The Effect of Wave Stirring Mechanism in Improving Heating Uniformity in Microwave Chamber For Fishing Industry

Fishing industries in tropical countries needed to spend big portion of their resources to freeze their fish product to postpone its rotten condition. This study aimed to offer lower cost solution to postpone fish rotting process. The solution used electromagnetic heating process in a big metal chamber powered by a magnetron which was connected to a waveguide and a pyramidal horn antenna. Non-uniform heating problem was addressed using electromagnetic wave stirring mechanism. Computer simulation showed that various angle of wave stirring mechanism (00 , 150 , 300 , 450 , 600 and 750 ) provide different pattern of hot and cold spot in the chamber, thus swinging the stirring mechanism created more uniform heating process. Experimental validation showed that fish samples can be heated to 70 0C in various spots, high enough to kill the microbes that made the fish rotten.