Microwave Tray Contoured Heating Surface for Irregular Food Shapes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Microwave oven packages struggle to maintain the shape and achieve thorough heating with browning and crisping of food items with irregular surfaces, as they tend to warp during freezing, leading to inadequate contact and uneven cooking results.
Innovation Solution
The development of microwave energy interactive trays with elevated portions and venting channels that accommodate irregular food shapes, bringing microwave-enhancing features closer to the food surface and allowing moisture to escape, enhancing browning and crisping. These trays are designed with specific elevation patterns, spacing, and configurations tailored to the food item's characteristics, using materials like susceptor films to convert microwave energy into heat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional flat microwave trays are used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but they cannot accommodate irregularly shaped food items that warp during freezing, resulting in inadequate contact and uneven heating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature by providing a tray with a contoured heating surface that includes raised portions and recesses matching the curved, domed, or bowed shapes of frozen food items. This curved surface design allows the tray to conform to irregular food geometries, ensuring adequate contact between the microwave-enhancing material and the food surface for uniform heating.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by creating specific raised portions and recesses at different locations on the heating surface, each tailored to accommodate particular features of the food item. The microwave-enhancing material is strategically positioned in these localized regions to target specific areas requiring enhanced heating or browning.
2Manufacturing precision
If the tray surface is made flat and simple, then manufacturing is easier, but insufficient contact is achieved with domed or bowed food surfaces, preventing thorough heating and browning
Solution Approach 1:
The contoured heating surface with its raised portions and recesses is formed using conventional forming techniques that create the necessary curvature to match food item shapes. This approach achieves uniform contact without requiring overly complex manufacturing processes.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If microwave-enhancing material is placed directly on a flat tray, then the structure is simple, but moisture trapped during heating prevents effective browning and crisping of the food surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts harmful moisture from the heating environment by incorporating venting channels and apertures in the tray structure. These features allow moisture generated during heating to escape from between the food item and the microwave-enhancing material, preventing steam accumulation that would otherwise inhibit browning and crisping.
Solution Approach 2:
The venting channels utilize fluid dynamics principles to facilitate moisture removal through controlled airflow paths. The channels are designed to efficiently channel moisture vapor away from the food-tray interface, enhancing the drying and browning effects during microwave heating.
4Reliability
If elevated portions are added to bring microwave-enhancing features closer to food, then heating effectiveness improves, but the tray structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The elevated portions are integrated into the contoured heating surface design, using curvature and shaping techniques that achieve the necessary elevation to bring microwave-enhancing material closer to food surfaces while maintaining manufacturability through conventional forming processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The trays effectively maintain the food's original shape, ensure thorough heating, and promote browning and crisping by maintaining close contact with the food surface and venting moisture, resulting in improved cooking outcomes for irregularly shaped food items.
Implementation Method 1
materials like susceptor films to convert microwave energy into heat
Data Source
Figure 1A~1D
Figure 1E~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
A tray (2200) for heating, browning, and/or crisping a food item in a microwave oven comprises a substantially planar base (2202), a platform (2208) extending upwardly from the base, and a microwave energy interactive element overlying at least a portion of the platform.