Control system for a microwave oven, a microwave oven using such a control system and methods of making the same

A control system for a microwave oven having a magnetron, said control system comprising:

• a current transforming device responding to an input current variably drawn by said magnetron from an external power source, said current transformer producing an output current proportional to said input current;
• a scaling device responding to said output of said current transformer, said scaling device producing a scaled, amplified and rectified output proportional to said input current;
• and
• a computing device responding to said scaling device, wherein said computing device determines the actual amperage of said input current so as to monitor the operating condition of said magnetron;
• and wherein
• said computing device comprises an analog to digital converter connected to said scaling device output;
• and
• said computing device determines the actual amperage of said input current by taking several samples of digital signals which corresponds to said input current thereby finding the highest reading of a sinusoidal wave form to determine the peak current.

A method of controlling a microwave oven having a magnetron, comprising the steps of:

• transforming magnetic flux from an input current variably drawn by said magnetron from an external power source to a corresponding signal, wherein said corresponding signal is proportional to said input signal;
• determining the amperage of said input current from said corresponding signal;
• and
• monitoring the condition of said magnetron from the determined amperage of said input current;
• and wherein
• said step of determining the amperage comprises:
• sampling said corresponding signal;
• and
• determining the highest reading on said input signal having a
• sinusoidal wave form from said sampling of said corresponding signal.

A microwave oven controller comprising:

• means for transforming magnetic flux from an input current variably drawn by said magnetron from an external power source to a corresponding signal, wherein said corresponding signal is proportional to said input signal;
• means for converting said corresponding signal from an analog signal to a digital signal;
• means for determining the amperage of said input current from said corresponding signal;
• and
• means for monitoring the condition of said magnetron from the determined amperage of said input current;
• and wherein
• said means for determining the amperage comprises:
• means for sampling said corresponding signal;
• and
• means for determining from said means for sampling the highest reading on said input signal having a sinusoidal wave form.