Electronic cooking appliance

Claim 2

An electronic cooking appliance comprising: a. a microwave generator including coupling means for coupling microwave energy into a wave guide; b. a microwave cavity constructed and arranged to receive objects to be heated and having a central opening formed in one wall thereof; c. a wave guide transition box disposed over said central opening in said cavity, said box and said cavity having walls forming a barrier to the transmission of microwave energy except through said central opening, said box having a wave guide opening formed in one wall thereof; d. a wave guide operably connected between said microwave generator and the wave guide opening in said wave guide transition box for conducting microwave energy therebetween; e. a disk rotatably supported about an axis substantially coaxial with said central opening and having a periphery extending outwardly at least to the periphery of said central opening in a plane substantially coplanar with the wall containing said central opening, said disk having at least one aperture therein distributing said microwave energy between said transition box and said cavity; f. and motor means operably connected to said disk for rotation thereof.

Claim 3

The structure set forth in claim 1 including: g. insulated spacers secured around the periphery of said disk and disposed between said disk and said wall of said cavity, said spacers eliminating arcing between said disk and said cavity wall.

Claim 4

The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said central opening is circular having its center a plurality of substantially half-wavelengths from said coupling means, said disk having a greater diameter than said central opening.

Claim 5

The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein at least said one aperture has an elongated shape of which the longer dimension, when transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said wave guide appears at multiples of substantially half-wavelengths from said coupling means.

Claim 6

The structure set forth in claim 3 wherein said transition box is substantially two wavelengths square and has its center concentric with said central opening.

Claim 7

The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said motor means drives said disk at a speed less than 100 rpm.

Claim 8

The structure set forth in claim 1 including: h. a tuning element aligned parallel to said axis of rotation for said disk and disposed in a wall opposite that having said disk adjacent thereto and disposed to produce low microwave power variations for different loads placed in said microwave cavity.

Claim 9

An electronic cooking appliance comprising: a. a microwave generator including coupling means for coupling microwave energy into a wave guide; b. a microwave cavity constructed and arranged to receive objects to be heated and having a central opening formed in one wall thereof; c. a wave guide transition box disposed over said central opening in said cavity, said box and said cavity having walls forming a barrier to the transmission of microwave energy through said central opening, said box having a wave guide opening formed in one wall thereof; d. a wave guide operably connected between said microwave generator and the wave guide opening in said wave guide transition box for conducting microwave energy therebetween; e. a disk rotatably supported about an axis substantially coaxial with said central opening and having a periphery extending outwardly at least to the periphery of said central opening, said disk extending in a plane substantially coplanar with the wall containing said central opening, said disk having a plurality of apertures formed therein with elongated shapes of substantially parallel sides, of which the longer dimension when transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said wave guide appears at multiples of substantially half-wavelengths from said coupling means for distributing said microwave energy between said transition box and said cavity; f. and motor means operably connected to said disk for rotation thereof.

Claim 10

An electronic cooking appliance comprising: a. a microwave generator including coupling means for coupling microwave energy into a wave guide; b. a microwave cavity constructed and arranged to receive objects to be heated and having a central opening formed in one wall thereof; c. a wave guide transition box disposed over said central opening in said cavity, said box and said cavity having walls forming a barrier to the transmission of microwave energy through said central opening, said box having a wave guide opening formed in one wall thereof; d. a wave guide operably connected between said microwave generator and the wave guide opening in said wave guide transition box for conducting microwave energy therebetween; e. a disk rotatably supported about an axis substantially coaxial with said central opening and having a periphery extending outwardly at least to the periphery of said central opening, said disk extending in a plane substantially coplanar with the wall containing said central opening, said disk having a plurality of apertures formed therein with elongated shapes of substantially parallel sides, of which the longer dimension when transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said wave guide appears at multiples of substantially half-wavelengths from said coupling means for distributing said microwave energy between said transition box and said cavity; f. and motor means operably connected to said disk for rotation thereof.

Claim 11

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said plurality of apertures have at least two apertures of equal dimensions and at least one aperture of other dimensions.

Claim 12

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein each of said plurality of apertures has a ratio of length to width of approximately 7.68 to 9.25.

Claim 13

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said plurality of apertures are constructed and arranged in said disk so that the longitudinal axes thereof are in non-parallel alignment and the angles between the same are substantially less than normal to each other.

Claim 14

The structure set forth in claim 11 wherein said plurality of apertures are constructed and arranged so that they appear sequentially at multiples of substantially half-wavelengths from said coupling means.

Claim 15

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said wave guide has an open end operably connected to the wave guide opening in said wave guide transition box, said wave guide opening extending through a wall substantially parallel to said disk rotational axis.

Claim 16

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said disk used with a microwave generator having a frequency of 2450 X 106 Hz has apertures specifically constructed and arranged as shown in FIG. 5 hereof.

Claim 17

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said plurality of apertures are disposed in said disk so that the part of said aperture farthest from the center of said disk is less than a wave guide width when transverse to the longitudinal axis of said wave guide.

Claim 18

The structure set forth in claim 1 including: i. a shelf defining a cooking plane disposed below said disk at a distance representative of substantially a multiple of half-wavelengths.

Claim 19

The structure set forth in claim 8 wherein said wave guide transition box includes an indented Ring portion extending downwardly from the top of said box in a smooth curve.