A Coupled Heat Transfer and Electromagnetic Model for Simulating Microwave Heating of Thin Dielectric Materials in a Resonant Cavity

Microwave heating is an emerging but still underutilized tool in modern industrial applications. The task of designing microwave applicators for heating industrial materials with temperature-dependent properties is challenging, and trial-and-error system prototyping is an expensive and wasteful means to accomplish this goal. The purpose of this work is to combine existing heat transfer and electromagnetic models to provide a complete simulation for heating dielectric materials in a resonant microwave cavity. The numerical simulation is validated by comparison to several independent sets of experimental data. The ultimate goal is to provide a research tool that will facilitate the industrial microwave applicator design process. With a complete, accurate, and user-friendly numerical simulation, parameters affecting the temperature distribution in stationary and moving process materials can be studied to optimize the results before the first prototype is made. This work also explores the sources of power loss in a microwave system and develops means for quantifying these power losses.