A cooking appliance, as provided herein, may include a cabinet, a magnetron, an induction heating coil, and a one-way field filter. The cabinet may define a cooking chamber. The magnetron may be mounted within the cabinet in communication with the cooking chamber to direct a microwave thereto. The induction heating coil may be mounted within the cabinet to direct a magnetic field thereto. The one-way field filter may be disposed within the cabinet between the induction heating coil and the cooking chamber to restrict passage of the microwave therethrough while permitting the magnetic field. The one-way filter may include a lower layer and an upper layer. The lower layer may include a plurality of parallel conductive bands extending in a first direction. The upper layer may be disposed above the lower layer. The upper layer may include a plurality of parallel conductive bands extending in the second direction.

An air circulation system for an oven includes a plenum disposed proximate to the cooking chamber, an airflow generator configured to draw air from the cooking chamber through a chamber outlet port and discharge the air into the plenum, and an air heater configured to heat at least some of the air in the plenum prior to a portion of the air entering the cooking chamber from the plenum via air delivery orifices. The chamber outlet port includes outlet perforations combining to form a first geometric shape centered on an axis of the airflow generator. The air delivery orifices include a first set of inlet perforations and a second set of inlet perforations. The first and second sets of inlet perforations combine to form respective second and third geometric shapes that are disposed on opposite sides of the outlet perforations. The second and third geometric shapes are different than the first geometric shape.

In certain examples, a food processing machine for processing a food product includes a housing defining a cavity, a conveyor with a belt comprising metal for conveying the food product through the cavity in a longitudinal direction, and a convection heating system for heating air in the cavity such that heated air heats the food product as the food product is conveyed through the cavity. A microwave launch box system is configured to emit microwave energy into the cavity in a lateral direction transverse to the longitudinal direction to thereby further heat the food product as the food product is conveyed through the cavity.

An oven appliance for providing convection and microwave heating includes a cabinet having a chamber positioned within the cabinet. The chamber is configured for receipt of food items for cooking and has a plurality of walls including a top wall, a bottom wall, a back wall, and opposing sidewalls defining the chamber. At least one of the plurality of walls defines a plurality of apertures and a first duct in fluid communication with the chamber through the plurality of apertures. The oven appliance also includes at least one convection heating element for heating the chamber. Further, the oven appliance includes a convection fan in fluid communication with the first duct. The convection fan is operable to cause air to flow out of the apertures. Moreover, the oven appliance includes a convection motor having a motor shaft. The convection motor is operably coupled to the convection fan for rotating the convection fan about the motor shaft. The convection fan is electrically separated from the convection motor to prevent microwave energy from leaking from the apertures.

A method of operating a microwave appliance includes determining that a vent fan is on, and instructing an air handler within a door of the microwave appliance to operate in response to determining that the vent fan is on.

A method for exposing a bulk volume of particles, such as free-flowing or semi-flowable grains, ore, or powders, or a non-flowing mass such as sewage or wet-chopped bio-mass so all of the particles receive near-uniform exposure to a radio frequency (RF) electric and/or magnet (EM) field, preferably without any preference of exposure to a surface or side of particulate. An antenna that can be metallic or plasma is used for transmitting RF EM radiation into a mechanical mechanism used to convey, or preferably to mix a bulk volume of particles. The method includes the ability to adjust the level of EM radiation comprised of one or more frequencies between 30 Hz and 30 EHz to regulate either or both the magnitude of temperature rise and the rate of temperature rise, or to regulate either or both the magnitude of chemical reaction and rate of reaction.

A modular cooking apparatus is disclosed. The modular cooking apparatus includes a housing having a first interchangeable cooking module, a second interchangeable cooking module, and a single power connection for receiving electrical power from a wall outlet. The first interchangeable cooking module contains a first oven, and the second interchangeable cooking module contains a second oven. The second oven is a different oven type from the first oven. The modular cooking apparatus also includes a controller within the housing for controlling the first and second ovens. The controller includes a memory for storing a list of food items to be cooked within the modular cooking apparatus and a corresponding oven type for each of the food items. The modular cooking apparatus further includes a control panel on the housing for displaying only the food items for which the first oven or the second oven is a corresponding oven type.

Apparatus and method for applying RF energy to determine a processing state of an object placed in a cavity, during processing of the object. The method includes applying RF energy to the object during the processing via at least one radiating element, receiving RF feedback from in or around the cavity, said RF feedback being indicative of a dielectric response of the cavity and/or the object to electromagnetic (EM) fields excited in the cavity, mathematically manipulating the RF feedback to obtain computed RF feedback, determining one or more processing states of the object based on a correlation between the computed RF feedback and the one or more processing states of the object, and monitoring the computed RF feedback during the applying to monitor the one or more processing states of the object.

A heating cooker includes a heating chamber that houses food, a heating unit that heats the food, an imaging unit that acquires image data on the food after the food has been housed in the heating chamber, a setting unit that accepts a user input relating to heating control content defining a heating operation, a storage unit that stores control information in which the image data and the heating control content corresponding to the food specified from the image data are associated with each other, a heating start button that orders the start of the heating operation, and a storage update unit that associates the image data and the heating control content with each other and updates the control information within the storage unit, when the setting unit accepts the user input and then the heating start button orders the start of the heating operation.

A cooking apparatus that combines microwave based heating/cooking with either of blender/mixer grinder functionality and traditional cooking using open flame and/or induction cooking is disclosed. The cooking apparatus comprises a lid and at least one microwave producing device coupled to the lid. A lifting and lowering mechanism carries the lid and microwave producing device at a lower end for enabling vertically raising and lowering the lid along with the coupled microwave producing device. Upper end of lifting and lowering mechanism is slidably configured with a lower side of a chimney. Lid in lowered position gets operatively coupled with a container holding a food item. The container can be one for cooking food using conventional source of heat, or a container for preparatory operations such as blending, stirring, grinding and mixing. Coupling of the lid with the containers enables heating of the contents of the container through the microwaves generated by the at least one microwave producing device.