JMPEE46 4 192wayne

Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, 46 (4), 2012, pp. 192-205.
A Publication of the International Microwave Power Institute
Combination Microwave Ovens: An Innovative Design Strategy

Wayne R. Tinga Formally at The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2G7 Ken Eke Apollo U.S.A. Inc. 256, Seaboard Lane, Suites 105 &106, Franklin, Tennessee, 37067, USA Received: September 27, 2012 Accepted: November 12, 2012
ABSTRACT Reducing the sensitivity of microwave oven heating and cooking performance to load volume, load placement and load properties has been a long-standing challenge for microwave and microwave-convection oven designers. Conventional design problem and solution methods are reviewed to provide greater insight into the challenge and optimum operation of a microwave oven after which a new strategy is introduced. In this methodology, a special load isolating and energy modulating device called a transducer-exciter is used containing an iris, a launch box, a phase, amplitude and frequency modulator and a coupling plate designed to provide spatially distributed coupling to the oven. This system, when applied to a combined microwave-convection oven, gives astounding performance improvements to all kinds of baked and roasted foods including sensitive items such as cakes and pastries, with the only compromise being a reasonable reduction in the maximum available microwave power. Large and small metal utensils can be used in the oven with minimal or no performance penalty on energy uniformity and cooking results. Cooking times are greatly reduced from those in conventional ovens while maintaining excellent cooking performance. KEYWORDS: Food safety, cooking performance, heating rate, non-uniform heating, domestic microwave oven. INTRODUCTION What is the problem? Sensitivity of microwave oven heating performance to load volume, load placement and load properties has been a persistent problem for microwave and combination oven designers and users [Rapuano and Smith, 1955; James et al., 1966; James et al., 1968; Hauck, 1970; Osepchuk, 1976; Kashyap and Wyslouzil, 1977; MacKay et al., 1980a; 1980b; 1976; 1979; Iwabuchi et al., 1996; Watanabe et al.,1978]. In the literature, there have been many discussions on this problem which may be summarized by quoting from Watanabe et al. [1978] who modeled the energy distribution in a microwave oven numerically and concluded the following, - quote: Uneven heating distribution pattern depends largely on the antenna location. Due to their high amplitudes, the higher propagating modes should not be omitted in the calculation of the heat distribution. 192
International Microwave Power Institute
Wayne R. Tinga and Ken Eke, Combination Microwave Ovens: An Innovative Design Strategy
The cut-off modes have been found to influence the distribution of power in the near field, and they should not be omitted in the calculation. It was found theoretically that the power density distribution varies greatly when the point of excitation is changed. It is difficult to produce uniform heat distribution in the oven only by selecting a proper location of a single antenna.
This quotation does not only highlight the fundamental problems of designing and achieving a desirable energy distribution, but also contain some clues as to what the solution should be. Advanced modeling techniques, though powerful and useful, have not given the design insight needed to overcome the energy non-uniformity problem. Optimizing microwave oven design is no simple task and many different viewpoints can be taken to try to understand the dynamic energy transfer mechanisms at work simultaneously in a microwave oven. However, the above observations validate the usefulness of this different heuristic design methodology which yields very significant microwave oven performance improvements, such as, greatly improved cooking performance and an amazing reduction in the ovens load sensitivity. UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM One of the main reasons for the conventional microwave ovens load sensitivity problem is the relatively direct coupling used between the magnetron source, a free-running oscillator, and the multimode oven cavity with its discrete spatial energy patterns. Each of these energy patterns can only be excited in an oven cavity at its distinct natural (or mode) frequency. That natural frequency is determined by
the cavity geometry and dimensions and is modified dynamically by varying load (food and utensil) properties such as its size, shape, composition and location within the oven. To deliver power to the cavity, most microwave oven systems employ a fixed feed or excitation system, (e.g., a waveguide) which results in effective power delivery to only those natural energy patterns which have their frequency and field orientation matched to that of the exciting field and have their maximum field strength location near the feed structure. At the same time, the actual oscillator source (magnetron) frequency and power level is determined by the load impedance it sees. Significant downward or upward shifts in the ovens natural energy pattern frequencies occur when loading the oven with any dielectric or conducting material [James et al., 1966; Mihran, 1978]. This is schematically depicted in Figure 1. Interestingly, Mihran [1978] shows that, while dielectric loading of a resonator normally reduces the resonant mode frequencies, it can also cause positive mode frequency shifts if the dielectric is lossy. This implies that, while lossless dielectric loading of an energy pattern lowers that patterns frequency and may push it below the lower source bandwidth edge, fmin, energy absorption by an oven load may push the energy pattern frequency back up into the source bandwidth. This is good news since, in practice, most heatable loads are lossy dielectrics and so the frequency response of a loaded oven may not be as different from its unloaded response as is often assumed, all other things being equal. In fact, the design for the transducer-exciter is based on the unloaded ovens frequency response. Subsequently it is concluded that, with a direct source to oven coupling approach, as the loads geometric, electrical, chemical and spatial properties change, so do the allowable energy patterns in the oven, their optimum field excitation locations and their 193
Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, 46 (4), 2012 International Microwave Power Institute
Figure 1. Frequency shifting of energy pattern with oven loading arrows depicts the natural energy pattern frequencies and the amplitudes are arbitrary.
excitation frequencies. Consequently, the ability of a fixed localized feed structure to couple to those spatially and spectrally changed energy patterns is severely limited resulting in extremely variable heating and efficiency performance. Mode or field stirrers are typically used to address this problem. On the use of mode stirrers, Kashyap et al. [1977] comment that the field stirrer distributes energy more uniformly by exciting new field patterns which vary as the stirrer rotates. It also tends to pull the magnetron frequency over a certain range (typically 4 MHz). Frequency pulling allows a higher order number of modes to exist in the oven... They also confirmed, what others already have shown [MacKay et al., 1980a; 1980b; 1976; 1979], that sweeping the frequency of the source is effective in obtaining a more uniform energy distribution. Commenting on their implementation of a multi-slot waveguide feed with a stirrer cyclically blocking alternate slots from radiating, they state: The location of the microwave source is effectively moved from one point to the other in the oven cavity during the heating period. [Kashyap and Wyslouzil, 1977]. Nevertheless, the actual effect of the mode stirrer, or modulator, seems to be poorly understood. Its effect and function are strongly dependent on its relative location, as will be shown. 194
Unfortunately, the use of a stirrer has not yet solved the problem of matching the magnetrons actual operating frequency to that of the ovens natural energy pattern frequencies which are strictly determined by the loaded or unloaded spatial configuration of the oven. And further, when the load changes, the oscillator changes its operating point causing it to change its output frequency and power level. To control this normally strong source to load interaction, decoupling or isolation of the magnetron source and the oven load must be implemented. To do this by the use of an isolator, even if its cost were very low, is not a good solution since it makes the magnetron oscillator see a fixed SWR load which causes the tube to operate at one fixed frequency which in turn may or may not coincide with the frequency of only one of the many allowed oven energy patterns. As the literature repeatedly shows [James et al., 1966; 1968; Hauck, 1970; Kashyap and Wyslouzil, 1977; MacKay et al., 1979; Mihran 1978], to obtain better energy distribution, power must be coupled to a timed sequence of these energy patterns at their unique but changing natural frequencies and at the right phase and amplitude. In the following analysis, the use of a standard magnetron source is assumed because of its commercial availability and its relative low cost.
Establishing an arbitrary timevariable load impedance for the magnetron will cause it to produce a time-varying output frequency at which it will deliver a phase and amplitude varying power to its load. Therefore, the question becomes: How can one best match the magnetrons frequency and power changing ability to the ovens changing natural energy pattern frequencies and amplitudes? Part of the answer lies in utilizing the maximum possible frequency range over which the magnetron can operate in order to maximize the number of natural oven frequencies to which the magnetron can couple. Thus, by evaluating a typical magnetrons operating chart or Rieke diagram, like the one shown in Figure 2, it becomes clear that to maximize the magnetrons frequency scanning ability requires a major phase change of the tubes effective load impedance, along a relatively constant SWR trajectory. Similarly, to vary the power delivery to the load, mainly requires varying the load impedance magnitude. So, by scanning the tubes maximum frequency range, this can be achieved with a cyclical load phase change causing the operating point to traverse the sink side of the magnetron chart where the
Figure 2. Rieke diagram for a typical microwave oven magnetron. Operation in the red circular region ensures maximum frequency excursion and optimum power delivery.
frequency contours converge. This essentially requires operating within the red region of Figure 2. Conventional design wisdom says that this can be accomplished either by properly designed mode stirrers rotating at relatively slow speed, by turntables on which the food is placed or by rotating directional antennas [Simpson, 1980]. The directional antenna actually solves a different, nonmodal problem. All these approaches, even when combined, still result in non-optimum, random coupling to a subset of the ovens allowable, natural energy patterns which produce, on average, an improved energy pattern although distinct hot and cold load regions persist. The root cause of the cold spots is the absence, within the available frequency and power spectrum of the magnetron, of effective power transfer to those allowed energy patterns which would have the correct phase and intensity to deliver energy to these cold spot regions. There is one region on the magnetrons Rieke chart which must be avoided and is denoted as the forbidden region. Operation within this region will cause oscillator instability or moding to occur. Moding of a magnetron refers to a random switching of a given magnetron oscillation mode to another which generally reduces the tubes life expectancy [ Ishitobi and Togawa, 1978; Ogura, et al., 1978.]. To minimize moding problems, the conventional advice is to keep the operating points phase away from the tubes forbidden region. One method to avoid magnetron moding is to increase the line length between the magnetron and its load [ Ishitobi and Togawa, 1978]. With this unique design, the operating trajectory is allowed to cross the phase of the forbidden region and yet has proven to give very stable operation provided the magnetrons maximum load SWR is less than the value needed to enter this region. Within the design, the line length to the magnetrons effective load plane is typically greater than three guide wavelengths which is an 195
optimum condition for preventing moding [Ishitobi and Togawa, 1978]. SOLVING THE PROBLEM WITH INNOVATIVE DESIGN STRATEGY Once having a proper technical understanding of the causes of the nonuniform field problem and the magnetronload interaction characteristics, it becomes possible to arrive at a different solution. In the transducer-exciter design, an irisisolated launch box, illustrated in Figure 3, is used between the oven cavity and the magnetron. It houses a phase modulator and a cleverly designed coupling plate which acts as an oversized, non-contacting resonance plate to provide cyclically timevarying edge coupling of energy via fringing and leaky-wave fields from the launch box to the actual oven field patterns. Design of the coupling plate is directly dependent on the locations of the maximum electric field for each of the available natural mode patterns that exist within the empty oven cavity. This design application gives outstanding performance improvements with the only compromise being a somewhat reduced microwave power availability.
In short, the transducer-exciter isolates the magnetron from the oven impedance, modulates the phase angle of the magnetrons effective load plane and sets the preferred SWR range which the magnetron tube will see. It also excites amplitude and phase modulated traveling waves along the perimeter of the coupling plate which significantly increases the opportunity for energy transfer from the launch box to the time and frequency varying energy patterns in the oven. Design Goals and Constraints Every practical design has defined goals and specific constraints placed on it. So, in this case, the following design goals were set forth as follows: Maximize the magnetrons frequency push-pull range within the ISM bandwidth of 2400-2450 MHz. Optimize oven cavity size to increase mode availability. Optimize cooking speed for a given microwave power availability. Cooking performance must not be compromised and be as good as that of a conventional oven. Cooking performance must not be adversely affected by the presence of metal utensils such as cookie plates. Cooking of food on one shelf must not substantially influence the cooking of food on another shelf. Significantly reduce or eliminate arcing and sparking between metal parts and utensils and minimize the component count at the lowest possible cost while still maintaining the technical specification. Most oven magnetrons have a frequency push-pull range greater than the 4 MHz stated earlier and, as illustrated in Figure 2, this can be extended even further by forcing the phase of the operating
Figure 3. Concept drawing of the transducer-exciter with waveguide feed. Sinusoidal patterns depict the field variation of the primary electric field patterns while the curved arrows depict electric field vectors in the region between the coupling plate and the launch box.
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trajectory to traverse the sink region. Hence, the greater this frequency variation, the greater the opportunity exists for improved heating uniformity. A designer, skilled in the art, therefore needs to consider the tradeoff between optimum performance and best energy utilization. Considering all the above, if an oven has a high DC to microwave conversion efficiency but performs poorly in use, then the appliance will get minimal use and as such be deemed an inferior product. In this design approach, this strategy is applied to a mixed facility product such as a combination microwave-convection oven as shown below. As such, there is an intentional trade off of some of the maximum available microwave power for improved cooking performance resulting in greater user satisfaction while maintaining energy efficiency far above that of conventional cooking methods and, by doing this, the small trade off penalty almost disappears since most of the microwave losses are recovered in the form of heat to drive the thermal heating cycle [Eke, 1987]. VERSATILE TRANSDUCEREXCITER SOLUTION - DESIGN DETAILS Operating within stated constraints, the preferred solution centers around the design and construction of a transducerexciter which is a combination load isolation and energy launch box as shown in Figure 4.
The launch box along with its coupling plate is designed to support the TE111, TE121, TM211, TM121 , resonant modes within the ISM band. These elementary energy patterns are the master patterns of all possible oven cavity modes [Zahn and Schweitzer, 1956]. If tightly closed at the top, the launch box would act as a non-resonant, short-circuited, overmoded waveguide decoupled from the magnetron via an inductive iris. Rotating the specially-designed frequency stirrer changes the effective short circuit position at the waveguides end which causes the magnetrons load impedance to cyclically travel along a phase change trajectory over a narrow standing wave ratio (SWR) range on the Smith chart or Rieke diagram. That is precisely what is observed for this design when viewing its impedance on a network analyzer. IMPEDANCE TRAJECTORIES OF THE TRANSDUCER-EXCITER To simulate the actual behavior of the magnetrons effective load impedance as seen through the transducer-exciter, Rieke diagrams were generated for different load conditions using a vector network analyzer. Results of the impedance behavior versus frequency of the transducer-exciter box of Figures 3 and 4 are shown in Figure 5 for two frequency spans of 40 MHz and 90 MHz respectively centered at 2455 MHz. For this
Figure 4. Transducer-exciter cross-section with E-field test probe in place. The probe holes are only used for E-field testing purposes.
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Figure 5. Simulation of frequency response of the magnetrons operating point when coupled to the transducer-exciter box of Figure 4 with the modulator off using a sweep generator. The dark and light traces are for a 40 and 90 MHz frequency span respectively.
Figure 6. Impedance trajectory as seen by the magnetrons output port looking toward the transducerexciter box with the modulator rotating for f= 2455 MHz. The coupling plate edges of the box are closed off with metal tape.
test, the coupling plate edges of the box were closed off with metal tape and the modulator turned off, resulting in a fixed load impedance for the magnetron. This eliminated the effect of the oven cavity and its load configuration and emphasized the effect of frequency change on the magnetrons operating point on the Rieke chart. This also illustrates that, for a given load, it is mainly the load impedance phase that is changed as frequency is varied. If the frequency however is kept constant while the modulator is rotating, then the magnetron sees a load impedance which completely traverses the phase of sync region identified earlier in Figure 2 and the data, shown in Figure 6, illustrates the transducer-exciter effect on the magnetrons load impedance. The large area coverage is a result of the fact that the modulator in the transducer-exciter causes both phase and magnitude changes of the effective load when the modulator is on. To observe the effect of extreme oven loading conditions on the magnetrons actual load impedance, the modulator in the transducer-exciter is turned on and the oven load condition is changed drastically by 198
opening or closing the door of the empty oven cavity. The results of this test are illustrated by the impedance plots of Figure 7. For clarity, only the outer perimeters of the impedance trajectories are shown. Contour (a) again shows the phasing property of the modulator for the case of single-frequency excitation. Contours (b) and (c) illustrate the
Figure 7. Impedance regions traversed by the load as seen by the magnetrons output port looking toward the transducerexciter box with the modulator on (turning) but with no load in the oven for three different oven conditions. For clarity only the outer perimeters of the impedance trajectories are shown.
impedance regions traversed for two very different oven conditions, while frequency modulation is used, as would be the case, during actual magnetron operation. a) Inner contour: CW frequency of 2455 MHz, oven door closed. b) Middle contour: swept frequency span of 40 MHz centered at 2455 MHz, oven door removed, that is, the oven is open to free space. c) Outer contour: swept frequency span of 40 MHz centered at 2455 MHz, oven door on and closed. From these experimental results it is concluded that, from the magnetrons point of view, the frequency stirrer, within the tranducer-exciter acts primarily as an impedance modulator rather than a mode stirrer. The net effect is to make the magnetrons impedance [Z(t)] and hence its frequency [f(t)] periodic functions of time. This data further confirms that frequency sweeping the magnetrons load is a reasonable, although incomplete, simulation of the modulators effect on Z(t). Compare
for example, the regions traversed in Figure 6 with those of Figure 8. Considering the shape of the magnetrons constant frequency contours and the Z(t) trajectories, the actual f(t) modulation of the magnetron will be highly nonlinear. In order to achieve maximum frequency excursion of the magnetron requires a maximum phase change in Z(t). In addition, the iris coupled launch box, phase modulator and coupling plate combination behaves as a frequency, phase and amplitude modulator of the coupling field at the coupling plate while strongly isolating the magnetron from any direct changes in the ovens field conditions. This coupling field behavior is substantiated by the experimental field measurements described in the next section. Interestingly, Hong [1994] published results of how amplitude (AM), phase (PM) and frequency (FM) modulation affect the field patterns in a multimode cavity. Not surprisingly, he concluded that AM and PM from a fixed source location do not perturb or alter the natural field patterns in the cavity whereas FM dramatically alters these field patterns. The aperture or exciting field, fixed in one location, was assumed to be of the form
Figure 8. Impedance trajectory seen at the magnetrons output port looking toward the transducer-exciter box with the modulator blades stationary in two different angular positions with and without a standard IEC waterload in the oven. Swept frequency excitation covers a 40 MHz span centered at 2455 MHz.
where Ea (t) is the time-varying electric field with amplitude, A(t) , Eeigen is the natural spatial mode field pattern of the coupling aperture, f(t) and (t) are the independently time varying frequency and electrical phase of that pattern. This, in effect, produces a time-varying source impedance a fact which is validated by the data. Hong states: the key factor of perturbing the field is that of varying the ratios of modal variables but not the modal variables themselves. [Hong, 1994]. Modal variables are the amplitudes of the natural field patterns. They depend on the boundary conditions in the oven and on the excitation. 199
This means that, for a given load, the boundary conditions can be assumed to be approximately constant while the amplitudes of all the natural oven modes should be varied in time. In Hongs simulation of over 400 modes, the E-field amplitude variation over the cavity cross-section is shown to be substantially reduced and remains within a 3 dB range. He also suggests that randomly changing in polarization and location of an unmodulated source, which may be realized by controlling an array of antennas, can improve the uniformity in a chamber. Since Hongs results were obtained with spatially fixed coupling, his conclusions regarding the ineffectiveness of AM and PM are not necessarily valid. In fact, it has been found that using this method of distributed coupling to the oven field patterns, AM and PM will impact the resultant energy transfer to these field patterns positively. In effect, this method of excitation will force the ratio of the field amplitudes to change which Hong states as a key factor for improved energy distribution. As illustrated above, the effectiveness of the design lies in the dominance of the transducer-exciter effect over the oven load effect in determining the magnetrons active operating region. This is further illustrated by the impedance trajectories shown in Figure 8. From this figure it is clear that the modulator position rather than the load controls the impedance trajectory. The outer two contours are for one fixed modulator position for a no-load and an IEC-water load case. After moving the modulator to a different angular position, both the loaded and unloaded oven impedance contours move together toward the chart center. Therefore, performance sensitivity to oven loading and boundary condition changes are very low. EXPERIMENTAL FIELD PATTERN RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS Electric field patterns within the launch box region and along the coupling plate edges were probed at low power using 200
a sweep generator modulated at 1 kHz, a small coaxial (RG58-U) probe, a crystal detector and a standing wave indicator. With reference to Figure 4, both the TE10 and TE20 field patterns along the x-direction and standing waves along the z-direction were detected and clearly identified. With the coupling plate separated from the lower face of the transducer-exciter box by about one half of the TE20 guide wavelength (g20), drastic E-field amplitude changes (>30 dB) occur along all coupling plate edges as the modulator rotates. Both Ey and Ez components of varying intensity exist around the edges of the coupling plate allowing for effective coupling to both TE and TM oven energy patterns in at least two dimensions along the entire coupling plate periphery. Coupling to patterns along the third dimension is redundant since any 3-dimensional pattern will naturally form when it is excited at an appropriate point in its 3-dimensional space. As the modulator rotates, the E-field maxima and minima along the coupling plate edges travel along the plate edge. A similar behavior is observed when sweeping the signal source frequency, without the modulator rotating, causing the field maxima of the standing wave pattern to travel cyclically back and forth along the edge over a distance partially determined by the source bandwidth. These tests, again, only simulate a part of the modulator function but confirm the dynamic effect frequency modulation has on the field amplitudes along the coupling plate edges. As shown, the modulator design and location directly affect the magnetrons operating region. Therefore, modulator design is optimized to give a suitable Rieke diagram response. It is desirable to cluster the swept frequency response over the tubes push-pull range around, but not at, the center of the Rieke chart. The RPM of the modulator fan structure is selected to be relatively high, since it is desirable to use it also as an air circulating device. This causes the magnetron frequency to sweep at a high
rate causing the coupling plates coupling fields to travel rapidly and cyclically along the coupling plate perimeter. In summary, one may consider the plates fringing edge fields as simultaneously being amplitude, phase and frequency modulated at a rapid rate, and as a result, opportunities are greatly increased for these fields to match their amplitude, phase and frequency needed to excite more of the permissible and changing the ovens resonant modes. ADAPTING TO LOAD POWER DEMAND Dielectric loading of a TE field pattern causes the electric field to concentrate inside the load material, distorting the natural energy pattern and necessitating a shift in the optimum excitation location of that pattern. At the same time, the patterns frequency will shift requiring a change in the source frequency feeding that pattern. Figure 1 schematically depicts the movement of natural oven frequencies into or out of the source bandwidth. Recall that a dielectric load will cause a downward frequency shift but, if the load is microwave absorbent, this downward shift is at least partly compensated by an upward frequency shift. This makes it more likely that energy patterns affected by the load will remain in the source bandwidth. Power coupling between the magnetron and launch box with no oven load, is predominantly determined by the iris and the shorted waveguide box combination while the frequency or modulation sweep range of the magnetron is mainly determined by the iris-box-phase modulator combination. Oven loading by itself has little effect on the swept frequency range of the now isolated magnetron. Recall, for example, Figure 8. Loading the oven implies energy extraction from the launch box which effectively moves the real part of the magnetrons load impedance toward the higher power region of the Rieke diagram. That is, the load SWR seen by the magnetron will decrease while it will continue to
traverse its modulator controlled amplitude and phase changing trajectory. Figure 8 shows the effect of an energy absorbing oven load on the magnetrons load impedance magnitude. Consequently, this transducerexciter design is very forgiving of oven load variations. In fact, the standing wave field patterns inside the launch box are almost independent of the oven loading (Figure 8) or its geometric configuration while the magnitude of these standing wave patterns inside the box decreases as a result of the increased load absorption. In other words, the standing wave minima increases while the maxima decreases in magnitude when less power is reflected back into the box from the oven side. It is noted that this standing wave pattern created by the launch box assembly and coupling plate is also observable in the near-field region outside the box when it is suspended in free space. When oven conditions are such that most of the energy is reflected back into the launch box, it will create high SWR conditions inside this box and dump most of this energy into its relatively lossy steel walls as a result of increased wall currents. This translates to energy loss in the coupling box in the form of heat. In a conventional microwave oven, this energy loss takes place in the magnetron itself causing its temperature to cycle over a wider temperature range which typically reduces the tubes life expectancy. It is concluded that this design strategy results in a microwave oven that: Produces good power delivery across the magnetrons fullbandwidth Optimizes energy coupling to arbitrary load locations in the oven Delivers energy wherever the energy patterns encounter an absorbing load Protects the magnetron from direct oven load reflections 201
Causes excess energy to be dumped into the coupling plate and some into the launch box of the transducer-exciter under no-load conditions in the oven.
PERFORMANCE FEATURES AND RESULTS Implementing this design in microwave convection ovens has resulted in a large cooking time reduction while maintaining the quality of conventional cooking methods.
Cooking time reductions hold for any food including those cooked in metal utensils. Note that increasing the cooking speed too much can adversely affect the cooking results independent of the appliance used. For all but the most delicate food items such as cakes, a significant speed improvement is obtained while permitting the use of metal utensils. Even a greater speed improvement is achievable for meats, poultry and casseroles with or without the use of metal utensils.
Figure 9. Picture of cooking test results highlighting baking uniformity of biscuits done at 4 times the conventional baking speed in a microwave combination oven.
The primary reason for the minimal effect of metal utensils is the load decoupling which is designed into the transducer-exciter at the cost of available microwave power. This design meets all of the above-mentioned design goals. It is well known that appliance costs can make or break a mass market opportunity. The patented design approach is very cost-effective, repeatable, gives excellent performance results and can be implemented as a relatively simple retrofit to existing non-microwave appliance designs. One example of the ovens excellent cooking performance is validated by the results shown in Figure 9 which demonstrates the uniformity of heating even when three shelves of biscuits are placed on metal cookie sheets in the oven shown in Figure 10. 202
Figure 10. Inside view of a converted conventional range with the transducer-exciter mounted on the top wall. Biscuits are baked on metal cookie sheets on three shelves simultaneously with excellent results in a fraction of the conventional time.
The different foods presented in Figures 11 to 14 show the lateral and vertical distribution of items cooked simultaneously on three shelves using metal utensils; clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of the Transducer-Exciter system.
Figure 11. Picture of three shelves (top one is on the right) of French fries cooked in a microwave combination oven in 8.5 min, instead of the 24.5 min required in a conventional oven; 65% time saving.
Figure 12. Picture of three shelves (top one is on the right) of biscuits cooked in a microwave combination oven in 5 min, instead of the 18 min required in a conventional oven; 72% time saving.
Figure 13. Picture of three shelves (top one is on the left) of cakes cooked in a microwave combination oven in 10 min, instead of the 32 min required in a conventional oven; 69% time saving.
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Figure 14. Picture of three shelves (top one is on the right) of pizza cooked in a microwave combination oven in 5.5 min, instead of the 16 min required in a conventional oven; 67% time saving.
Numerous other foods under various categories show the same degree of success and, as a final example, twelve chickens cooked (Figure 15) on three trays in a combination oven in 30 min instead of 70 min required in a conventional oven; 57% saving times.
Using arrays of small neon bulbs, placed on or between metal cookie sheets in the oven, further proves that very uniform field intensity exists throughout the oven with or without absorbing or reflecting loads when the magnetron was operated over its range of minimum to maximum power. CONCLUSION A new unique microwave oven design strategy has been designed which exhibits excellent cooking performance while showing very low sensitivity to load type and load placement and allowing the use of metal utensils in a microwave environment. To implement this new design methodology, a transducer-exciter design is described which controls the magnetrons operating region optimally to achieve greatly reduced cooking times while maintaining cooking performance comparable to conventional cooking and baking methods. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported in part by grants from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by the technical and financial resources of Apollo USA Incorporated, Franklin, Tennessee.
Figure 15. Picture of three shelves of twelve chickens cooked in a microwave combination oven in 30 min, instead of the 70 min required in a conventional oven; 72% time saving.
REFERENCES Eke Kenneth I. (1987) Microwave Oven with Power Transfer Automatically
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Responsive To Dielectric Load of food, U.S. Patent # 4,691,088, Sep 1. Hauck Harold S., (1970) Design Considerations For Microwave Oven Cavities, IEEE Trans. on Industry and Applications, IGA6(1), pp. 74-80. Hong J. S. (1994) Effect of a Modulated Source on a Multimode Cavity, IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 43-44. Ishitobi Y. and Togawa M. (1978) A Practical Diagram for Computing Long-line Effects for CW Magnetron, J. of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 131-138. Iwabuchi K., Kubota T. and Kashiwa T., (1996) Analysis of Electromagnetic Fields in a Mass-Produced Microwave Oven Using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, J.of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, Vol 31(3), pp 188-196. James C. R., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G., (1966) Some Factors Affecting the Energy Conversion in a Microwave Cavity, J. of Microwave Power, Vol. 1(3), pp. 97-107. James C. R., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G. (1968) Energy Conversion in Closed Microwave Cavites, Microwave Power Engineering, Vol. 2, Editor, E.C. Okress, Academic Press, pp. 28-36. Kashyap S. C. and Wyslouzil W. (1977) Methods of Improving Heating Uniformity in Microwave Ovens, J. Microwave Power, Vol. 12(3), pp. 223-230. MacKay A. B., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G. (1980a) Controlled Heating Microwave Ovens, U.S. patent #4,196,332, April 1. MacKay A. B., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G. (1980b) Controlled Heating
Microwave Ovens Using Different Operating Frequencies, Canadian patent #1,081,796. MacKay A. B., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G. (1976) Excitation of Microwave Cavities with a Frequency Agile Source, J. of Microwave Power, Vol. 11(2), pp. 186-187. MacKay A. B., Tinga W. R. and Voss W. A. G. (1979) Frequency Agile Sources For Microwave Ovens, J. of Microwave Power, Vol. 14(1), pp. 63-76. Mihran T. G. (1978) Microwave Oven Mode Tuning by Slab Dielectric Loads, IEEE, Trans. on Microwave Theory and Techniques, MTT 26(6), pp. 381-387. Ogura K., Takahashi H. and Namba I. (1978) Input Impedance Measurement of Microwave Ovens, J. of Microwave Power, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 183-188. Osepchuk J. M. (1976) Microwave Engineering Problems in the Microwave Oven, IEEE, MTT, Microwave Power Symposium Digest. Rapuano Robert A. and Smith Robert V. (1995) Design Considerations of Microwave Ovens, IRE Convention Record, Vol. 3, Pt 9, pp. 3-9. Simpson James E. (1980) A Rotating Directional Antenna Feed System for a Microwave Oven, Microwave Journal, pp. 47-50. Watanabe M., Suzuki M. and Okhawa S., (1978) Analysis of Power Density Distribution in Microwave Ovens, J. of Microwave Power, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 173182. Zahn C. T. and Schweitzer W. G. Jr. (1956) Excitation and Separation of Pure High-Order Modes in Large High-Q Cavities, J. of Appl. Phys. Vol. 27, No. 8, pp. 929-937.
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Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, 46 (4), 2012, pp. 192-205.

A Publication of the International Microwave Power Institute

Combination Microwave Ovens: An Innovative Design Strategy

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