Smart Microwave Oven Released That Can Heat Multiple Foods at Once

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute "Uniform or Targeted Heating Also Possible"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Domestic researchers have developed a core technology for a 'smart microwave oven' that eliminates the weakness of uneven heating and can heat multiple foods at once.

The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced on the 6th that Dr. Jeong Soon-shin's team at the Electric Environment Research Center developed the next-generation core source technology for a ‘smart microwave oven’ that can heat only the desired location or object to the desired temperature as needed.

Microwave ovens, which heat food using microwaves, a type of electromagnetic wave, have long been established as essential home appliances. However, since the microwave waves vary in intensity spatially and cannot be individually controlled, uneven heating often occurs, causing inconvenience. The current method involves moving the object to be heated, such as food, within a limited range at a constant pace, but it cannot reflect the constantly changing temperature distribution, resulting in some areas becoming hotter while others remain lukewarm.

'Smart Microwave Heating Equipment' developed by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute.

The research team developed a so-called ‘Jeok-Yeol-Jeok-So (適熱適所), Smart Microwave Heating Technology’ that allows users to heat only the desired spot as much as needed by significantly changing the microwave wavelength with slight frequency adjustments. The basic principle is to control the heating location by freely lengthening or shortening the microwave wavelength to adjust the spatial distribution of microwaves.

The team utilized a frequency control method to achieve rapid and precise wavelength changes. Each device using electromagnetic waves typically has an allowed frequency band, and previously, changing the frequency resulted in negligible wavelength changes, making practical application difficult. However, with the technology developed by KERI after years of effort, adjusting the frequency by just 1% can increase the wavelength change by up to 100 times compared to before.

This wavelength change enables wide control over the microwave heating location, meaning both ‘uniform heating’ and ‘targeted heating’ are possible.

The research team explained, "The ‘uniform heating’ level we developed is world-class, evenly heating the object so that the overall temperature difference is less than 10%," and added, "‘Targeted heating’ allows users to set the heating location based on the target temperature of each part of the object, enabling concentrated heating at the desired temperature. This means different foods can be heated simultaneously at different desired temperatures."

This technology can be applied to next-generation ‘smart microwave ovens’ for home and commercial use, and in industries, it can be utilized for efficient heating in various production processes such as semiconductors, automobiles, carbon fiber, and diamonds. Currently, Korea’s heat treatment energy efficiency is only about 60% compared to advanced countries, but through microwave heating technology, energy loss can be minimized, significantly contributing to the government’s carbon neutrality goals.

Dr. Jeong stated, “This is the world’s first achievement to control the heating location by significantly changing the wavelength with slight frequency adjustments, enhancing user convenience and reducing energy consumption for unnecessary heating. Through continuous research, we aim to develop technology that can effectively heat metals, which are difficult to heat with microwaves, greatly expanding the scope of application.”

The research results were published in the international journals ‘Applied Thermal Engineering’ and ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry A’.