A microwave furnace has a furnace chamber formed between a chamber housing and a sintering platform for an object to be sintered. A microwave source is arranged for emitting microwaves into the furnace chamber. The microwave furnace further has a susceptor that comprises a material which over a temperature range of the material of at least 23 C to 700 C couples into microwaves. The susceptor and the furnace chamber are movable relative to each other between a first position, in which the susceptor is positioned relative to the furnace chamber, and a second position in which the susceptor is positioned further retracted from the furnace chamber relative to the first position. The invention helps providing a zirconia material with a relative homogeneous material structure.

A system for processing material, including at least one microwave generator, at least one microwave guide operatively connecting the at least one microwave generator to at least a first conveyor unit, and the first conveyor unit provided in a first housing that comprises at least one opening configured to receive microwave energy via a first microwave guide. The first conveyor unit is configured to receive and process a quantity of material, which includes heating the material to a first temperature by applying microwave energy to the material within the first housing.

A line for heating, drying, disinfecting, pasteurizing and/or sterilizing a substance with an apparatus that includes at least one, preferably a multitude, solid-state radio frequency source(s) and a further heat treatment apparatus. A method for heating, drying, disinfecting, pasteurizing and/or sterilizing a substance with an apparatus that includes at least a solid-state RF energy source microwave heating step and a further heat treatment step.

An interrupting circuit (44) is configured to monitor for and detect a fault in a device (10) for generating a field of electromagnetic radiation (e-field) (34) from a radio frequency (RF) generator (24) configured to convert low voltage direct current (DC) into the e-field (34) for application to an article in the e-field (34). If a fault is detected, the interrupting circuit (44) interrupts low voltage DC between an energy reserve (46, 48) and the RF generator (24) within a predetermined time less than the time to dissipate energy stored in the energy reserve (46, 48).

A method of treating a meat-substance containing a bone structure. The bone marrow is coagulated with microwaves generated by a solid-state RF energy source. The microwave heating may be carried out prior to a heat treatment of the meat-substance and/or may be carried out after slaughtering and before the fresh slaughtered meat-substance is frozen.

A continuous wood modification by heat process, that comprises: stacking wooden boards on a trolley at intervals; exerting pressure on said wooden boards; transferring said wooden boards to a heating kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a water vapor flow of 2-5 meter3/hour, a temperature range of 60-100° C., and a humidity range of 50%-100%; transferring said wooden boards to a shallow drying kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a drying temperature of 100-120° C.; transferring said wooden boards to a deep drying kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a drying temperature of 120-120° C., an oxygen content range of 1-10%, and a water vapor flow rate of 1-10 m3/hour; transferring said wooden boards to a carbonization kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a temperature range of 120-180° C., an oxygen content range of 1%-5%; transferring said wooden boards to a slow cooling kiln, that has a temperature range of 120-130° C., and an oxygen content range of 1%-10%; transferring said wooden boards to a fast cooling kiln, that has a temperature range of 90-100° C.; transferring said wooden boards to a rewetting kiln, that has a humidity range of 50%-100%; providing water vapor to said rewetting kiln; while being in said rewetting kiln, and when a temperature range of said wooden boards is 40-60° C., and a moisture content of said wooden boards is 6%-10%, transferring said wooden boards out of said rewetting kiln; wherein each of said heating kiln, said shallow drying kiln, said deep drying kiln, said carbonization kiln, said slow cooling kiln, said fast cooling kiln, and said rewetting kiln comprises a fan, a partition board, a shunt hood, and an exhaust port; wherein said partition board divides an interior of each of said heating kiln, said shallow drying kiln, said deep drying kiln, said carbonization kiln, said slow cooling kiln, said fast cooling kiln, and said rewetting kiln into an upper chamber and a lower chamber; wherein said shunt hood is disposed in said upper chamber; wherein said fan, said shunt hood, and said lower chamber are connected and form a air channel; wherein said lower chamber comprises a shunt plate, disposed along left and right walls of a kiln; wherein said shunting plate comprises a plurality of sieve holes that are disposed gradually dense from top to bottom; wherein one end of said shunt plate is connected with said partition board and the other end is connected with the bottom of a kiln.

An interrupting circuit is configured to monitor for and detect a fault in a device for generating a field of electromagnetic radiation (e-field) from a radio frequency (RF) generator configured to convert low voltage direct current (DC) into the e-field for application to an article in the e-field. If a fault is detected, the interrupting circuit interrupts low voltage DC between an energy reserve and the RF generator within a predetermined time less than the time to dissipate energy stored in the energy reserve.

A microwave mode stirrer apparatus having a stirring member with microwave-transmissive regions is disclosed, along with methods of performing microwave stirring using the microwave mode-stirring apparatus. The microwave-transmissive regions can be in the form of holes or can include microwave-transmissive material. The stirring member can have a variety of configurations, and the microwave-transmissive regions can have a variety of sizes and shapes. A microwave oven that uses the mode stirrer apparatus for drying green ceramic-forming bodies is also disclosed.

Embodiments described herein provide a microwave coupler that utilizes a microwave shield within an interior of the microwave coupler to mitigate Radio Frequency (RF) leakage from an end of the microwave coupler. The microwave coupler includes a ramp section that is configured to mate to a microwave source, with the ramp section extending from an opening in a top wall of an enclosure. One end of the enclosure is configured to mate to a microwave waveguide, while an opposing end may be open or partially open. The microwave shield is located between the opposing end of the enclosure and the opening in the top wall, and extends from the top wall of the enclosure towards a bottom wall of the enclosure.

Methods and systems for heating and compressing a material using microwaves. The system includes a flexible waveguide configured to receive a first portion of microwaves and a rigid waveguide configured to receive a second portion of microwaves. The system includes a top microwave antenna connected to the flexible waveguide, having a first plurality of slots for emitting the first portion of microwaves to be received by a top side of the material and heat the material. The system includes a bottom microwave antenna connected to the rigid waveguide, having a second plurality of slots for emitting the second portion of microwaves to be received by a bottom side of the material and heat the material. The system includes a presser configured to provide a downward force onto the top microwave antenna toward the material to compress the material as the material is being heated by the microwaves.