Apparatus for simultaneously heating a plurality of food products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10638558-B2
Application number	US-201715430579-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2017
Priority date	Apr 8, 2016
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus for simultaneously heating a plurality of food products, comprising: a containment structure forming a housing chamber; one or more separating elements mounted in the housing chamber to delimit a plurality of separate housing compartments for receiving the food products; radio frequency dielectric heating means with an operating frequency of between 1 MHz and 300 MHz, mounted in the containment structure and comprising at least one first electrode and one second electrode; wherein the housing compartments are aligned along a row, the first electrode and the second electrode delimiting on two opposite sides the row; and wherein inside the housing chamber, between the first electrode and the second electrode, there is also at least one inductor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for simultaneously heating a plurality of food products, comprising:
a containment structure that inside it forms a housing chamber and that is equipped with at least one openable and closable access door for allowing or not access from the outside to the housing chamber;
one or more separating elements mounted in the housing chamber, the separating elements delimiting in the housing chamber a plurality of separate housing compartments for receiving the food products;
radio frequency dielectric heating means, mounted in the containment structure and, in turn, comprising at least one first electrode and one second electrode, and a power supply electrically connected to them for applying between the first electrode and the second electrode a variable electric potential difference with an operating frequency of between 1 MHz and 300 MHz;
wherein
the housing compartments are aligned along a first direction and form a row of housing compartments that extends from a first housing compartment to a final housing compartment;
the one or more separating elements extend mainly perpendicularly to the first direction;
the first electrode and the second electrode each extend mainly in a plane perpendicular to the first direction, face each other and the one or more separating elements and delimit on two opposite sides the row of housing compartments;
the separating elements are positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode;
the first housing compartment is delimited, on two opposite sides, respectively by the first electrode and by a separating element;
the final housing compartment is delimited, on two opposite sides, respectively by the second electrode and by a separating element; and
inside the housing chamber, between the first electrode and the second electrode, there is also at least one inductor.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one inductor is made and positioned in such a way as to be affected by a variable electromagnetic field that is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode when they are powered by the power supply at the operating frequency and in such a way as to be an inductive electric load for the power supply.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one inductor comprises a coil of externally insulated electric conductor wire.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the coil is wound around a main axis that is parallel to the first direction.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, relative to the variable electromagnetic field that is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode powered by the power supply at the operating frequency, the at least one inductor has an impedance whose imaginary part has an absolute value of between 0.5 and 2 times the absolute value
of an imaginary part of an impedance of, in use, each of the one or more separating elements.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one inductor is an inductor with adjustable inductance.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising a motor-driven device for adjusting the inductance of the at least one inductor, and an electronic control system operatively connected to the motor-driven device for controlling and checking operation of the motor-driven device.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one inductor is positioned within a first separating element.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first separating element comprises a first conductive element and a second conductive element which extend mainly perpendicularly to the first direction, which are held at a distance from each other along the first direction and which are facing two adjacent housing compartments that are separated by the first separating element, the at least one inductor being electrically connected in series between the first conductive element and the second conductive element.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein at least one inductor is disposed within each separating element.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a refrigerating circuit associated with the housing chamber for refrigerating the housing chamber.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the refrigerating circuit comprises at least one evaporator positioned in at least one of the one or more separating elements.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the separating elements are movable for varying the dimensions of the individual housing compartments.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of either the first electrode or the second electrode is movable relative to the other for varying the distance between them along the first direction.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein all of the housing compartments are either the same size along the first direction or the same three-dimensional size.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, relative to the variable electromagnetic field that is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode powered by the power supply device at the operating frequency, the at least one inductor has an impedance whose imaginary part has an absolute value, where there are two or more separating elements present, of between 0.5 and 2 times the absolute value of an imaginary part of an impedance of, in use, jointly a plurality of separating elements.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, relative to the variable electromagnetic field that is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode powered by the power supply device at the operating frequency, the at least one inductor has an impedance whose imaginary part has an absolute value of between 0.5 and 2 times the absolute value of an imaginary part of a total impedance that, in use, is present between the first electrode and the second electrode.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, relative to the variable electromagnetic field that is generated between the first electrode and the second electrode powered by the power supply device at the operating frequency, the at least one inductor has an impedance whose imaginary part has an absolute value of between 0.5 and 2 times the absolute value of an imaginary part of an impedance equal to the total impedance which, in use, is present between the first electrode and the second electrode, divided by the number of housing compartments.

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Sclocchi Michele
• Rollet Christine
• Carcano Marco
• Bullo Marco
• Gambato Francesco

Classifications

• H05B6/62 Primary

  Apparatus for specific applications · CPC title

• H05B6/664 Primary

  Aspects related to the power supply of the microwave heating apparatus · CPC title

• F25D31/005

  Combined cooling and heating devices · CPC title

• F25D2400/02

  Refrigerators including a heater · CPC title