An apparatus 20 for microwave vacuum-drying organic materials such as foods and bioactives has a plurality of microwave generators 50 actuated so as to cause interference between their respective microwave streams and evenly distribute the microwave energy across the vacuum chamber 34. The microwave-transparent window 36 in the chamber is arranged so the organic material to be dried is moved across it on a conveyor belt 60 and the microwave energy passing into the chamber 34 immediately encounters the organic materials, thus attenuating the energy and reducing arcing.

Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide moisture reduction for a harvested crop. The harvested crop is placed in a vacuum container, and the pressure within the container is reduced. When the temperature of the crop reaches a desired value or the pressure within the container reaches a predetermined value, the crop is radiated with energy for a predetermined duration. The moisture content of the crop is rapidly reduced based on the pressure reduction and the energy radiation.

An apparatus and method for quickly drying porous materials. A sealable chamber is connected to a cold trap which is connected to a vacuum pump. A sample is placed inside the sealable chamber. The vacuum pump is turned on and air is evacuated through the cold trap to the vacuum pump. An infrared lamp may be used to heat the chamber and sample therein directly or heated air may be allowed to enter the sealable chamber. Air may be drawn directly from the sealable chamber to the vacuum pump bypassing the cold trap. Various parameters may be used to determine if the drying process is complete, including the degree of vacuum achieved in the chamber.

An apparatus and method for quickly drying porous materials. A sealable chamber is connected to a cold trap which is connected to a vacuum pump. A sample is placed inside the sealable chamber. The vacuum pump is turned on and air is evacuated through the cold trap to the vacuum pump. An infrared lamp may be used to heat the chamber and sample therein directly or heated air may be allowed to enter the sealable chamber. Air may be drawn directly from the sealable chamber to the vacuum pump bypassing the cold trap. Various parameters may be used to determine if the drying process is complete, including the degree of vacuum achieved in the chamber.

An apparatus and method for microwave vacuum-drying of organic materials such as food products. The dehydration apparatus (10) has a vacuum chamber (12) with a loading module (14) at one end and a discharge module (22) at the other. The vacuum chamber has access doors (80) spaced between the input end (16) and the discharge end (24) which provide operator and maintenance access. Microwave generators (86) are mounted on each access door and arranged to radiate through a microwave chamber and microwave-transparent window on the access door into the vacuum chamber. The waveguides on a respective access door are oriented to minimize microwave interference between the magnetrons on that door. A conveyor (60) in the vacuum chamber moves the organic material (96) on trays (18) through the vacuum chamber.

An apparatus for extracting a vaporizable substance, from a material containing such substance, comprises an irradiation chamber for irradiating the material with electromagnetic radiation to vaporize the substance. The substance may comprise water and the material is dehydrated. The electromagnetic radiation comprises microwaves. The irradiation is conducted in the near-field range of the electromagnetic radiation. In one aspect, the electromagnetic radiation within the waveguide evanescently couples with the material.

A continuous microwave freeze-drying device comprises a vacuum water-trapping system (1), a microwave shield plate (2), a microwave bin (6) and a freeze-drying bin (5) located in the microwave bin (6), wherein the freeze-drying bin (5) comprises an upper bin opening, a left bin wall, a right bin wall and a bottom bin wall, and the left, right and bottom bin walls are all made from nonmetal wave transmitting materials, such as polyfluortetraethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene or quartz glass. The device solves the technical problem of freeze-drying failure caused by glow discharge of microwave under freeze-drying environment.

The present invention discloses a tunnel-type microwave vacuum ultra-low temperature drying equipment and a material drying process for drying a material. The tunnel-type microwave vacuum ultra-low temperature drying equipment comprises: a host device, comprising a chamber and a plurality of microwave generators, wherein the plurality of microwave generators are respectively provided on an outer wall surface of the chamber and sequentially arranged at least along a lengthwise direction of the chamber; a vacuum unit, having a vacuum port connected to the chamber through a pipeline; a chiller unit, having a cooling water pipe connected to the microwave generator, wherein the chiller unit is used to cool the microwave generator. This disclosure enables rapid low-temperature evaporation of water-containing materials in a vacuum environment to achieve drying with high efficiency. In addition, it can also prevent damage to materials caused by excessive temperatures.

Wood kilns, electrode systems for wood kilns, and methods of using the systems for the radiofrequency (RF) drying and phytosanitizing of wood are provided. The electrode systems are based on a three-electrode design in which a central plate electrode having winged edges is disposed between a pair of ground plate electrodes. The winged edges of the central electrode improve the uniformity of heating during the phytosanitizing process, relative to a five-electrode parallel plate system, or a three-electrode parallel plate system having a conventional planar central plate electrode.

A continuous microwave vacuum-drying method includes loading, onto a conveyor belt, a lower half of an integrated container, filing, by a frozen-drug dispenser, a first chamber of a lower half of an integrated container with a frozen compound, exposing, by microwave emitters within a vacuum chamber, the frozen compound of the first chamber of the lower half of the integrated container to microwave radiation to lyophilize the frozen compound into a lyophilized compound, filing, by a reconstitution solution dispenser, a second chamber of the lower half of the integrated container with a reconstitution solution, removing, by the conveyor belt, the lower half of the integrated container out of the vacuum chamber, and sealing, by a container sealer, an upper half of the integrated container onto the lower half of the integrated container to create a prefilled integrated package.