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Content archived on 2019-03-15

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROWAVE APPLICATORS TO DRY THIN STRUCTURES

Objective



THE AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO DEVELOP HIGH POWER MICROWAVE APPLICATORS TO DRY AND TREAT THIN PLANAR MATERIALS. THESE APPLICATORS ARE TO BE ADAPTABLE FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF COATING AND DRYING PROCESSES. THE STUDY INVOLVES BOTH THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK, LEADING TO A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM OF 12 KW (POWER AT THE APPLICATOR) IN WHICH SAMPLES OF COATED PAPER ARE TO BE DRIED.

THE EFFICIENCY OF A MICROWAVE HEATING SYSTEM DEPENDS ON A GOOD MATCH BETWEEN THE POWER WHICH CAN BE ABSORBED BY THE SAMPLE (WHICH DEPENDS ON ITS SIZE AND CHARACTERISTICS)) AND THE POWER APPLIED. IF TOO MUCH POWER IS APPLIED A LARGER PART WILL BE REFLECTED. IN ORDER TO ENSURE OPTIMUM MATCHING A REFLECTION COEFFICIENT METER WAS DEVELOPED WITH THE MEASURING PROBES CONNECTED TO A MICROPROCESSOR. EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT TO TEST THE INSTALLATION. FURTHERMORE, THE MICROWAVE PROPERTIES OF POTENTIAL PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN MEASURED.

THE WORK RESULTED IN A NEW TYPE OF MICROWAVE APPLICATOR WITH A SPECIAL DISPOSITION OF THE RADIATION SOURCES. IN THIS APPLICATOR, THE MATERIALS WERE HEATED HOMOGENEOUSLY. A COMPUTER PROGRAMME PROVIDED THE DIMENSIONS OF THE APPLICATOR AND THE PLACE OF THE ANTENNAE IN FUNCTION OF THE ELECTRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MATERIAL. A STUDY ON THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANTENNAE TO BE USED IN MICROWAVE INDUSTRIAL APPLICATORS SHOWED THAT THE LEAKY WAVE WAVEGUIDE ANTENNA GAVE INTERESTING FEATURES E.G. GOOD ADAPTATION OF THESE ANTENNAE TO THE MICROWAVE APPLICATOR.

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION IS THE PLASTIFICATION OF PAPER WITH A PVDC SHEET (THE PVDC EMULSION CONTAINS 55 % SOLID MATERIAL AND 45 % WATER, WHICH HAS TO BE EVAPORATED). DRYING WITH MICROWAVE ENERGY INSTEAD OF HOT AIR AND INFRARED RADIATION, RESULTED IN ENERGY SAVINGS UP TO 20 %.

Topic(s)

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Coordinator

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
EU contribution
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Address
Departement elektrotechniek m.i.l. kardinaal mercierlaan, 94
3030 Heverlee
Belgium

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