Device and method for controlling energy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9609692-B2
Application number	US-201213645625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2012
Priority date	Nov 10, 2009
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for applying EM energy to a load. The apparatuses and methods may include at least one processor configured to receive information indicative of energy dissipated by the load for each of a plurality of modulation space elements. The processor may also be configured to associate each of the plurality of modulation space elements with a corresponding time duration of power application, based on the received information. The processor may be further configured to regulate energy applied to the load such that for each of the plurality of modulation space elements, power is applied to the load at the corresponding time duration of power application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of heating a load in a cavity by irradiating the load using two radiating elements, the method comprising:
receiving feedback from the cavity indicative of an amount of energy absorbable by the load;
after receiving the feedback, determining, based on the received feedback, a plurality of phase differences between radiation emitted by the two radiating elements; and
irradiating the load using the two radiating elements with radiation characterized by each of the determined plurality of phase differences.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the load using the two radiating elements with radiation characterized by each of the determined phase differences includes sweeping over the determined plurality of phase differences.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
determining the plurality of phase differences includes determining the plurality of phase differences such that feedback from the cavity indicative of energy absorbable by the load associated with each of the determined phase differences is above a predetermined level.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the load includes controlling an amount of energy applied at each of the plurality of phase differences based on the feedback received from the cavity.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving feedback includes:
irradiating the load with the two radiating elements at multiple phase differences,
receiving feedback indicative of energy absorption in the load in response to the irradiation at each of the multiple phase differences, and
determining values indicative of the amount of energy absorbable by the load based on the feedback at each of the multiple phase differences.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the load includes irradiating at the determined plurality of phase differences for a plurality of non-zero durations.

7. The method of claim 5 , comprising associating each of the determined plurality of phase differences with a respective non-zero time duration of power application, based on the feedback received at the respective phase differences.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising determining the non-zero time duration based on the determined values indicative of the amount of energy absorbable by the load for radiation applied at each of the plurality of phase differences.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the load comprises irradiating at the determined plurality of phase differences at a plurality of non-zero power levels.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising determining the plurality of non-zero power levels based on values indicative of energy absorbable by the load at each of the determined plurality of phase differences.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein receiving feedback indicative of energy absorption in the load includes measuring a reflected-coupled spectrum (RC spectrum).

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback indicative of an amount of energy absorbable by the load includes a dissipation ratio.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedback indicative of an amount of energy absorbable by the load includes dissipation ratio values associated with multiple phase differences.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two radiating elements are configured to transmit in unison.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the two radiating elements are configured to transmit in unison at a controlled phase difference.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of phase differences includes determining the plurality of phase differences such that a maximum power that can be dissipated in the load at each of the determined phase differences exceeds a threshold value.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the load comprises irradiating at a plurality of frequencies.

18. An apparatus for heating a load in a cavity by irradiating the load using two radiating elements, the apparatus comprising a controller configured to:
receive feedback from the cavity indicative of an amount of energy absorbable by the load;
after receiving the feedback, determine, based on the received feedback, a plurality of phase differences between radiation emitted by the two radiating elements; and
cause the two radiating elements to irradiate the load with radiation characterized by each of the determined plurality of phase differences.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to control the irradiation of the load by sweeping over the determined plurality of phase differences.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the plurality of phase differences such that feedback from the cavity indicative of energy absorbable by the load associated with each of the determined phase differences is above a predetermined level.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the controller is configured to cause application of the determined plurality of phase differences sequentially.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the apparatus to:
irradiate the load with the two radiating elements at multiple phase differences,
receive feedback indicative of energy absorption in the load in response to the irradiation at the multiple phase differences, and
determine values indicative of the amount of energy absorbable by the load based on the feedback at each of the multiple phase differences.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the apparatus to irradiate at the determined plurality of phase differences for a plurality of non-zero durations.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the plurality of non-zero durations based on values indicative of the amount energy absorbable by the load for radiation applied at each of multiple phase differences.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the apparatus to irradiate the load at the determined plurality of phase differences at a plurality of non-zero power levels.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine the plurality of non-zero power levels based on the values indicative of energy absorbable by the load at the determined plurality of phase differences.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the controller is configured to receive feedback indicative of energy absorption in the load by measuring a reflected-coupled spectrum (RC spectrum).

28. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the two radiating elements are configured to transmit in unison.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the controller is configured to control a phase difference between the two radiating elements.

30. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the plurality of phase differences such that a maximum power that can be dissipated in the load at each of the phase differences exceeds a threshold value.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 , wherein the threshold value is substantially the same for all the determined phase differences.

32. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the plurality of phase differences such that a time period required for a predetermined amount of ener

Assignees

• Goji Ltd

Inventors

• Bilchinsky Alexander
• Ben-Shmuel Eran
• Einziger Pinchas
• Rappel Amit

Classifications

• H05B6/688

  for thawing · CPC title

• H05B6/705 Primary

  using microwave tuning · CPC title

• H05B6/686 Primary

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

• 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