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Study of Electromagnetic Properties of the

Agricultural Products

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 Study of Electromagnetic Properties of the Agricultural Products
Darie SOPRONI, Teodor MAGHIAR, Carmen MOLNAR, Ioan HATHAZI,
Livia BANDICI, Mircea ARION and Andrei KRAUSZ
University of Oradea, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
1, Universităţii Street, 410087, Oradea, România,
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Tel.: +40 259 408272

Abstract: During microwave or high frequency heating, [4] has suggested that by combining higher frequencies
many material properties affect the heating performance. with lower frequencies it would be possible to get surface
Among the most significant are the electromagnetic browning.
properties, especially the dielectric properties of the food. A propagating electromagnetic wave has two
In addition to these properties, geometry, packaging, and components, an electric field (E; unit V/m) and a magnetic
the microwave oven itself affect the heating. This field (H; unit A/m). They are vectors and always
literature review focuses on multicomponent food perpendicular to each other (Fig. 2).
products and reheating of prepared foods, but some basic In free space the propagating wave has a velocity (c0) of
concepts and mechanisms of microwave heating are also about 3.0 x 108 m/s, and this is the maximum speed at
introduced. which energy can travel. Frequency (f) and wavelength (λ)
are linked with the equation:
Keywords: Electromagnetic polarisation, Dielectric c = λ⋅ f (1)
properties, agricultural products, Microwave modelling.

I. INTRODUCTION

The application in the field of information transmission

on the electro magnetic support, the transmissions by
satellite, mobile phone, using of the electromagnetic
radiation in the field of radiofrequencies, the using of the
thermal systems with microwaves, are few from the Figure 1. A propagating electromagnetic wave
applications which are extending more and more in our
days. The most important effect of the electromagnetic TABLE 1. Frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.
radiation, represents the thermal effect, thus this one is of Field Frequency Wavelength
the reasons for which the international bodies has Audio-frequency 30 - 30·103 Hz 10Mm - 10km
established the norms of security. The researches have Radio-frequency 30·103 - 3·1011 Hz 10km - 1mm
noticed some effects on human body, such as: depression, Infrared 3·1011 - 4,1·1014 Hz 1mm - 730nm
cephalalgie, etc. Visible light 4,1·1014 - 7,5·1014 Hz 730nm - 400nm
Microwaves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum Ultra violet 7,5·1014 - 1018 Hz 400nm - 0,3nm
X rays > 1017 Hz < 3nm
and are located between 300 MHz and 300 GHz.
Y rays > 1020 Hz < 3pm
Microwave heating is defined as the heating of a substance Cosmic rays > 1020 Hz < 3pm
by electromagnetic energy operating in that frequency
range. The high frequency range, which also can be used TABLE 2. The radio-frequency and microwave electromagnetic
for heating, is very large and it can be subdivided into kHz spectrum delimitation.
high frequency (10 kHz< f ≤ 1 MHz) and MHz high Name Frequency range Wave length
frequency (1 MHz < f ≤ 300 MHz). The latter range is used HF-high 3 MHz-30 MHz 100 m – 10 m
here when speaking about high frequency heating. The frequency
term radio frequency is used for high frequency mainly in VHF-very high 30 MHz-300 MHz 10 m – 1 m
the United Kingdom [10]. The infrared region is located frequency
between microwaves and visible light. Only restricted UHF-ultra high 300 MHz-3 GHz 1 m – 100 mm
microwave or high frequencies are freely allowed for frequency
heating in industrial, scientific, and medical applications, SHF-super 3 GHz-30 GHz 100 mm – 10 mm
high frequency
the so-called ISM frequencies [2]. Of these, only 2450
EHF-extra high 30 GHz-300GHz 10 mm – 1 mm
MHz is commonly used in food processing in Europe, frequency
while 915 MHz dominates in America and 896 MHz in the
UK. Higher frequencies are not in active use, but Decareau

130
 II. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF B. Dielectric properties
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
The dielectric properties describe how materials interact
A. Polarisation of dielectrics with electromagnetic radiation. Natural biological materials
absorb only the electric part of the electromagnetic field.
When two opposite charges are separated by a distance, Agricultural materials are practically non-magnetic, as they
they constitute an electric dipole. Molecules with non-zero contain only trace amounts of magnetic material, such as
permanent electric dipole moments are called polar iron and cobalt [6], [7].
molecules. Nonpolar molecules may obtain a dipole The absolute permittivity in vacuum is εo and it is
moment in an electric field as a result of the distortion of determined by the speed of light (c0) and the magnetic
their electronic distributions and nuclear positions. The constant (µ0), which are linked by the equation:
relative permittivity ε is a measure of the polarising effect c02µ 0ε 0 = 1 (3)
from an external field, that is, how easily the medium is
polarised. Polarisation (P) can be described by an equation: The numerical value for ε0 is 8.854x10-12 F/m. In other
media (solid, liquid and gaseous), the permittivity has
P = ε 0 E (ε − 1) (2)
higher values and it is usually expressed relative to the
value in vacuum [8]:
Alberty [1] lists three types of polarisation: electronic, ε abs = ε r ε 0 (4)
atomic, and orientation polarisation. An important
mechanism at microwave frequencies is also ion where εabs is absolute permittivity of a material and εr is
conductivity (ionic loss or polarisation), where hydrated relative permittivity of a material. It is often recommended
ions try to move in the direction of the electrical field and that the subscript r, which stands for relative, be eliminated.
transfer energy by this movement. This is strongly The high frequency and microwave fields are sinusoidal
temperature dependent [9]. time-dependent (time-harmonic) and common practice is to
Electronic polarisation comes from the field-induced use complex notation to express the time dependence [8].
displacement of the electrons with respect to the nucleus. Therefore, the permittivity will also be a complex quantity
This polarisation occurs in all substances. In atomic with real and imaginary components [10]. The equation for
polarisation, the atoms can be moved in crystals or complex permittivity is:
molecules. Electronic polarisation, together with atomic ε = ε' − jε" (5)
polarisation, gives most dry solids a permittivity of the where ε is relative complex permittivity, ε' is relative real
order of e' < 10. When only these two mechanisms are permittivity (dielectric constant), ε" is the relative dielectric
present, the material is almost lossless at microwave loss factor, and j is the imaginary component.
frequencies. Atomic polarisation, which is also called The real component of the permittivity, known also as
vibration polarisation, is closely related to electronic the dielectric constant (ε'), is related to the capacitance of a
polarisation but, because of the much greater mass to be substance and its ability to store electrical energy. The
moved, the resonant frequencies of atomic polarisation are imaginary component, the dielectric loss factor (ε"), is
lower. Atomic polarisation is found in the infrared band related to various absorption mechanisms of energy
while electronic polarisation is found in the optical band. dissipation and is always positive and usually much smaller
They both are practically independent of the temperature than ε'. It is approximately proportional to the attenuation
[1], [8]. of a propagating wave. The substance is lossless if ε" = 0
Many molecules have a permanent dipole moment, and [7], [8]. The ratio of ε" to ε' is called the (dielectric) loss
orientation (dipolar) polarisation is due to the partial
tangent (tan δ).
alignment of these dipoles. Water is a dipole and is usually The rate of heating can be expressed by the power
a major component in biological materials. In a microwave equation:
or high frequency field, the dipoles try to follow the rapidly 2
changing field. The dipoles are not completely oriented due Pv = 2πfε 0ε" E (6)
to the disorienting effect of thermal motion. This where Pv is energy developed per unit volume (W/m ), f is 3

phenomenon is strongly temperature dependent; with rising

frequency (Hz), and E is electric field strength within the
temperature the thermal agitation becomes more vigorous
and fewer dipoles are oriented. The orientation polarisation product (V/m). The electric field within the product is
occurs at microwave frequencies due to inertial forces. [1]. determined by the dielectric properties, the geometry of the
Of all the possible forms of loss mechanisms, product, and by the oven configuration. Therefore, this
orientation polarisation is perhaps the most significant in equation is generally impractical as the determination of
microwave heating applications at frequencies above 1 the electric field distribution is very complex [2].
GHz. However, this type of polarisation does influence the To gain a better practical understanding of the meaning
lower frequency bands as well. Ionic loss typically of the values of the dielectric properties, a penetration
predominates at frequencies below 1 GHz [8]. With rising depth can be calculated from the dielectric properties.
temperature, all the phenomena are found at higher Theoretically, the penetration depth dp (or power
frequencies. penetration depth) is defined as the depth below a large
plane surface of a substance at which the power density of

131
a perpendicularly impinging, forward propagating plane many experiments. Mathematical modelling can reduce the
electromagnetic wave has decayed by 1/e from the surface timeconsuming experimental part. If models can
value (1/e is about 37 %). If tan δ is smaller than about 0.5, successfully simulate the heating behaviour of food in a
the following simplified formula gives 97% to 100% of the microwave oven, the effects of composition, geometry, and
correct value [10]: packaging changes can be tested without the cost of sample
preparation and testing. Maxwell’s equations can be used
λ 0 ε'
dp = (7) to calculate the exact electric and magnetic field
2πε" configuration within the product if the configuration of
where λ0 is the free space wavelength. microwave oven cavity, dielectric properties, and product
The absorbed power density near the surface of an geometry are exactly known. With the knowledge of
infinite inhomogeneous slab is, accordingly, approximately physical and thermal properties of the product, and the
proportional to ε" when ε' does not vary very much. If tan δ cooling conditions, the heating pattern could be
is greater than 0.5, the more exact formula should be used determined. However, the exact solution of Maxwell’s
[10]: equations could only be obtained in special cases [2].
Generally, a numerical method has to be used.
λ0   ε" 
2  The alternative solution is to use modelling; the technique
dp = ε'  1 +   − 1 (8)
breaks down the oven cavity and food geometries into
2π 2   ε'  
small cells and Maxwell’s equations can be approximated
and solved for each cell [2]. Earlier the computational
Transmission properties, which are related to the capacity has limited modelling, and still today a complete
dielectric and thermal properties of the medium, determine optimisation requires a vast number of simulations. There
the distribution of energy [7]. Since ε' decreases the speed are many numerical methods but the most common of them
of propagation, the wavelength in the dielectric medium is are the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, the
shorter than in free space. This change in wavelength leads finite element time domain (FETD) method, and the
to reflection at the interface between two media with moment method (MM). To provide the temperature
different ε' [8]. The reflection phenomena can be analysed distribution within the product these models can be
in terms of characteristic wave impedances. Impedance is combined with thermal simulations. If food has a high
the ratio between the electric (E) and the magnetic (H) field permittivity, this may cause stability problems and poor
strengths [9]: accuracy especially when using the finite element (FEM) or
η (9) moment methods. Today, the FDTD method seems to be
η= 0 more promising than FEM, especially when comparing the
ε
where η0 is the wave impedance of free space time needed for simulations.
(approximately 377 W).
The reflection and transmission at a plane boundary are
primarily related to square root of permittivity, and the IV. THE FIELD WITHIN THE OVEN CAVITY
main determining factor for the magnitude of reflection is
More generally, a typical foodstuff in a microwave
from the real permittivity (ε') of the material. Errors due to
oven is exposed to the electromagnetic field set up within
neglecting ε” are less than 5 % for practically all
the oven cavity by the magnetron. These field patterns are
agricultural products [2].
very difficult to calculate exactly especially in an oven with
Characteristic impedance is important when different
a mode-stirring device. Inside such a mode-stirred oven a
materials are heated simultaneously. The characteristic
rotating metal vane scatters the electromagnetic wave
impedance for the average food is about 50 W. The change
resulting in field patterns which are difficult if not
in characteristic impedances (the dielectric mismatch) at
impossible to calculate exactly However, the effect of the
the food surface results in reflection of about 50% of the
scattering is to produce electric fields which are, when
microwave power falling on the surface. Most of this
averaged over time, are spatially fairly uniform. The
energy is reflected back to the seeds via the metal cavity
scattering, although significantly changing the original
walls.
field patterns, does not attenuate the field and so the power
transmitted into the oven cavity remains the same.
Consequently, we can make the approximation that
III. MODELLING AND SIMULATION OF
exposing the food to the changing field over the course of
MICROWAVE HEATING
heating (typically several minutes) is equivalent to
exposing the top and sides of the foodstuff to a relatively
Some installations are synchronized with the network
uniform field imparting the overall same power to the
voltage but these are effected by the functional
foodstuff as a whole. In contrast in an oven (such as a
perturbations in the presence of the harmonics of the
turntable oven) with no mode-stirring device, and with a
voltage (some commands at the electrical engines, the
waveguide feed, standing wave patterns can arise in the
invertors command, etc).
electromagnetic field . Further simulations and experiments
Design of food products for microwave heating requires
into the nature of the field patterns have been conducted in
knowledge on fundamentals of microwave heating and

132
which simulations of a cuboid sample of food exposed to method has great potential in optimisation of agricultural
an electromagnetic field fed directly from a waveguide products and heating appliances.
onto the load are reported. These calculations indicate that
inside the waveguide an input plane is excited in a TE10
mode and the amplitudes of the incident waves onto the REFERENCES
cereals E y are given by
inc

[1] Alberty, R.A. 1987. Physical Chemistry. Chapter 14, p.

 π( x − x0 ) 
 cos(ωt − υz k0 )
434-483. 7th Edition. John Wiley & Sons. Singapore.
E inc
y = E0 sin (10) [2] Buffler, C.R. 1993. Microwave Cooking and Processing,
 W  Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York.
where x0, y0 are the coordinates of the corner of the [3] Datta, A.K., Sun, E. & Solis, A. 1995. Food dielectric
waveguide, W is the length of the waveguide in the x property data and their compositionbased prediction. p. 457-
direction, zk0 is the location of the excitation plane, ω is the 494, In: Engineering properties of foods. 2nd Ed. Eds. Rao,
M.A. & Rizvi, S.S.H. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York.
angular frequency of the electromagnetic wave and ν is the
[4] Decareau, R.V. 1985. Microwaves in the Food Processing
wave mode number. The standing wave pattern arising can Industry, Academic Press, Inc. Orlando, Florida. 234 p.
easily lead to cold spots in the food at nodes in the field. [5] Kent, M. 1987. Electrical and Dielectric Properties of Food
Although the turntable leads to some averaging between Materials. A Bibliography and Tabulated Data. A COST
the effects of high and low field strengths on the food, it is 90bis production. Science and Technology Publishers.
still possible for the food to be exposed to strongly Hornchurch.
localised field patterns. An example of these is given by the [6] Maghiar, T. & Soproni D. 2003. Tehnica încălzirii cu
thermal image presented in Figure 1. Here we see the microunde, Editura Universităţii din Oradea
results of an experiment in which corn seeds has been [7] Mudgett, R.E. 1995. Electrical properties of foods, p. 389-
455. In: Engineering properties of foods. 2nd Ed. Eds. Rao,
heated in a 750W turntable oven and heated for five
M.A. & Rizvi, S.S.H. Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York.
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Sensors. Chapter 2. Artech House.
[9] Ohlsson, T. 1989. Dielectric properties and microwave
processing. p. 73-92. In: Food Properties and Computer-aided
Engineering of Food Processing Systems. Eds. Singh, R.P. &
Medina, A.G. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
[10] Risman, P.O. 1991a. Terminology and notation of
microwave power and electromagnetic energy, J. Microwave
Power and Electromagnetic Energy 26: 243-250.
[11] Stuchly, M.A. & Stuchly, S.S. 1980. Dielectric properties
Figure 2: Thermal image of a tray of corn seeds taken after 5 of biological substances - tabulated. J. Microwave Power 15:
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In this experiment, the foodstuff was placed at the centre of
Power 8: 23-65.
the turntable. From Figure 1 it appears that there is a
minimum in the field at the centre of the oven and the food
is rotated around this minimum position, accounting for the
region of lower temperature evident in the thermal image.
Fully three-dimensional calculations of the field are very
expensive and time consuming, and for the purposes of
modelling the cooking process it is appropriate to consider
some approximations to the field.

V. CONCLUSIONS

There are many publications and databases on the

dielectric properties of food materials and model systems.
However dielectric data on many food products are still
lacking and there are rather few data available on food
ingredients [9]. The dielectric data for biological
substances have been tabulated [11] for foods and
agricultural products [3], [5], [12]. Kent also includes a
comprehensive bibliography.
As a complete optimisation of the products would have
required thousands of simulations to find the optimal
settings of several variables. The results showed that this

133

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