Solid state microwave heating apparatus and method with stacked dielectric resonator antenna array

A microwave heating apparatus comprising:

• a chamber configured to contain a load;
• a solid state microwave energy source;
• a first dielectric resonator antenna within the chamber that includes a first exciter dielectric resonator with a central hole and a first conductive feed extending into the central hole of the first exciter dielectric resonator, wherein the first exciter dielectric resonator has a top surface and an opposed bottom surface with the central hole extending inbetween, wherein the first conductive feed is electrically coupled to the microwave energy source to receive a first excitation signal from the microwave energy source, and wherein the first exciter dielectric resonator is configured to resonate and produce a first electric field in response to the excitation signal provided to the first conductive feed and in response to how far the first conductive feed extends into the central hole;
• and
• one or more second dielectric resonators, each with the top surface, the opposed bottom surface, and the central hole, stacked above the top surface of the first exciter dielectric resonator, each with the top surface of a lower dielectric resonator facing the bottom surface of a higher dielectric resonator and with the central hole of the higher dielectric resonator aligned linearly with the central hole of the lower dielectric resonator, to form a dielectric resonator antenna array.

A method of manufacturing a microwave system, the method comprising:

• coupling a plurality of dielectric resonators together in a dielectric resonator stack, wherein the dielectric resonator stack includes a lowest, first dielectric resonator with a central hole and one or more second dielectric resonators each with the central hole stacked over the first dielectric resonator, each with the top surface of a lower dielectric resonator facing the bottom surface of a higher dielectric resonator and with the central hole of the higher dielectric resonator aligned linearly with the central hole of the lower dielectric resonator;
• installing a substrate into a housing, wherein the housing defines a chamber that is configured as a waveguide with a blocked end;
• and
• installing the dielectric resonator stack into the housing so that a conductive feed extends into the central hole of the first dielectric resonator, and the conductive feed excites the first dielectric resonator into resonance in response to how far the conductive feed extends into the central hole when the conductive feed and in response to how far the first conductive feed extends into the central hole is supplied with a suitable radio frequency (RF) excitation signal.