Microwave continuous-flow liquid food sterilisation, in which the liquid is mainly heated by microwaves, has the advantages of fast sterilisation speed, energy saving, comprehensive elimination, and less nutrient loss. Circular pipes are commonly used in microwave continuous-flow liquid heating processing. However, with circular pipes, which are widely used in the industry, the heating is uneven owing to the phenomenon of tube focusing when adopting external radiation. In this study, a novel microwave continuous-flow milk sterilisation system based on a coaxial slot radiator is proposed. First, the coaxial slot radiator was designed to realise efficient radiation through the establishment of multi-physics model. The structure of the system was then optimised by comparing the heating efficiency and uniformity of simulation results. The effect of microwave coaxial slot radiator rotation on heating uniformity was simulated and the results show that the heating uniformity is improved obviously. Experimental equipment was set up to verify the results of the simulation. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation results. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the system is performed to confirm that, when the dielectric properties and types of liquid food change, the heating of the proposed microwave continuous-flow system remains efficient and uniform.
Keywords: continuous-flow; heating efficiency; heating uniformity; microwave heating; milk sterilization.