An induction cooker includes a top plate on which a cooking container is placed; a heating coil placed below the top plate and configured to heat the cooking container; an infrared sensor placed below the heating coil and configured to detect infrared radiation emitted from the cooking container; a sensor casing configured to house the infrared sensor; and a magnetic path forming member placed on a top face of the sensor casing, wherein the magnetic path forming member guides magnetic flux passing above the infrared sensor by being generated from the heating coil.

The present disclosure provides a microwave oven, and a thawing control method and device for the same. The method includes: acquiring a total period T of thawing according to a weight x of food in the microwave oven, wherein the total period T of thawing satisfies: T=K(x/100) seconds, where, 20 seconds/gK120 seconds/g; and controlling the microwave generator to start, and thawing the food according to the total period T of thawing. With the method, the thawed food is more nutritious, healthier, and easier to cut, and has the low temperature difference, without a cooked discoloration phenomenon.

The invention relates to a top hood for covering food in a microwave oven. Top hood (HI) comprises a microwave transparent wall structure comprising side wall (SW) and top part (TP). Side wall (SW) and top part (TP) defines the internal area (IA) covered by said top hood (HI). Attached to the wall structure of the top hood (HI), the top hood (HI) comprises a temperature sensor (TS) for measuring the temperature within the internal area (IA) covered by said top hood (HI). Top hood further comprises a wireless transmitter (WT) for transmitting the measured temperature information to an external display unit (DU).

A household cooking appliance includes a cooking compartment wall delimiting a cooking compartment, a guide sleeve provided on the cooking compartment wall and having a cooking compartment-side end opening which opens into the cooking compartment, a sensor housed in the guide sleeve for longitudinal movement by motor power, and a closure element designed for movement by motor power together with the sensor between a closed position in which the closure element closes the end opening as the sensor is located in an end-opening-distal rest position, and an open position in which the closure element clears the end opening as the sensor is located in an end-opening-proximal measuring position.

Embodiments include microwave cooking systems and methods of their operation, which are configured to heat food loads. Using a phased array, frequency and phase conditions and corresponding return losses are mapped in a cavity of the microwave cooking system. Using one or more thermal cameras, positions of E field maximums also are mapped in the cavity. The frequency and phase conditions are time division multiplexed so that heat maximums sum over a cooking cycle to provide a heating profile in a zone of interest.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a thermal processing apparatus and an operation method thereof capable of controlling a heat distribution of a substrate at a low cost in a thermal processing process using a microwave. According to the present disclosure, a thermal processing apparatus includes a chamber that forms a thermal processing space of a substrate, a substrate support unit that is located at a lower portion of the thermal processing space and supports the substrate, and a microwave unit that is located at an upper portion of the thermal processing space and forms an electromagnetic field by the microwave in the thermal processing space. The substrate support unit includes a chuck fixed at the lower portion of the thermal processing space, a lifting drive mechanism configured to support the substrate with raising and lowering the substrate with respect to the chuck, and a controller that controls the lifting drive mechanism to adjust a height of the substrate based on a temperature distribution for each area of the substrate.

A microwave appliance includes a cabinet defining a cooking chamber, a magnetron, a temperature sensor directed toward the cooking chamber, and a controller. The controller is configured to measure a raw temperature of the cooking chamber, determine a calibrated temperature from the raw temperature and a conversion model, determine a preheat power level for the magnetron, and operate the magnetron at the preheat power level. The controller is further configured to determine a calibrated chamber temperature using a chamber temperature and a preheat conversion model and determine the calibrated chamber temperature has reached a target temperature. The controller is further configured to monitor a calibrated cooking temperature, based on a cooking temperature and a cooking conversion model, and operate the magnetron to a cooking power level to maintain the calibrated cooking temperature at the target temperature. A method of operating a microwave appliance with a temperature sensor is also disclosed.

Method of processing an object in an energy application zone by radio frequency (RF) radiation emitted by one or more radiating elements configured to emit the RF radiation in response to RF energy applied thereto, wherein the method includes controlling supply of RF energy to the one or more radiating elements via an RF energy supply component, receiving measured response values produced based on RF energy received by the one or more radiating elements from the energy application zone, accessing a stored set of coefficients associated with the RF energy supply component, said set of coefficients being utilized to transform the measured response values and controlling application of RF energy to the one or more radiating elements based on the measured response values and the set of coefficients.

A method of heating a load in a cavity of an apparatus for heating objects by transmitting to the cavity electromagnetic waves may include determining, for each of a plurality of modulation space elements (MSEs), a dissipation ratio indicating a proportion of power dissipated in the load to power transmitted into the cavity, wherein each MSE is a set of one or more values of variables, each controllable by the apparatus, that affect a field pattern excited in the cavity. The method may further include selecting one or more MSEs from the plurality of MSEs based on the dissipation ratio determined for each of the plurality of MSEs, wherein each of the selected one or more MSSEs is associated with a corresponding dissipation ratio that is lower than a threshold and applying RF energy to the load at the selected one or more frequencies.

A heating profile of a microwave oven is modified using microwaves at a plurality of frequencies. A power of transmission to a cavity of the microwave oven of microwaves is defined at each of the plurality of frequencies. A duration is defined for which the microwaves are transmitted at each of the plurality of frequencies. For each of the plurality of frequencies, a proportion of power input to the cavity that is not output from the cavity is measured. The measured proportions am used to modify the power of transmission at each frequency, the duration of transmission at each frequency or both.