2. Laboratory equipment and industrial systems

2.1 The various basic elements

All microwave heating systems consist of :

• a source of electromagnetic waves. Most of the time, this is a magnetron capable of delivering power in the order of a few kilowatts;

• a waveguide, a parallelepipedic metal tube in which the waves propagate. Depending on the dimensions of the guide, the fundamental propagation mode –, which corresponds to a vertical polarization of the electric field (T ₁₀ mode) – can be obtained. This leads to a monomodal distribution, which makes it possible to control the spatial configuration of the electric and magnetic components, as well as the energy distribution in the waveguide;

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