Simulation and Experimental Method for Microwave Oven

The simulation software, HFSS （high frequency structure simulator）, is introduced in microwave oven design. In the cold test, a network analyzer is used to measure the reflection coefficient （S11） of the cavity under empty and loaded states over the frequency range from 2.448 GHz to 2.468 GHz. In the hot test, a piece of wet thermal paper and an infrared thermal imaging camera are used to measure the electric field distributions on the mica and turntable. In the cold test, the simulation agrees well with the experiment no matter in empty state or loaded state. In the hot test, the simulation agrees well with the experiment in general in empty state and approximately in loaded state. The little difference in both cold and hot test may be due to that the model in simulation is not absolutely identical with that in experiment or the inadequate precision of infrared thermal imaging camera.

Revisiting “Non-Thermal” Batch Microwave Oven Inactivation of Microorganisms

Over the last few decades there has been active discussion concerning the mechanisms involved in “non-thermal” microwave-assisted inactivation of microorganisms. This work presents a novel non-invasive acoustic measurement of a domestic microwave oven cavity-magnetron operating at fo = 2.45 ± 0.05 GHz (λo ~ 12.2 cm) that is modulated in the time-domain (0 to 2 minutes). The measurements reveal the cavity-magnetron cathode filament cold-start warm-up period and the pulse width modulation periods (time-on time-off and base-time period, where time-on minus base-time = duty cycle). The waveform information is used to reconstruct historical microwave “non-thermal” homogeneous microorganism inactivation experiments: where tap-water is used to mimic the microorganism suspension;and ice, crushed ice, and ice slurry mixture are used as the cooling media. The experiments are described using text, diagrams, and photographs. Four key experimental parameters are indentified that influence the suspension time-dependent temperature profile. First, where the selected process time > the time-base, the cavity-magnetron continuous wave rated power should be used for each second of microwave illumination. Second, external crushed ice and ice slurry baths induce different cooling profiles due to difference in their heat absorption rates. In addition external baths may shield the suspension resulting in a retarding of the time-dependent heating profile. Third, internal cooling systems dictate that the suspension is directly exposed to microwave illumination due to the absence of surrounding ice volume. Fourth, four separated water dummy-loads isolate and control thermal heat transfer (conduction) to and from the suspension, thereby diverting a portion of the microwave power away from the suspension. Energy phase-space projections were used to compare the “non-thermal” energy densities of 0.03 to 0.1 kJ·m-1 at 800 W with reported thermal microwave-assisted microorganism inactivation energy densities of 0.5 to 5 kJ·m-1 at 1050 ± 50 W. Estimations of the “non-thermal” microwave-assisted root mean square of the electric field strength are found to be in the range of 22 to 41.2 V·m-1 for 800 W.

Microwave Detection, Disruption, and Inactivation of Microorganisms

This paper reviews three complex interactions between microwave energy and microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses). The first interaction comprises the detection of viruses within human blood using a 50-Ohm transmission-line vector net-analyzer (typically 0 to 10 dBm @ 2 to 8.5 GHz) where the blood is placed within a test chamber that acts as a non-50-Ohm discontinuity. The second interaction employs 1 to 6.5 W @ 8 to 26 GHz for microwave feed-horn illumination to inactivate microorganisms at an applied power density of 10 to 100 mW-2. The third interaction is within multi-mode microwave ovens, where microorganism cell membrane disruption occurs at a few 100 s of W @ 2.45 GHz and microorganism inactivation between 300 to 1800 W @ 2.45 GHz. Within the first microwave interaction, blood relaxation processes are examined. Whereas in the latter two microwave interactions, the following disruption, and inactivation mechanisms are examined: chemical cellular lysis and, microwave resonant absorption causing cell wall rupture, and thermodynamic analysis in terms of process energy budget and suspension energy density. In addition, oven-specific parameters are discussed.

Microwave-Assisted Inactivation of Fomite-Microorganism Systems: Energy Phase-Space Projection

This paper describes the use of log-linear energy phase-space projections to analyze microwave-assisted inactivation of bacteria and viruses under different fomite conditions within multimode microwave ovens. The ovens are operated at a cavity-magnetron frequency of 2.45 ± 01 GHz. Porous fomites (moist face towels, cotton swabs, kitchen sponges, and scrubbing pads, cigarette filters and N95-like respirators);along with non-porous hard surface syringe fomites are studied. The fomites are classed as dielectric;and absorb microwave energy to varying degrees depending on their complex dielectric permittivity. Microorganism resilience to microwave stress (defined as ≥4 log10 reduction in inactivation) when mapped using iso-volume trend-lines in energy phase-space reveals the persistence imparted by the fomite, and can be mapped between different microwave ovens. Microorganism resilience to thermal microwave-assisted treatment increases from vegetative Gram-negative to vegetative Gram-positive and on to Gram-positive spores. Bacteriophage MS2 and influenza viruses have an intermediate resilience dependency. It is shown that linear-scaled fomite temperature against process time graphs can differentiate between non-thermal and thermal micro-wave-assisted treatment of microorganisms.

The Research of Galanz＇s Niche Strategy

Niche strategy is one of the competitive strategies based on a small market, and an enterprise enters the market and becomes the leader of the market in the end. Galanz is a typical Chinese manufacturer to execute niche strategy. It makes use of labour force advantage, resource advantage and technologist advantage to enter microwave oven market, and it has been one of the most famous manufacture factories in the world. The success of Galanz gives elicitations to other Chinese manufacturers, and it will inspirit more and more manufacturers appear similar as Galanz.

A Magnetron Power Supply with Transition-Mode Zero-Voltage-Switching Inverter

This paper presents a transition-mode zero-voltage-switching inverter for the cooker magnetron of household microwave ovens. The inverter drives a leakage transformer to generate the required high voltage and stabilized current. For achieving zero-voltage switching, a transition-mode driver L6561 is utilized to detect the ending of transformer resonance and drive an insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor. As transistor is conducted, rectified direct-current voltage drives the transformer. While transistor is cut off, transformer resonates with a parallel capacitor. Transistor conduction time and magnetron power are controlled with a 16-bit digital signal controller dsPIC30F4011. For widening the working range, transistor conduction time is set to be inversely changed with line-frequency input voltage. To demonstrate the analysis and design of this paper, a 1 kW inverter circuit is built. Experimental results show the feasibility and usefulness of the designed magnetron power supply.

Surfactant-free synthesis of metallic bismuth spheres by microwave-assisted solvothermal approach as a function of the power level

In the present work, the synthesis of micro- and nano-sized spheres of metallic bismuth by microwave-assisted solvothermal method is reported. The synthesis method was carried out at different power levels and at a unique frequency of microwave irradiation. The sphere sizes were controlled by the microwave power level and the concentration of dissolved precursor. Structural and morphological characterization was performed by SEM, HRTEM, EELS and XRD. The results demonstrated that rhombohedral zero valent Bi spheres were synthesized after microwave radiation at 600 and 1200 W. However, if the power level is decreased to 120 W, a monoclinic phase of Bi203 is obtained with a flake-like morphology. In comparison with a conventional hydrothermal process, the microwave-assisted solvothermal approach provides many advantages such as shorter reaction time, optimum manipulation of morphologies and provides a specific chemical phase and avoids the mixture of structural phases and morphologies which is essential for further applications such as drug delivery or functionalization with organic materials, thanks to its biocompatibility.

Coexistence of 2.4 GHz sensor networks in home environment

The IEEE 802.15.4 is one of the low-layer communication standards for personal area networks （PANs） and wireless sensor networks （WSNs）, which may be interfered by other wireless devices in the industrial, scientific and medical （ISM） frequency bands, especially in home environment, such as devices of IEEE 802.1 lb, Bluetooth, cordless telephone, and microwave oven radiation. This article examines the mutual interference effects of 2.4 GHz devices widely deployed at home, via both theoretical analysis and real-life experiment. An analytical model is proposed to estimate the packet error rate （PER） of radio frequency （RF） coexistent networks. The model is verified through a series of experiments. The experimental results also show that Bluetooth has little impact of interference on IEEE 802.15.4 sensor networks, and that the effect of microwave oven radiation on IEEE 802.15.4 sensor devices is tolerable if the device is a few meters away from the oven. Whereas, IEEE 802.1 lb wireless networks can cause problems to IEEE 802.15.4, however the effects can be significantly reduced by a proper channel selection. This article also proposes the interference duration model, which will be helpful in modeling of coexistence simulation. Simulation results show that the stationary scenario obeys the experiments result very well.