Dynamic capacitive RF food heating tunnel

A food preparation device comprising:

• a tunnel cavity having a prep portion configured to thaw a frozen food product to generate a thawed food product and a cooking portion configured to cook the thawed food product;
• a conveyor belt extending through a length of the tunnel cavity;
• a radio frequency (RF) capacitive heating source;
• a cold air source;
• a cooking controller operably coupled to the prep portion and the cooking portion to selectively distribute power to at least the RF capacitive heating source and the cold air source in the prep portion and at least a heat source in the cooking portion;
• and
• an interface panel,
• wherein the prep portion and the cooking portion are positioned in a linear series in the tunnel cavity, wherein the RF capacitive heating source comprises a ground plate and an anode plate,
• wherein the food preparation device further comprises a proximity sensor to sense a distance between the ground plate and the anode plate,
• wherein the cooking controller is configured to automatically mechanically position at least one of the ground plate or the anode plate, and
• wherein the cooking portion is separate from the prep portion and the cooking portion does not include the cold air source.