A Fast and Accurate Method for Computing the Microwave Heating of Moving Objects

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 10; no. 8; p. 2985
• Main Authors: Zhang, Min, Jia, Xiubo, Tang, Zhixiang, Zeng, Yixuan, Wang, Xuejiao, Liu, Yi, Ling, Yuqing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-04-2020
• Subjects: Accuracy; Boundary conditions; Computer simulation; Computing time; Dielectric properties; Electric fields; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetism; Energy efficiency; Food; Heat transfer; Heating; Mathematical models; Methods; Microwave heating; microwave oven; moving objects; Numerical methods; numerical simulation; Object motion; Ovens; Ovens & stoves; Simulation; Temperature dependence; updating dielectric properties
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app10082985

In this paper, we show a fast and accurate numerical method for simulating the microwave heating of moving objects, which is still a challenge because of its complicated mathematical model simultaneously coupling electromagnetic field, thermal field, and temperature-dependent moving objects. By contrast with most discrete methods whose dielectric parameters of the heated samples are updated only when they move to a new position or even turn a circle, in our simulations a real-time procedure is added to renew the parameters during the whole heating process. Furthermore, to avoid the mesh-mismatch induced by remeshing the moving objects, we move the cavity instead of samples. To verify the efficiency and accuracy, we compared our method with the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method, one of the most accurate methods for computing this process until now. For the same computation model, our method helps in decreasing the computing time by about 90% with almost the same accuracy. Moreover, the influence of the rotational speed on the microwave heating is systematically investigated by using this method. The results show the widely used speed in domestic microwave ovens, 5 rpm, is indeed a good choice for improving the temperature uniformity with high energy efficiency.