October 22-24, 2014

Design
Bogotá, Colombia of a Drying System Based on a Microwave Multimode Cavity with a
Conical Mode Stirrer
John J. Pantoja, Félix Vega, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
jjpantojaa@unal.edu.co

Keywords:  Microwave drying, Mode stirrer, Uniform heating, Field uniformity. 

1. Introduction
Microwave heating is a promising drying technique, due to its possibilities of improving
time and efficiency when compared with convectional alternatives. However, a known
issue in the design of microwave applicators is to obtain a uniform heating pattern on the
exposed material. Non uniformities in heating produce hot spots and non-uniform drying,
which can affect the product quality. Different strategies have been proposed to produce
uniform heating; the most used are: varying the sample position on the cavity, using
several applicators, using on/off cycles, and using mode stirrers.

In this study, an unsymmetrical cone is proposed as mode stirrer in a two-port multimode

cavity. The structure is fed by means of two waveguides which determine the excited
modes in the cavity, and as a consequence, the location of high field intensities. The field
uniformity is obtained with the mode-stirrer rotation, which modifies the direction of the
signals arriving from both ports with different angles according to the stirrer position.
Therefore, a continuous movement of areas with high volumetric dissipation in the
exposed material is provided. System performance is evaluated using electromagnetic
simulations, having into account the input-ports matching, the mismatch between the input
ports, and the dissipated power uniformity. These parameters determine the power
efficiency of the system and the heating uniformity. In addition, design strategies to
improve each parameter are presented and assessed using parametric analysis.
Particularly, a procedure to evaluate the effect of the stirrer rotation on the heating
uniformity is presented. The procedure, based on a statistical analysis of the sample
volumetric density losses, shows that the design strategy reduces the number of hot-spots
and contributes with the heating uniformity.

The proposed microwave drying system is intended to be used as a laboratory equipment

to perform drying tests with different materials. It is planned to work with commercial
magnetrons at 2.45 GHz. The intended drying rate is 15 kg/h for samples with 30%
moisture content.
  

October 22-24, 2. Multimode Cavity

2014
Multimode cavity applicators allow delivering almost all the available microwave power
Bogotá, Colombia
to the exposed material because the energy is radiated and reflected inside the cavity
(Mehdizadeh, 2009). These appliers are composed by one or multiple microwave sources
matched to a closed conductive cavity. Therefore, the microwave waves scatters inside the
cavity until they are dissipated as heat in the exposed material. A characteristic of
multimode cavities is the generation of zones with high dissipation, named hot spots,
which produce heterogeneous heating. An alternative to produce a homogeneous heating
is the use of mode stirrers. These mobile elements produce a continuous variation of the
electromagnetic field configuration inside the cavity (Mehdizadeh, 2009; Plaza-Gonzalez,
Monzo-Cabrera, Catala-Civera, & Sanchez-Hernandez, 2004; Sebera, Nasswettrová, &
Nikl, 2012).

The proposed two-port multimode cavity is shown in Fig. 1. It is fed by two independent
microwave sources by means of two wave-guide ports. An unsymmetrical cone is used as
mode stirrer. The proposed design modifies the propagation of waves coming from both
ports and the cavity field configuration using just one sitter, similarly as the design
proposed in (Sebera, et al., 2012). The mode-stirrer rotation in the xy plane, in addition to
produce the desired variation in the field configuration, moves the hot spot generated in
the zones closest to the ports (see the hot spot closest to the port 1 in Fig. 2). The stirrer’s
unsymmetrical geometry and the ports’ diagonal layout were selected to excite a larger
number of modes in the cavity, which contributes to heating uniformity (Mehdizadeh,
2009).

To illustrate the mode-stirrer requirement in cavity microwave applicators, Fig. 2 shows

the simulated power dissipation in a sample exposed to microwaves inside the proposed
cavity without considering the stirrer rotation. The figure shows that heating is produced
only in local zones of the exposed material (hot spots); as a consequence, non uniform
heating and even risk of material damage are produced.

Port 1 Microwave Input Ports

Exposed
Port 2
Sample
Mode Stirrer

Multimode Cavity
(Conductive box)

 
  

October 22-24, 2014 Fig. 1 Proposed multimode cavity.  

Bogotá, Colombia  

Top 
Sample

Cavity 

Front  

Mode stirrer 

Sample 

Bottom 
Sample

Cavity 

Fig. 2 Power dissipation simulated for a low moisture sample (εr=10, tanδ=0.15). 

3. System Performance Assessment

The applicator performance can be assessed by means of three variables that determine its
efficiency in delivering the microwave to the sample and the heating uniformity. Since
multiple reflections of the incident microwaves are presented inside the cavity, power can
return by the input port towards the source, causing power losses. A measure of the ratio
between the power introduced by each port in the cavity and the supplied power can be
done by the ports’ reflection coefficients (Pozar, 2005). In addition, since two ports are
used in the design, power from one port can return to the source by the other port. A
measure of the electromagnetic coupling between both ports can be done by the
transmission coefficient (Pozar, 2005).

The heating uniformity was assessed by calculating the histogram of the volume loss
density with a static and a rotating stirrer. The volume loss density is a measure of the
volumetric power dissipation in the sample. It was calculated using a full-wave
electromagnetic simulation for each stirrer rotation angle. Then, the sample was divided in
volumetric segments and the volume loss density of each segment was calculated. After,
  

October 22-24, the

2014volume loss density for each angle was averaged to obtain the average volume loss
density for each segment due to the stirrer rotation. Finally, the histogram was calculated
Bogotá, Colombia
to describe the power dissipation dispersion in the complete sample. Using this approach,
the complete sample is considered to determine the uniformity providing a better view of
the heating process as compared with other approaches that only consider orthogonal
paths at specified cuts in the sample (Sebera, et al., 2012).

4. Results
The criteria described above are calculated for the proposed multimode cavity loaded with
a low moisture sample with relative permittivity εr=10 and a loss tangent tanδ=0.15. Fig. 3
presents the reflection coefficient of both ports 1 and 2 as a function of the stirrer’s
rotation angle and for different frequencies inside the source frequency band. The figure
shows that both ports are well matched with the cavity since the reflection coefficient is
lower than -10 dB for all cases and for most of cases it is lower than -15 dB. A reflection
coefficient of -10 dB and -15 dB means, respectively, that 10% and 3.2% of the incident
power in each port is reflected to the source.

Fig. 4 shows the transmission coefficient between ports 1 and 2. Since the transmission
coefficient is lower than -16 dB, it is verified that a good decoupling between both ports is
provided by the proposed design.  
XY Plot 4 M2 Opti IRIS2 Diag LowMoist XY Plot 6 M2 Opti IRIS2 Diag LowMoist
-10.00 Curve Info -10.00
Curve Info
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
Freq='2.425GHz' Setup1 : Sw eep
Freq='2.425GHz'
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
-15.00 Freq='2.435GHz' -15.00 Setup1 : Sw eep
Freq='2.435GHz'
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
Freq='2.445GHz' Setup1 : Sw eep
Freq='2.445GHz'
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
-20.00 Freq='2.455GHz' -20.00 Setup1 : Sw eep
Freq='2.455GHz'
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
Freq='2.465GHz' Setup1 : Sw eep
dB(S(2,2))
dB(S(1,1))

Freq='2.465GHz'
dB(S(1,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep dB(S(2,2))
Freq='2.475GHz' Setup1 : Sw eep
-25.00 -25.00 Freq='2.475GHz'

-30.00 -30.00

-35.00 -35.00

-40.00 -40.00
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50
angle angle  
(a)          (b) 
Fig. 3 Reflection coefficient of input ports (a) 1 and (b) 2 as a function of the stirrer rotation angle (in 
radians) for different frequencies in the source frequency range. 
  

XY Plot 7 M2 Opti IRIS2 Diag LowMoist

-16.00
October 22-24, 2014 Curve Inf o
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='0'
dB(S(2,1))

Bogotá, Colombia -18.00

Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='0.3491'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='0.6982'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='1.0473'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
-20.00 angle='1.3964'

dB(S(2,1))
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='1.7455'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='2.0946'
-22.00 dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='2.4437'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
angle='2.7928'
dB(S(2,1))
Setup1 : Sw eep
-24.00 angle='3.1416'

-26.00
2.425 2.438 2.450 2.463 2.475
Freq [GHz]  
Fig. 4 Transmission coefficient between ports 1 and 2 as a function of the stirrer rotation angle for different 
frequencies in the source frequency range. 

Fig. 5 shows the uniformity of the volume loss density. The figure shows the top face of
the sample without and with considering the stirrer rotation. It is shown that the stirrer
movement reduces the size of areas without dissipation (in blue) and the areas of hot spots
(in brown). Following the procedure described in Section 3, the histogram of the volume
loss density without and with considering the stirrer rotation was calculated and it is
shown in Fig. 6. The figure presents three characteristics that show that the stirrer rotation
contributes in the heating uniformity: (i) there are less occurrences of points with low loss
values, corresponding to cold areas, (ii) there are less occurrences of points with high loss
values, corresponding to hot spots, and (iii) there is an increase in the histogram’s medium
region, corresponding to more points with medium dissipation than in the static case.
18
x 10 18
0.4 x 10
0.4
4.5 5
0.35
4 0.35 4.5

0.3 4
3.5 0.3
3.5
0.25 3 0.25
3
0.2 2.5
0.2
y

2.5
y

2
0.15 0.15 2
1.5
1.5
0.1 0.1
1 1
0.05 0.5 0.05
0.5

0 0 0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
 
(a)          (b) 
Fig. 5 Volume loss density at the sample’s top face for (a) a static stirrer and (b) a rotating stirrer. 
  

October 22-24, 2014 400

angle=0°
Bogotá, Colombia 350 Average

300

Occurrences 250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Normalized Volume Loss Density
 
Fig. 6 Histogram of the normalized volume loss density for the stirrer static at 0° position and for a rotating 
stirrer. 

5. Conclusions
A two-port multimode microwave applicator was described and assessed in this document.
Based in the reflection and transmission coefficients, the applicator’s power efficiency
was assessed. In addition, a procedure to assess the heating uniformity, based on
calculating the volume loss density histogram, is proposed. Results show that the proposed
design delivers most of the fed energy to the exposed sample since a good matching
between the input ports and the cavity is achieved and both ports are decoupled. Based in
the proposed approach, it was shown also that the mode stirrer contributes in the heating
uniformity.

6. References
Mehdizadeh, M. (2009). Microwave/RF Applicators and Probes for Material Heating, Sensing, and 
Plasma Generation, A Design Guide. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. 
Plaza‐Gonzalez, P., Monzo‐Cabrera, J., Catala‐Civera, J. M., & Sanchez‐Hernandez, D. (2004). New 
approach for the prediction of the electric field distribution in multimode microwave‐
heating applicators with mode stirrers. Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on, 40(3), 1672‐
1678. 
Pozar, D. M. (2005). Microwave engineering: J. Wiley. 
Sebera, V., Nasswettrová, A., & Nikl, K. (2012). Finite Element Analysis of Mode Stirrer Impact on 
Electric Field Uniformity in a Microwave Applicator. Drying Technology, 30(13), 1388‐
1396.