High-frequency treatment device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12507328-B2
Application number	US-202117758575-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2021
Priority date	Feb 21, 2020
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

This high-frequency treatment device includes: a heating chamber configured to accommodate a heating target; a high-frequency power generator; a feeder; a detector; a controller; and a storage. The high-frequency power generator generates high-frequency power having a frequency in a predetermined frequency band. The feeder supplies incident microwave power corresponding to the high-frequency power to the heating chamber. The detector detects at least one of the incident microwave power and reflected microwave power that is included in the incident microwave power and returns from the heating chamber to the feeder. The controller controls heating of the heating target by controlling the high-frequency power generator. The storage stores, together with time elapsed from the start of heating, information detected by the detector. The controller causes the high-frequency power generator to repeatedly generate, on a per frequency basis, the high-frequency power having a plurality of frequencies for the heating. The controller properly controls heating of the heating target on the basis of a temporal change in one of the reflected microwave power, a reflection ratio, and a microwave power difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A high-frequency treatment device comprising:
a heating chamber configured to accommodate a heating target; a high-frequency power generator operable to generate high-frequency power having a frequency selected from a predetermined frequency band; a feeder configured to supply incident microwave power corresponding to the high- frequency power to the heating chamber; a detector operable to detect at least one of the incident microwave power and reflected microwave power that is included in the incident microwave power and returns from the heating chamber to the feeder; a controller operable to control heating of the heating target by controlling the high- frequency power generator; and a storage operable to store, together with the frequency of the high-frequency power and time elapsed from a start of heating, information detected by the detector, wherein the controller is operable to cause the high-frequency power generator to repeatedly generate, on a per frequency basis, the high-frequency power having a plurality of frequencies for the heating, the controller is operable to determine a state of the heating target on the basis of one of temporal changes in the reflected microwave power at the plurality of frequencies, a temporal changes in a reflection ratio at the plurality of frequencies, and temporal changes in a microwave power difference at the plurality of frequencies, and control the heating, the reflection ratio being a ratio of the reflected microwave power to the incident microwave power, the microwave power difference being a difference between the incident microwave power and the reflected microwave power, and the temporal changes in the reflected microwave power at the plurality of frequencies, the temporal changes in the reflection ratio at the plurality of frequencies, and the temporal changes in the microwave power difference at the plurality of frequencies, are obtained based on information from the detector and the storage.

2 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to end the heating of the heating target when an amount of reduction in the temporal changes in one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio within a predetermined time exceeds a predetermined threshold value after the temporal changes in the one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio has a local maximum value.

3 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, as being caused by evaporation of water from the heating target, a change in which the temporal changes in one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio slows down.

4 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, when the temporal changes in one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio slows down after the one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio increases, decreases, and then increases again, that evaporation of water from the heating target has occurred.

5 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, as a time slot in which the heating target releases latent heat, a time slot in which the temporal changes in one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio is small after a time slot in which the temporal changes in the one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio is great.

6 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, as stabilization of a surface state of the heating target, an increase in a degree of overlap between the temporal changes in one of the reflected microwave power and the reflection ratio at the plurality of frequencies.

7 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining a state of the heating target on the basis of a phenomenon in which an order of frequencies arranged in a descending order of the reflection ratio among the plurality of frequencies is reversed as time elapses.

8 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, on the basis of a change in which the microwave power difference increases with time after the temporal changes in the microwave power difference has a local minimum value, that a small quantity of the heating target is being defrosted.

9 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, on the basis of a change in which the microwave power difference decreases with time and the temporal changes in the microwave power difference at each of the plurality of frequencies becomes constant, that a large quantity of the heating target is being defrosted.

10 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, on the basis of a change in which the microwave power difference decreases with time and microwave power differences at the plurality of frequencies approach each other with time, that the heating target that contains a large amount of water is being defrosted.

11 . The high-frequency treatment device according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is operable to control the heating by determining, on the basis of a change in which the microwave power difference decreases with time after the temporal changes in the microwave power difference has a local maximum value, that the heating target is boiling.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakamura Hideki
• Hosokawa Daisuke
• Oomori Yoshiharu
• Maeda Kazuki
• Uno Takashi

Classifications

• H05B6/70

  Feed lines · CPC title

• H05B6/688

  for thawing · CPC title

• H05B6/705

  using microwave tuning · CPC title

• H05B6/686 Primary

  Circuits comprising a signal generator and power amplifier, e.g. using solid state oscillators · CPC title