Microwave thawing apparatus and method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus for thawing a frozen material, said apparatus comprising:
- an electromagnetic energy source;
an energy applicator which defines a cavity for applying energy from said energy source to a material to be thawed;
a shielded region which is shielded from said energy, said shielded region in fluid communication with said cavity so that thawed material may flow from said cavity into said shielded region;
a container for said material, said container being disposed partly in said cavity and partly in said shielded region so that both frozen and thawed material are contained under substantially hermetic condition; and
a maintaining means for maintaining said fluid communication in order to prevent entrapment of fluid in said cavity.
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Abstract
An apparatus for thawing a frozen material includes: a microwave energy source; a microwave applicator which defines a cavity for applying microwave energy from the microwave source to a material to be thawed; and a shielded region which is shielded from the microwave source, the shielded region in fluid communication with the cavity so that thawed material may flow from the cavity into the shielded region.
15 Citations
58 Claims
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1. An apparatus for thawing a frozen material, said apparatus comprising:
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an electromagnetic energy source;
an energy applicator which defines a cavity for applying energy from said energy source to a material to be thawed;
a shielded region which is shielded from said energy, said shielded region in fluid communication with said cavity so that thawed material may flow from said cavity into said shielded region;
a container for said material, said container being disposed partly in said cavity and partly in said shielded region so that both frozen and thawed material are contained under substantially hermetic condition; and
a maintaining means for maintaining said fluid communication in order to prevent entrapment of fluid in said cavity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for thawing a material, said apparatus comprising:
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a multimode microwave applicator cavity;
a microwave source adapted for sweeping the frequency of microwave energy introduced into said cavity over a usable bandwidth of at least +/−
2% of a center frequency so that the microwave power density within said cavity is substantially uniform; and
a shielded region which is shielded from said microwave source, said shielded region in fluid communication with said cavity so that thawed material may flow from said cavity into said shielded region;
a container for said material, said container being disposed partly in said cavity and partly in said shielded region so that both frozen and thawed material are contained under substantially hermetic condition; and
a maintaining means for maintaining said fluid communication in order to prevent entrapment of fluid in said cavity. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of thawing a selected material comprising the steps of:
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a. providing an electromagnetic energy source;
an energy applicator which defines a cavity for applying energy from said energy source to a material to be thawed; and
a shielded region which is shielded from said energy source, said shielded region in fluid communication with said cavity so that thawed material may flow from said cavity into said shielded region;
b. placing a material to be thawed into said cavity, said material being contained within a sealed container that is disposed partly in said cavity and partly in said shielded region so that both frozen and thawed material a contained under substantially hermetic condition;
c. introducing electromagnetic energy into said cavity to thaw said material so that thawed liquid flows from said cavity into said shielded region; and
d. maintaining said fluid communication in order to prevent entrapment of fluid in said cavity. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of thawing a selected material comprising the steps of:
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a. providing a multimode microwave applicator cavity;
a microwave source adapted for sweeping the frequency of microwave energy introduced into said cavity over usable bandwidth of at least +/−
2% of a center frequency so that the microwave power density within said cavity is substantially uniform; and
a shielded region which is shielded from said microwave source, said shielded region in fluid communication with said cavity so that thawed material may flow from said cavity into said shielded region;
b. placing a material to be thawed into said cavity, said material being contained within a sealed container that is disposed partly in said cavity and partly in said shielded region so that both frozen and thawed material are contained under substantially hermetic condition;
c. introducing microwave energy into said cavity to thaw said material so that thawed liquid flows from said cavity into said shielded region; and
d. maintaining said fluid communication in order to prevent entrapment of fluid in said cavity. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification