invention can also adaptively maintain a relatively constant power-frequency spectrum when heating any material disposed within a electromagnetic wave chamber.

Systems and methods for monitoring conditions that affect the quality of food being served. Conditions such as temperature and elapsed time affect the quality of food and the safety of food consumers. Various embodiments of monitoring systems can be incorporated with different types of food containers. Sensors such as temperature probes can provide temperature information about the container and / or the food being served. The monitoring system can use such information in conjunction with elapsed time information in various ways. The monitored information can be displayed generally “real-time,” or it can be stored for subsequent analysis. The monitored information can also be used to trigger an alarm or similar indicator when a condition detrimental to food-serving is present. Various embodiments of the monitoring system having such features can be packaged in various embodiments, including a self-contained unit and an assembly of modular components linked by wire and / or wireless connections.

An automated cooking system (10) cooks food (12) accompanied by machine-readable indicia, such as a bar code (16) read by a reader (18). Cooking data, including function coefficients, are accessed from an Internet server (20) based on the information in the bar code. An oven (40) cooks the food in phases in response to the cooking data and one or more monitored food parameters of humidity, temperature and weight. The cooking is controlled by functions in which one or more food parameters are multiplied by coefficients that vary according to food type.

The invention provides a pressure controlled device and a system for managing the heating time of a pressure controlled device. The system includes a sensing device that allows the timing of a heating period for the pressure controlled device based on temperature and / or pressure values sensed inside the pressure controlled device. A RFID tag is coupled to the sensing device and is operable for generating timing information. The sensing device and the RFID tag are powered by a nano electromechanical (NEM) device that is operable by a source of pressurized air.

A food product is heated by maintaining the food product in an AC electrical field generated by an RF signal. As the heating takes place, maximum energy is delivered to the food product using automatic impedance matching to adjust the rate of the process.

A temperature control device which can control the temperature of an object to be processed even after supply of radio waves or electromagnetic waves from a high-frequency heating apparatus is stopped. The temperature control device includes a temperature sensor detecting the temperature of the object to be processed heated by radio waves generated from the high-frequency heating apparatus, a signal processing circuit comparing the temperature detected by the temperature sensor with a standard temperature, a rechargeable battery charged by electric energy generated by reception of the radio waves by an antenna, a charging circuit controlling charging of the rechargeable battery, and a heater supplied with electric power from the rechargeable battery to heat the object to be processed so that the temperature thereof gets closer to the standard temperature, in accordance with a comparison result by the signal processing circuit.

A method for temperature measurement in a household appliance includes generating a high-frequency electromagnetic excitation wave of a predefined transmit frequency. The transmit frequency is selected from a frequency band including temperature-dependent resonant frequencies that occur in a surface wave device incorporated in a temperature measuring probe and which respectively correspond to temperatures expected at the temperature measuring probe during operation of the household appliance. During a first phase, the excitation wave is wirelessly transmitting to the surface wave device. During a second phase following the first phase, an electromagnetic response wave generated by the excitation wave in the surface wave device is wirelessly transmitting to a processing unit. Signal levels of response signals generated from response waves of different transmit frequencies are measured and compared to determine the current temperature of the surface wave device based on the transmit frequency associated with the highest signal level.

A method and apparatus for adaptively maintaining the power-frequency spectrum in a reverberation chamber. The invention is thus capable of maintaining a relatively constant power-frequency spectrum in the chamber even when a device under examination is placed into the chamber which exhibits selective frequency absorption and or directional frequency absorption. The object disposed within the chamber need not necessarily be a device under examination. Rather, the present invention can also adaptively maintain a relatively constant power-frequency spectrum when heating any material disposed within a electromagnetic wave chamber.

A microwave cooking appliance includes an oven cavity, a magnetron and a load sensing system. The load sensing system is used to detects the presence of a load in the oven cavity by introducing a high frequency energy burst into the oven cavity, with the energy burst being reflected back. A controller, based on a time period between emitted and reflected signals, determines whether a load is present in the oven cavity. If no load is present, operation of the magnetron is terminated. Preferably, the high frequency energy burst is an ultrasonic acoustic frequency energy burst in a range between approximately 10 kHz and 100 kHz.

The present invention relates to an improved reactor, which allows microwave-assisted processing of feedstocks or mixtures of hydrocarbons, and the operating system thereof, which operates under high temperatures and pressures of hydrogen or other gases, in continuous of batch mode. The invention relates to modifications in the geometric configuration of the reactor to process diverse hydrocarbon feedstocks, with or without the addition of catalysts, in the presence or absence of hydrogen or other gases, forming a system which includes a reaction vessel and associated devices, so as to to allow better transmittance of the radiation onto the feedstock to be processed and guarantee maximum absorption of the microwaves by the the reaction medium irrespective of the composition thereof.

A microwave oven and method for heating a load using microwaves are provided. The microwave oven comprises a cavity adapted to receive a load. The cavity is designed to support at least two predefined mode fields. For each predefined mode field, a resonance frequency in the cavity is known. Further, the microwave oven comprises a frequency-controllable microwave source for feeding microwaves into the cavity via at least one feeding port. The method comprises the steps of measuring a signal reflected from the cavity as a function of the operating frequency of the microwave source and identifying resonance frequencies in the cavity based on the measured signal. Further, the method comprises the steps of selecting, for the predefined modes, at least two of the identified resonance frequencies based on the known resonance frequencies and switching the operating frequency of the microwave source using the selected frequencies. The present invention is advantageous in that it enables uniform heating of the load in the cavity.

Disclosed herein is a cooking apparatus and cooking system which allows a user to change cooking information that is suitable to the preferences of the user and the amount of food when cooking food using automatic cooking information, and a cooking control method using the same. The cooking apparatus using automatic cooking information includes an automatic cooking information acquisition unit for acquiring the automatic cooking information; an automatic cooking information change unit for allowing a user to change the acquired automatic cooking information; and a control unit for controlling a series of cooking operations on the basis of the changed cooking information. The cooking system that uses automatic cooking information includes an external terminal for acquiring the automatic cooking information and transmitting the automatic cooking information to a cooking apparatus; an automatic cooking information change unit for allowing a user to change the transmitted automatic cooking information; and a control unit for controlling a series of cooking operations on the basis of the changed cooking information.

The invention is a method and associated instrument for microwave assisted chemistry. The invention includes the steps of directing a continuous flow of fluid through a microwave cavity while applying microwave radiation to the cavity and to the continuous flow of materials therein, monitoring the pressure of the fluid in the cavity; and cooling the fluid in the cavity when the pressure exceeds a predetermined setpoint pressure.

A microwave oven and method are described wherein the microwave oven includes an interface unit interfacing with a plug and play drive to read out cooking information stored in the drive that does not necessitate a separate recognition device. The drive has a large storage capacity and a fast processing rate. The microwave oven also includes a display unit displaying the cooking information, a key input unit selecting one or more pieces of cooking information from the cooking information displayed on the display unit, and a control unit controlling the cooking information stored in the USB drive to be read out and displayed on the display unit through the interface unit, and controlling cooking on the basis of cooking information selected through the key input unit. The microwave oven conveniently and rapidly stores and executes various large-sized cooking information without an additional recognition device.

A process and apparatus for removing moisture from a material, without spoiling the processed product, through the implementation of microwave irradiation heating, drying, dehydration, curing, disinfection, pasteurization, sterilization or vaporization or any combination thereof. The process and apparatus provide for a controlled processing of planar material, a combination of materials organic or inorganic, in natural or processed form, in sheet leaf, granular, prepared or transportable planar form.

A microwave apparatus and system that monitors the amount of food products within a cavity and adjust the microwave power provided to the cavity. The apparatus and system uses a product sensor system and a movement sensor system to accurately determine the product load in the microwave cavity. A computer controller, based on the product load information provided by the product sensor system and the movement sensor system, operates to adjust the amount of power provide to the microwave cavities by the microwave transmitters.

The present invention relates to an oven that includes radiant cooking elements, a microwave cooking element, as well as convection cooking heating elements. The cooking elements are controlled to provide reduced cooking time as compared to known radiant ovens, yet a wide variety of foods can be cooked in the oven. The oven is operable in a speedcooking mode wherein both radiant and microwave cooking elements are utilized, a microwave only cooking mode wherein only the magnetron is utilized, and a convection / bake mode wherein radiant and convection cooking elements are utilized.

Disclosed herein is a cooking apparatus and cooking system which allows a user to change cooking information that is suitable to the preferences of the user and the amount of food when cooking food using automatic cooking information, and a cooking control method using the same. The cooking apparatus using automatic cooking information includes an automatic cooking information acquisition unit for acquiring the automatic cooking information; an automatic cooking information change unit for allowing a user to change the acquired automatic cooking information; and a control unit for controlling a series of cooking operations on the basis of the changed cooking information. The cooking system that uses automatic cooking information includes an external terminal for acquiring the automatic cooking information and transmitting the automatic cooking information to a cooking apparatus; an automatic cooking information change unit for allowing a user to change the transmitted automatic cooking information; and a control unit for controlling a series of cooking operations on the basis of the changed cooking information.