Microwave food scorch shielding
AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsYoung Hwa Kim, Hong Ji, Victor Karpov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A microwave container which morphs from a relatively microwave transparent condition to a relatively microwave blocking condition in response to microwave irradiation. The container wall section has a plurality of discrete, unconnected microwave reflective material elements initially permitting the transmission of microwave energy into the container and either a microwave absorptive material or a thermally responsive material active to coalesce the microwave reflective material elements into a connected array or pattern to block the transmission of microwave energy from entering the container after absorbing a predetermined amount of microwave energy.
Claims22
Apparatus for shielding foodstuffs from scorching in a microwave field comprising:
- a) a generally microwave transparent base material forming a generally enclosing container for foodstuffs:
- b) an energy reactive material located on the base material and having:
- i) an initial configuration of a plurality of discrete, separated elements of microwave reflective material individually sized and sufficiently spaced apart to allow transmission of microwave energy into the container to heat foodstuffs located within the container;
- and
- ii) a final configuration wherein a substantial majority of the discrete, separated elements come into contact with each other to form a continuously extending arrangement substantially blocking transmission of microwave energy into the container to prevent scorching of the foodstuff
- wherein the energy reactive material undergoes a transition from the initial configuration to the final configuration after a predetermined exposure to the microwave energy.
Apparatus for shielding foodstuffs from scorching in a microwave field comprising:
- a) a generally microwave transparent base material forming a generally enclosing container for foodstuffs;
- b) a thermally reactive material located on the base material and having:
- i) an initial configuration of a plurality of discrete, separated elements of microwave reflective material individually sized and sufficiently spaced apart to allow transmission of microwave energy into the container to heat foodstuffs located within the container;
- and
- ii) a final configuration wherein a substantial majority of the discrete, separated elements come into contact with each other to form a continuously extending arrangement substantially blocking transmission of microwave energy into the container to prevent scorching of the foodstuff
- wherein the thermally reactive material undergoes a transition from the initial configuration to the final configuration upon reaching a predetermined temperature.
A method of shielding foodstuffs from scorching in a microwave field comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a generally enclosing container of a generally microwave transparent material for containing foodstuffs;
- b) forming an energy reactive material layer on the base material in an initial configuration of a plurality of discrete, separated elements of microwave reflective material individually sized and sufficiently spaced apart to allow transmission of microwave energy into the container to heat foodstuffs located within the container;
- and
- c) applying microwave energy to the container such that the energy reactive material morphs to a final configuration wherein a substantial majority of the discrete, separated elements come into contact with each other to form a continuously extending arrangement substantially blocking transmission of microwave energy into the container to prevent scorching of the foodstuffs within the container upon the energy reactive layer receiving a predetermined exposure to the microwave energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.