Microwave heating apparatus with dual level cavity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10129936-B2
Application number	US-201213716769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2012
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a microwave heating apparatus and method of heating a load using microwaves. The microwave heating apparatus comprises a cavity dividable into at least two compartments, a first microwave generator and a first feeding port for feeding a first mode field in a first compartment of the cavity, a second microwave generator and a second feeding port for feeding a second mode field in a second compartment of the cavity. The first mode field and the second mode field provide complementary heating patterns in the cavity when the cavity is undivided. The present disclosure provides the flexibility of heating a load in a large cavity or heating a plurality of loads in smaller compartments of the cavity while still providing even heating in the cavity and in the compartments.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A microwave heating apparatus comprising:
a cavity dividable into at least a first compartment for heating a first meal in the first compartment and a second compartment for heating a second meal in the second compartment, each of the first and second compartments having selectable dimensions, and having a set of divider holding means configured to receive and position a divider at different heights in the cavity;
a first microwave generator and a pair of first feeding ports coupled to the first microwave generator to feed a first mode field in the first compartment of said cavity; and
a second microwave generator operable independently from the first microwave generator and a pair of second feeding ports coupled to the second microwave generator to feed a second mode field in the second compartment of said cavity;
wherein the microwave heating apparatus is operable to feed the cavity with the first mode field from the first microwave generator, the second mode field from the second microwave generator, and both the first mode field from the first microwave generator and the second mode field from the second microwave generator simultaneously;
wherein when the cavity is divided the heating apparatus is configured to independently heat the first meal from the first mode field and the second meal from the second mode field, and when the cavity is divided, at least one of the divider holding means or divider attenuates transmission of the first mode field to the second compartment and the second mode field to the first compartment; and
wherein the pair of first feeding ports and the pair of second feeding ports are arranged such that the first and second mode fields provide complementary heating patterns in the cavity when the cavity is undivided.

2. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set of divider holding means is configured to hold the divider for partitioning the cavity into said first and second compartments.

3. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the divider includes at least one edge configured with a seal.

4. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said divider is horizontally arranged in said cavity.

5. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 3 wherein the seal comprises a dielectric material.

6. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the divider includes a dielectric plate for supporting a load.

7. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to control at least one of the frequency, the phase, and the amplitude of the power from the first and second microwave generators.

8. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said first and second microwave generators are frequency-controllable microwave sources.

9. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said first and second microwave generators are solid state microwave generators.

10. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is dividable vertically in a height direction of the cavity.

11. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first compartment is a lower compartment of the cavity, and the second compartment is an upper compartment of the cavity, wherein the pair of first feeding ports is positioned to provide the first mode field in the lower compartment of the cavity and the pair of second feeding ports is positioned to provide the second mode field in the upper compartment of the cavity.

12. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the pair of second feeding ports is positioned at opposing side walls and face each other at the upper compartment of the cavity.

13. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set of holding means is positioned along a height direction of the cavity at a height determined based on a boundary condition for the first and second mode fields.

14. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the divider includes a serpentine at an edge thereof.

15. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 14 wherein the serpentine extends upwardly relative to the cavity.

16. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 14 wherein the serpentine extends downwardly relative to the cavity.

17. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a first frequency of the first microwave generator and a second frequency of the second microwave generator, wherein each of the first and second frequencies occur at one of 915 MHz or 2450 MHz or 5800 MHz or 22.125 GHz.

18. A microwave heating apparatus comprising:
a cavity dividable into at least a first compartment for heating a first meal in the first compartment and a second compartment for heating a second meal in the second compartment, each of the first and second compartments having selectable dimensions;
a set of divider holding means configured to receive and position at least one removable partition at different heights in the cavity;
a first microwave generator and a pair of first feeding ports coupled to the first microwave generator to feed a first mode field in the first compartment of said cavity; and
a second microwave generator operable independently from the first microwave generator and a pair of second feeding ports coupled to the second microwave generator to feed a second mode field in the second compartment of said cavity;
wherein when the cavity is divided by the at least one removable partition, the heating apparatus is configured to simultaneously heat the first meal from only the first mode field and the second meal from only the second mode field, and when the cavity is divided, at least one of the divider holding means or divider attenuates transmission of the first mode field to the second compartment and the second mode field to the first compartment; and
wherein the pair of first feeding ports and the pair of second feeding ports are arranged such that the first and second mode fields provide complementary heating patterns in the cavity when the cavity is undivided.

19. The microwave heating apparatus of claim 18 wherein the cavity is divided when the at least one removable partition is received by the cavity and wherein the cavity is undivided when the at least one removable partition is removed from the cavity.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Carlsson Hakan
• Chen Juan
• Hallgren Fredrik
• Nordh Ulf
• Rydin Patrik

Classifications

• H05B6/70

  Feed lines · CPC title

• H05B2206/044

  Microwave heating devices provided with two or more magnetrons or microwave sources of other kind · CPC title

• H05B6/6402 Primary

  Aspects relating to the microwave cavity · CPC title

• H05B6/80 Primary

  Apparatus for specific applications (stoves or ranges F24C7/02) · CPC title