International Scientific Colloquium Modelling for Electromagnetic Processing Hannover, March 24-26, 2003

New Development for Industrial Microwave Heating

J. Suhm, M. Mller, H. Linn
Abstract For industrial microwave heating applications the available frequencies were mostly limited to 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz. For some time now 5.8 GHz is available from a magnetron source, making it suitable for industrial applications. The theoretical advantages of 5.8 GHz will be discussed and possible industrial applications shown. 1. Theoretical Approach to 5.8 GHz The basic microwave heating equation shows the dependency of the absorbed power on the frequency of the microwaves (1).

P = 2 f 0 E V

(1)

An additional effect is given be the frequency influence on the dielectric properties of the material that is heated. For many materials, the dielectric properties increase with increasing frequency. As an example, a Cole-Cole curve demonstrating this effect is shown below (Fig. 1.). The figure was calculated for water at 25C. It is apparent that the value for increases with frequency until it reaches its maximum at about 18 GHz.

Fig. 1. Cole-Cole curve for water at 25C The penetration depth of microwaves into a material is described by the following equation (2).

131

PD =

0 2

(2)

This shows that the penetration depth decreases with increasing microwave frequency. Due to this effect, the higher frequencies, including 5.8 GHz, are more suitable for thin materials, whereas the low penetration depth of the microwaves has no negative influence. The comparison of microwave penetration at different frequencies shows this advantage (Fig.2). It becomes apparent that 2.45 GHz microwaves can penetrate deeper into a material but have a comparatively low energy conversion. 5.8 GHz microwaves have a much lower penetration depth, but a much higher energy conversion at low depths. Therefore the energy efficiency for heating of thin materials is much better when using 5.8 GHz compared to 2.45 GHz. Other effects of the high frequency include the reduced dimensions of single-mode chambers for 5.8 GHz. For example, the widely used TM01 mode can only be generated in chambers with a diameter of about 4 cm. This limits the use of these kind of chambers even more than at lower frequencies, due to size-restrictions of the useful volume. But of course, the heating is more efficient for those materials that do fit in. Fig. 2. Microwave penetration at different frequencies 2. Applications for 5.8 GHz Microwave Heating The new frequency is expected to be used mainly for two industrial applications. 1. For heating and/or drying of materials that cannot be heated efficiently by lower frequency microwaves due to their shape. This includes mainly low-volume materials like fibers, sheets, or other shaped materials, but also low quantities of powders or granulates. For many of these shapes and materials, industrial microwave heating with lower frequencies is not a viable option. The only way to heat some of these shapes by lower frequency microwaves is in single mode applicators, but these are often not suitable for industrial processes. Due to size limitations of these single mode chambers, the amount of material that can be heated in them at the same time is very limited, which is often unsuitable for the requirements of industrial processing. 5.8 GHz now offers the possibility to heat these materials and shapes in multi-mode chambers with a good efficiency. 2. For heating of materials that dont couple well enough to lower frequency microwaves, but increase their coupling at higher frequencies. Many materials show the effect of increased coupling to microwaves at higher frequencies. So it can be expected, that some materials will show an efficient coupling at 5.8 GHz but not at 2.45 GHz or lower frequencies. What these materials might be remains to be determined as the frequency dependency at these frequencies

132

is not known for the majority of materials. For high-temperature microwave heating, 5.8 GHz can give another benefit. Most materials that are sintered with microwaves require some kind of preheating, because the coupling of the material at low temperatures is not sufficient to heat the material with just microwaves. At some point during the preheating, the dielectric properties of the material will have increased enough to allow direct heating by microwaves. This temperature, known as Kick-In temperature depends on the dielectric properties of the material and thus should be lower at 5.8 GHz for materials that have improved dielectric properties at higher frequencies. First tests indicate, that this effect is indeed true. Sintering tests performed with stabilized Zirconia show the Kick-In temperature to be above 900C at 2.45GHz. A repetition of the test with 5.8 GHz microwaves and identical conditions show the Kick-In temperature to be in the range of 700C. 3. 5.8 GHz Microwave Equipment 3.1 5.8 GHz Microwave Components Magnetron The currently available magnetron for 5.8 GHz has a microwave output of 700 W at continuous-wave operation (Fig. 3). Due to continuing improvements, it is expected to reach an output power of 800 W this year. The size and electrical parameters of the 5.8 GHz magnetron were designed to match those of the commonly used 800 W 2.45 GHz magnetron. This eliminates the need to develop new electrical components for the magnetron operation. Waveguide For 5.8 GHz microwaves R58 rectangular waveguides are required. Compared to the R26 Fig. 3. 700 W 5.8 GHz magnetron waveguide for 2.45 GHz, the dimensions are greatly reduced (Fig. 4.). 3.2 5.8 GHz Heating Equipment Due to the similarities in size and electrical parameters of the magnetrons, designs for multi-mode microwave heating equipment using 800W 2.45 GHz magnetrons can be easily changed to 700W 5.8 GHz magnetrons. This makes it possible to use the new magnetrons in a wide variety of different microwave heating equipments, ranging from laboratory sized singlemagnetron units to industrial scale equipment with 50 magnetrons and more. New chamber designs are necessary for single-mode units with the new frequency. Due to the small wavelength of 5.8 GHz, single-mode chambers for this frequency are comparatively small. This limits the applications for these chambers to very small sample sizes.

133

Fig. 4. Waveguides for 5.8 GHz and 2.45 GHz Other newly developed units include dual-frequency microwave heaters, combining 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz into one unit (Fig. 5 and 6.). The shown model incorporates one magnetron each of both frequencies, giving it a power of 800W at 2.45 GHz and 700W at 5.8 GHz. The main application for these systems is to make comparisons between both frequencies, showing advantages for 5.8 GHz. Since the unit is equipped with both frequencies, tests can be conducted with exactly the same parameters with only the change of frequency. The effect of the new frequency is therefore easily recognizable, which may not be the case if different units for the two frequencies are used. 4. First Tests with 5.8 GHz Since the first 5.8 GHz magnetron was available, a multitude of tests have been performed in different microwave units. These tests give two important indications. First, the improved efficiency that was theoretically predicted for low-volume materials was proven to be true for different materials. Second, some unpredicted effects were found, which show that the research with 5.8 GHz is still at the very beginning. Some tests with different materials (water, quartz, paper) show that for low volumes of these materials, the efficiency of microwave heating can be increased by a factor of 2.0 to 3.5 by using 5.8 GHz instead of 2.45 GHz microwaves. Although this is only a first indication, it shows that for some materials and volumes where microwave heating with lower frequencies is rather ineffective, the new 5.8 GHz frequency has the potential to greatly improve heating efficiency. For SiC it appears that the heating is less at 5.8 GHz than at 2.45 GHz. Some tests, where SiC was used as a susceptor material, show the heating to be less at 5.8 GHz compared to 2.45 GHz. The reason for this effect is not entirely clear, but it might be similar to the effect that it is very difficult to heat SiC by microwaves to more than approx. Fig. 5. Dual-Frequency Microwave Unit 1000C. with 2 magnetrons

134

References
[1] Mller, M., Linn, H.: Theoretical and Practical Comparison of Energy Conversion of Microwave Frequencies 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz. Foundry, Nov/Dec, 2002, pp. 37-38. [2] Metaxas, A.C., Meredith, R.J., Industrial Microwave Heating, Peter Peregrinus Ltd, 1988

Fig. 6. Dual-Frequency Microwave Unit with 4 magnetrons Authors

Dipl.-Ing. Suhm, Jrgen Linn High Therm GmbH Heinrich-Hertz Platz 1 D-92275 Eschenfelden, Germany E-mail: suhm@linn.de Dipl.-Ing. Linn, Horst Linn High Therm GmbH Heinrich-Hertz Platz 1 D-92275 Eschenfelden, Germany E-mail: info@linn.de Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Mller, Malte Linn High Therm GmbH Heinrich-Hertz Platz 1 D-92275 Eschenfelden, Germany E-mail: moeller@linn.de

135