Low cost solid state RF generation system for electromagnetic cooking

A solid state radio frequency generation system for an electromagnetic cooking device having an enclosed cavity in which a food load is placed, the solid state radio frequency generation system comprising:

• a plurality of RF feeds configured to introduce electromagnetic radiation into the enclosed cavity to heat up and prepare the food load;
• a set of RF amplifiers coupled to the plurality of RF feeds, each RF amplifier comprising at least one amplifying stage configured to output a signal that is amplified in power with respect to an input RF signal;
• a small signal generator coupled to the set of RF amplifiers for generating the input RF signal;
• and
• a switching power supply unit coupled to the set of RF amplifiers and the small signal generator, wherein the switching power supply comprises at least one single stage AC-DC converter component that converts AC mains power to lower voltage DC that is output to the set of RF amplifiers, and a controller configured to distort a sinusoidal input current from the AC mains power to form a predefined periodic non-sinusoidal waveform with the same frequency as the AC mains power in order to minimize output voltage ripple.

An electromagnetic cooking device comprising:

• an enclosed cavity in which a food load is placed;
• a plurality of RF feeds configured to introduce electromagnetic radiation into the enclosed cavity to heat up and prepare the food load;
• a set of RF amplifiers coupled to the plurality of RF feeds, each RF amplifier comprising at least one amplifying stage configured to output a signal that is amplified in power with respect to an input RF signal;
• a small signal generator coupled to the set of RF amplifiers for generating the input RF signal;
• and
• a switching power supply unit coupled to the set of RF amplifiers and the small signal generator, wherein the switching power supply comprises at least one single stage AC-DC converter component that converts AC mains power to a lower voltage DC that is output to the set of RF amplifiers, and a controller configured to distort a sinusoidal input current from the AC mains power to form a predefined periodic non-sinusoidal waveform with the same frequency as the AC mains power in order to minimize output voltage ripple, wherein the controller is further configured to modulate an amplitude of the input RF signal generated by the small signal generator based on the lower voltage DC output by the switching power supply unit.