Transformation Optics for Computing Heating Process in Microwave Applicators With Moving Elements

Abstract

Moving elements have been widely used to improve heating uniformity in microwave applicators, such as rotating turntables and mode stirrers. However, it remains a challenge to compute the heating process due to the difficulty of meshing the element's dynamic locations. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to solve this problem accurately and efficiently. Being surrounded by moving elements with a time-varying anisotropic layer on the basis of transformation optics, the electromagnetic field inside applicators can be computed with consideration of continuous motion of moving elements. A 2-D applicator model with a rotating turntable is used to illustrate the proposed algorithm in detail. Furthermore, we also compute the heating process of a practical 3-D applicator model with a rotating turntable. Compared with the conventional method, the proposed algorithm is more efficient and accurate. The computational results are in good agreement with experiments.