Nearly every home in the U.S. today has a microwave and uses it almost daily. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau states that approximately 96.9 percent of homes in the country have a microwave oven. These smaller units rely on a process called convection heating to warm up food products, which works by heating up the outside of the product first and then moving inwards. While convection heating is generally effective for home use, industrial microwave manufacturing utilizes a different methodology.
During industrial microwave manufacturing, at Electric Power Systems, we build microwave systems that use a different process for heating known as dielectric heating. This process works at a volumetric level, affecting the whole product at once instead of beginning with the outside and going inward.
Unless the material is a good conductor of electricity, heat will begin to generate while the item is subjected to an electromagnetic field in the microwave, which is ultimately caused by dielectric losses. When the electronic magnetic field starts to oscillate, the iconic particles in the material begin to polarize millions of times per second. It is this quick polarization that creates friction on a molecular level, resulting in the production of thermal energy and an increase in the material’s temperature.
While dielectric heating is beneficial for many industrial applications, it is highly effective in drying situations. This is because water molecules are highly polarized, so they heat the fastest and at the most efficient rate.
Industrial microwave manufacturing is one of our core services, and we would be happy to discuss your organization’s microwave needs and go into dielectric heating in further depth. Contact us today!