Novel Advances in Simulated Microwave Heating

Microwave heating has garnered increasing attention in the food-processing field owing to advantages, such as rapid heating, internal heating, and high efficiency. However, because the microwave fields are unevenly distributed, in practical applications the heated food is often in motion (e.g. rotation and translation) to improve heating uniformity, but this imposes high requirements when simulating and optimizing the design of microwave equipment. This chapter introduces multiphysics algorithms for simulating food being heated with microwaves affected by complex motion (including rotation and translation), as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm. Further breakthrough directions for these algorithms and their prospects for application in designing microwave food heating solutions are also discussed.