A method of heating a load in a cavity using microwaves wherein the microwaves provide mode fields in the cavity includes obtaining a desired temperature pattern within said cavity based on information about regions of the load. A heating pattern in the cavity is determined and comprises zones of different intensities corresponding to the desired temperature pattern. A zone of higher intensity in the determined heating pattern corresponds to a region of higher temperature in the desired temperature pattern. The method also includes controlling one or more independently controllable microwave generators or feeding ports so the mode fields form the determined heating pattern and thereby heat the load according to the desired temperature pattern.

Provided herein is a system for precise delivery of an item to a consumer by an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. The system performs image recognition algorithms to detect a primary entrance, navigate from a street address to the primary entrance, and to validate the customer upon delivery.

An autonomous robot vehicle in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure includes a conveyance system, a navigation system, a communication system configured to communicate with a food delivery management system, one or more storage modules including a storage compartment or a storage sub-compartment configured to store food items, one or more preparation modules including a preparation compartment or a preparation sub-compartment configured to prepare the food items, processor(s), and a memory storing instructions. The instructions, when executed by the processor(s), cause the autonomous robot vehicle to, autonomously, receive via the communication system a food order for a destination, determine a travel route that includes the destination, control the conveyance system to travel the travel route to reach the destination, and prepare the food item while traveling on the travel route.

A radio frequency (RF) heating and defrosting apparatus may include an electrode which, when supplied with RF signal energy, may responsively radiate electromagnetic energy into a cavity of the RF heating and defrosting apparatus. This radiated electromagnetic energy may cause a thermal increase of a load in the cavity. A capacitor may be formed from a portion of the electrode and a conductive plate disposed adjacent to the electrode. The conductive plate may be coupled to a ground reference structure. Dielectric material(s) having a low dielectric constant may be disposed directly between the electrode and the conductive plate.

An electromagnetic cooking device is disclosed. The device comprises an enclosed cavity configured to receive a food load and a plurality of amplifiers configured to amplify a first RF signal and a second RF signal thereby supplying the RF signals to the enclosed cavity. A controller is in communication with the plurality of amplifiers. The controller is configured to control the first RF signal and the second RF signal along a stirring path between a first approximate resonant mode and a second approximate resonant mode of the enclosed cavity. Each of the resonance modes comprises a frequency and phase shift between the first RF signal and the second RF signal.

A method for identifying a cooking level of a food load in an electromagnetic cooking device is disclosed. The method comprises controlling a frequency and a phase of a first RF signal and a second RF signal and amplifying the first RF signal and the second RF signal thereby generating a first RF feed and a second RF feed. The method further comprises emitting the first RF feed and the second RF feed into an enclosed cavity to heat a food load and measuring at least one reflection signal. The method further comprises calculating a Q-factor for the enclosed cavity based on the reflection signal, monitoring the Q-factor, and identifying a change in the Q-factor exceeding a predetermined change threshold. In response to identifying the change exceeding the predetermined change threshold, a cooking level for the food load is identified.

Provided are a heating device and a refrigerator. The heating device includes: a cylinder body, in which a heating cavity is defined and configured to place an object to be processed, provided with a pick-and-place opening located on a front side of the cylinder body; a door body, configured to open and close the pick-and-place opening of the cylinder body; an electromagnetic heating device, configured to generate electromagnetic waves into the heating cavity to heat the object to be processed; and magnetic elements, disposed on the door body or the cylinder body and configured to enable the door body and the cylinder body to attract each other, so that when the door body is in a closed state in which the door body seals the pick-and-place opening, the door body and the cylinder body are in close electrical contact, thereby forming a continuously conductive shielding body. By disposing the magnetic elements, on the one hand, the size of a gap between the door body and the cylinder body is reduced, and the amount of electromagnetic leakage is reduced; and on the other hand, it facilitates the door body and the cylinder body forming a continuously conductive shielding body to prevent electromagnetic waves from being emitted through the gap that may exist between the door body and the cylinder body, thereby effectively shielding the electromagnetic radiation and eliminating the harm of the electromagnetic radiation to the human body.

A system and method for defrosting or heating are presented. A radio frequency (RF) signal source provides, through a transmission path, an RF signal to an electrode that is proximate to a cavity of a defrosting system. A rate of change of a ratio of a reflected RF power measurement and a forward RF power measurement along the transmission path is determined to have transitioned from a relatively high value to a relatively low value. At a point in time when the determination is made, the RF signal is provided to the electrode for an additional time duration beyond the point in time, and provision of the RF signal to the electrode is ceased when the additional time duration has expired.

A microwave heating apparatus and a method of heating a load using microwaves is disclosed. The microwave heating apparatus comprises a cavity arranged to receive a load, a plurality of feeding ports for feeding microwaves from a plurality of microwave generators to the cavity, and a control unit. The control unit is configured to obtain a desired temperature pattern within the cavity based on information about a plurality of regions of the load. The control unit is also configured to determine a heating pattern comprising zones of different intensities corresponding to the desired temperature pattern, and control at least one of the plurality of microwave generators for providing the heating pattern within the cavity. The apparatus and method may provide heating of a load according to different desired temperatures in various parts of the load.

Example methods and apparatus for communicatively coupling internal components and accessories appliances, and appliances with external components and accessories are disclosed herein. A disclosed example method of operating a domestic appliance having at least one of an internal communications network and/or an external communications network among at least two components includes identifying the components, communicating the capabilities of each identified component, communicating the status of each identified component, providing a command interface for operating the components, facilitating communication between the components, and operating the appliance using the command interface and the facilitated communication.