Design and Fabrication of a Smart Microwave Oven

Abstract

In this paper a major modification in home microwave ovens is proposed in which the food status determines the time required for reheating or even cooking the food inside the microwave instead of speculating the length of the time required to achieve the desired status. The proposed microwave called “smart microwave” features a real time temperature monitoring system, which is in charge of monitoring the food inside the microwave using some infrared sensors. It also features a PID (proportional integral derivative) controller that uses the measured temperature as the processed value which is basically the feedback that goes to the processing unit of the controller to assure that the food follows the temperature profile of the set point defined by the user. The smart microwave oven also features an electromagnetic band gap structure in order to make sure that the radiation inside the microwave cavity does not compromise the accuracy of the temperature readings caused by its parasitic effects. The fabrication process of the prototype for the proposed design is also reported in this paper. The proposed smart microwave changes the nature of this device that has always been used only for reheating the food ever since it was introduced to the market as a fast cooking appliance than can take any recipe and accomplish it in no time.