JP7768554B2 - Microwave Reactor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to the structure of a vertical microwave reactor that processes the object to be processed by introducing microwaves into a housing in which the object to be processed is placed.

Conventional microreactors are known that have a reactor that contains the material to be treated within a housing, and a cooling medium is immersed within the reactor containing the material to be treated, or the outer periphery of the reactor is surrounded by a cooling medium (see, for example, Figure 14 of Patent Document 1).

Another known microwave reaction device is one in which a housing is formed by closing the front and rear ends of a cylinder with a regular pentagonal cross section with flanges, a reaction tube through which the material to be treated flows is arranged to pass through the axial center of the housing, microwaves are introduced into the housing through a microwave inlet provided on one of the peripheral sides of the cylinder with a regular pentagonal cross section, and the microwaves are propagated along the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder, thereby irradiating the material to be treated in the reaction tube with microwaves (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

International Publication No. 2005-113133 JP 2016-91636 A

In the former of the above-mentioned conventional technologies, a cooling medium exists between the object to be treated and the housing, or between the reactor and the housing, so microwaves irradiated and propagating within the housing may be absorbed by the cooling medium before reaching the object to be treated. In such cases, the object to be treated absorbs less microwaves, and an effective and efficient reaction may not be possible.

In addition, the latter method is less likely to create areas where microwaves concentrate locally within the housing, and can suppress variations in microwave distribution, but the amount of microwave irradiation may be less than when microwaves are irradiated directly from the waveguide toward the reaction tube.

In consideration of these problems with conventional technology, the present invention aims to make it possible to properly adjust the reaction temperature of the object to be treated while efficiently absorbing the microwaves introduced into the housing without causing any loss.

In order to solve the above problems, the microwave reaction apparatus of the present invention is a vertical microwave reaction apparatus that introduces microwaves into a housing having a top body, a peripheral side body, and a bottom body, and processes a processing object placed in the housing,
The peripheral side body is formed into a polygonal shape in a plan view by arranging a plurality of side bodies vertically on the bottom body and so that the side bodies do not face each other in parallel,
a microwave introduction port is provided in at least one of the side bodies,
A fan antenna for diffusing microwaves is provided on at least one of the other side bodies that does not have a microwave inlet, and
The present invention is characterized in that it has a configuration in which a heat exchanger for heating or cooling the inside of the housing is provided below the bottom body.

According to this, microwaves are introduced into the housing through a microwave inlet provided on one of the side bodies that make up the peripheral side body of the housing, and are irradiated onto the object to be processed placed inside the housing, thereby processing the object to be processed.
A waveguide is connected to the microwave inlet provided on the side body, and microwaves are irradiated horizontally from this waveguide through the microwave inlet toward the opposing peripheral side body inside the housing.By placing the object to be processed along the propagation direction of the microwaves irradiated from the waveguide, it is possible to efficiently process the object to be processed.
Of the microwaves introduced into the housing, those that are not absorbed by the object to be processed are reflected by the inner surface of the peripheral side body and propagate within the housing. However, since the peripheral side body is arranged in a polygonal shape in a plan view, with multiple side bodies arranged vertically on the bottom body and so that the side bodies do not face each other parallel, the microwaves are less likely to be reflected by the inner surface of each side body and propagate toward the microwave inlet, effectively preventing the microwaves from flowing back into the waveguide and causing energy loss.
Furthermore, microwaves within the housing are reflected by fan antennas provided on other side bodies that do not have microwave inlets, and then diffuse and propagate within the housing. This, combined with the microwaves that propagate while being reflected by the inner surfaces of the side bodies, distributes the microwaves throughout the housing, making it less likely that areas of localized concentration will occur within the housing, and making it possible to efficiently process the objects to be processed placed within the housing.
Furthermore, a heat exchanger for heating or cooling the inside of the housing is provided below the bottom body, and the temperature change caused by the heat exchanger's heat dissipation or cooling operation is transferred into the housing via the bottom body, thereby controlling the temperature inside the housing and appropriately adjusting the reaction temperature of the object to be treated to promote the reaction. Because the heat exchanger is installed outside the housing, there is no loss due to microwave absorption by the heat exchanger.

In the microwave reaction apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration, the heat exchanger is preferably installed with its flat upper surface joined to the lower surface of the bottom body of the housing.
In this case, good heat transfer efficiency can be achieved by closely adhering the upper surface of the heat exchanger and the lower surface of the base body via a heat transfer sheet or heat transfer cement.

The heat exchanger can use a refrigerant that operates in a temperature range of, for example, -100°C to 30°C, and a heat transfer medium such as water or oil that operates up to 180°C.

The heat exchanger may have an appropriate configuration capable of transferring heat to the inside of the housing at a heated or cooled temperature. A thermomodule system may be used as the heat exchanger.
Heat is transferred from the heat exchanger to the housing by placing the heat exchanger in close contact with the bottom body and dissipating or cooling heat into the housing through the bottom body, thereby controlling the temperature inside the housing.

In a microwave reaction device of the above configuration, the peripheral side bodies of the housing can be easily configured so that the side bodies do not face each other parallel to each other by combining multiple side bodies in which the width of at least one side body is not the same as the width of the other side bodies.
The reason why the peripheral side bodies of the housing are arranged in a polygonal shape, preferably an odd-numbered polygonal shape, in a plan view is to suppress the propagation of microwaves introduced into the housing from the microwave inlet in a direction returning to the microwave inlet. Here, if a large number of side bodies are arranged and there are many corners, the propagation in the direction returning to the microwave inlet tends to be promoted, which in turn increases the amount of energy loss. Furthermore, if the number of side bodies is large, the assembly of the housing becomes complicated and the labor required increases. A pentagonal arrangement of the peripheral side bodies in a plan view is preferred because it can effectively suppress propagation in the direction returning to the microwave inlet and also simplifies the assembly of the housing.

Furthermore, if the fan antenna is located opposite the microwave inlet, the microwaves will be reflected by the fan antenna and will be more likely to propagate toward the microwave inlet. Therefore, it is preferable that the fan antenna be located on the side body in a position that does not face the microwave inlet.

A microwave reactor having the above configuration may have microwave inlets and waveguides on multiple side bodies, with microwaves being introduced into the housing from each microwave inlet in which a waveguide is installed, and fan antennas may be installed in multiple positions that do not face each of these microwave inlets.

Furthermore, in a microwave reaction device having the above configuration, a reactor made of a material that transmits microwaves, such as glass, ceramics, porcelain, or synthetic resin material, may be installed inside the housing, and the object to be treated may be accommodated in this reactor. Multiple reactors each containing an object to be treated may also be installed inside the housing.

In order to promote the treatment of the object to be treated by microwave irradiation, the reactor is preferably disposed in front of the microwave inlet.
Furthermore, a cooling or heating coil may be provided inside the reactor so that the treatment temperature of the material to be treated can be adjusted.

The microwave reaction device of the present invention makes it possible to properly adjust the reaction temperature of the object to be treated while efficiently absorbing the microwaves introduced into the housing without causing any loss.

1 is an external view of a microwave reaction apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a schematic side view of the microwave reactor of FIG. 1. 2 is a schematic top view showing the inside of the microwave reactor of FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view for explaining the configuration of a peripheral side body of the microwave reaction device of FIG. 1. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing the configurations of the door side and the main body side of the side body that serve as the opening and closing port of the microwave reaction device. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the inside of the reactor. 2A and 2B show the configuration of the heat exchanger in FIG. 1, in which (A) is a top view and (B) is an end surface development view taken along line BB in (A). FIG. 2 is a schematic external view of a microwave reaction device according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a heating state inside a housing in a comparative example. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a heating state inside the housing in the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the results of a temperature rise test using the microwave reaction device of the present invention.

Below, preferred embodiments of the microwave reaction device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiments shown below are merely examples for embodying the technical concept of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a microreactor according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 show a schematic side view and a schematic top view of the same device, respectively, with the interior of the device visible.
As shown in each figure, the microwave reaction device 1 of this embodiment is configured such that a reactor 6 containing a solvent with high microwave absorption and an object to be treated is installed inside a housing 2 composed of a top body 3, a peripheral side body 4, and a bottom body 5, and microwaves are introduced into the housing 2 from a waveguide 7 connected to the outer surface of one of the side bodies 41 of the peripheral side body 4, and the object to be treated in the reactor 6 is irradiated with microwaves, thereby processing the object to be treated.

More specifically, the top panel 3, peripheral panel 4, and bottom panel 5 are all formed from non-magnetic metal plates such as aluminum or non-magnetic stainless steel. The peripheral panel 4 is arranged vertically on the bottom panel 5, and the top panel 3 is placed over the top end of the peripheral panel 4, forming a housing 2 with a substantially sealed internal space.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the peripheral side body 4 is formed by joining five side bodies 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45 together to form a pentagon in plan view. Of the five side bodies, side bodies 41 and 42 are formed with approximately the same width, side bodies 43 and 45 are wider, and side body 44 is formed with a narrower width. By arranging these side bodies of different widths in a pentagon in plan view, the side bodies are arranged so that they do not face each other parallel to one another.

A microwave inlet 41a, which is an opening, is formed in the side body 41, and microwaves output from a waveguide 7 connected to the outer surface of the side body 41 are introduced into the housing 2 through the microwave inlet 41a. The circular lines in Figures 3 and 4 indicate a reactor 6 that contains an object to be treated and is installed in the housing 2. The reactor 6 is arranged in front of the microwave inlet 41a and is irradiated with microwaves output from the waveguide 7.
When the reactor 6 is disposed in front of the microwave inlet 41a in this manner, the reactor 6 may be filled with a solvent that has high microwave absorption. Examples of solvents that have high microwave absorption include an alkaline aqueous solution and other aqueous solutions. If the reactor 6 is disposed in front of the microwave inlet 41a, microwaves before reflection and stirring may be concentrated on the object to be treated, which may cause thermal runaway. However, if the reactor 6 is filled with a solvent that has high microwave absorption as in the above embodiment, the possibility of such a phenomenon occurring can be reduced. Conversely, if the reactor 6 is filled with such a solvent, the penetration depth of the microwaves is shortened. Therefore, it can be said that it is preferable to dispose the reactor 6 on the front side of the microwave inlet 41a in order to irradiate microwaves with as strong intensity as possible.
The degree of microwave absorption by the solvent to be filled can be determined analytically or experimentally depending on the microwave intensity, the distance between the reactor 6 and the microwave inlet 41a, the size of the reactor 6, etc., so as to prevent thermal runaway from occurring in the object to be treated.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, a fan antenna 8 is installed on the inner surface of side body 44, which is not facing side body 41, i.e., is positioned away from the facing position, and a motor 81 that drives the fan antenna 8 is installed on the outer surface, so that by rotating the fan antenna 8, the microwaves introduced into the housing 2 can be diffused.
The fan antenna 8 is preferably designed so that the reflected microwaves do not return to the microwave inlet 41a side.

The side body 45 is composed of a side body 45A having an opening 45A1 in the center and a door body 45B whose one end is rotatably connected to one end of the side body 45A via a hinge 46.
In detail, as shown in FIG. 5, the side body 45A is formed in a frame shape with a horizontally elongated rectangular opening 45A1 in the center, and both side portions are connected continuously to the side body 41 and the side body 44, respectively, to form part of the peripheral side body 4.
The door 45B is formed to a size that fits snugly over the side body 45A, and one side of the door 45B is connected to one end of the side body 45A via a hinge 46, and is attached to the front side of the side body 45A. An observation window 45B1 made of a glass plate with a wire mesh embedded in it is provided within the surface of the door 45B, and latch-type fasteners 47, 47 that connect to the side body 45A are attached to both the top and bottom ends of the end opposite to the side where the hinge 46 is attached, and a handle 48 is attached to the center.
The side body 45, consisting of the side body 45A and the door body 45B, forms the opening and closing opening of the housing 2, and by rotating the door body 45B horizontally outward around the hinge 46 as an axis, the opening 45A1 of the side body 45A is opened, and in this state the reactor 6 can be installed and removed from the housing 2. In addition, by rotating the door body 45B in the opposite direction and overlapping it with the side body 45A, the housing 2 can be closed, and by fixing the door body 45B onto the side body 45A with the fasteners 47, 47, the inside of the housing 2 is sealed, and in this state the object to be treated can be treated by introducing microwaves.

The top surface 3 has three openings 31, 32, and 33 formed at intervals within its surface, and pipes 31a, 32a, and 33a of appropriate lengths are connected to the top of each opening, connecting each pipe to the interior of the housing 2.

Of the pipes, a stirrer 9 is inserted into the housing 2 from the upper end of the central pipe 32, so that the material to be treated contained in the reactor 6 can be stirred (see FIG. 6). An inlet pipe 10a and an outlet pipe 10b for a heat transfer medium (refrigerant and heat transfer medium) of a condenser or evaporator (not shown) are inserted into the pipe 31, and both pipes are connected to a cooling or heating coil 10 installed in the reactor 6 so that the heat transfer medium can be circulated and supplied to the cooling or heating coil 10 (see the same figure). In addition, a thermometer (thermocouple) 11 is inserted into the housing 2 from the upper end of the pipe 33 so that the temperature of the material to be treated contained in the reactor 6 can be measured (see the same figure).
Although any refrigerant can be selected, it is preferable to use one that has a lower microwave absorption than the solution filled in the reactor 6. This can suppress the absorption of microwaves by the refrigerant and prevent a decrease in heating efficiency.

Furthermore, openings 34 and 35 are formed on both sides of the three openings 31, 32, and 33 in the top surface body 3. Both openings 34 and 35 are closed with lids.
As shown in FIG. 3 , these five openings are arranged in a row in front of the microwave inlet 41 a formed in the side body 41, and as shown in the same figure, when the reactor 6 is arranged approximately in the center of the housing 2, the piping is installed in the openings 31, 32, and 33, when the reactor 6 is arranged close to the side body 41, the piping is installed in the openings 34, 31, and 32, and when the reactor 6 is arranged away from the side body 41, the piping is installed in the openings 32, 33, and 35, so that the agitator 9, heat medium piping 10 a, 10 b, and thermometer 11 inserted into each piping can reach the inside of the reactor 6.

A heat exchanger 12 (described below) is installed on the underside of the bottom body 5, and the temperature change caused by the heat exchanger 12's heating or cooling operation is transferred into the housing 2 via the bottom body 5, thereby controlling the temperature inside the housing 2.

The reactor 6 is made of a microwave-transparent material such as glass or resin, and as shown in Figure 6, it is composed of a cylindrical main container 61 with a bottom that is open at the top and contains the material to be treated, and a lid 62 that fits over the top opening of the main container 61.

A cooling or heating coil 10 consisting of a spirally wound metal tube with a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the main container 61 is installed inside the main container 61, and the refrigerant supplied from the condenser can be circulated through the main container 61 via the coil 10 to cool the object to be treated.
6, the cooling or heating coil 10 is installed so that the distance (D) between the outer periphery of the coil 10 and the inner wall of the main container 61 is less than the half-extinction depth of the microwaves introduced into the housing 2. The cooling or heating coil 10 is installed so that the central axis of the spirally wound coil is slightly offset from the center of the main container 61.

The lid 62 has three openings 62a, 62a, 62a arranged in a row. When the lid 62 is placed over the main container 61, the agitator 9, heat medium pipes 10a, 10b, and thermometer 11 pass through these openings and reach the inside of the main container 61. The refrigerant pipes 10a, 10b are grounded within the housing 2, and are connected to both ends of the cooling or heating coil 10 on the underside of the lid 62.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the heat exchanger 12 installed below the bottom body 5 .
As shown in the figure, the heat exchanger 12 is constructed by covering the upper surface and peripheral side surfaces of a comb-shaped medium flow pipe 12a with an upper frame body 12b made of stainless steel, which supports a lower frame plate 12c, also made of stainless steel, with a rubber plate 12d attached to its underside, and by integrally connecting the upper frame body 12b to the lower frame plate 12c by welding or the like.

The heat exchanger 12 is installed below the bottom body 5 of the housing 2, with the upper surface of the upper frame 12b bonded to the underside of the bottom body 5 of the housing 2 via a heat transfer sheet. A refrigerant or heat medium is circulated through the medium flow pipe 12a from the inlet 12a1 to the outlet 12a2 to release or cool the heat. This heat is transferred to the bottom body 5, which is in close contact with the upper surface of the upper frame 12b, and the heat is released or cooled into the housing 2 via the bottom body 5, thereby controlling the internal temperature of the housing 2. By controlling the temperature inside the housing 2, the reaction temperature of the material to be treated in the reactor 6 can be adjusted appropriately.

In this embodiment of the microwave reaction device 1, the reactor 6 containing the object to be treated is placed inside the housing 2, microwaves are output from the waveguide 7 and introduced into the housing 2 through the microwave inlet 41a, and the reactor 6 is irradiated with the microwaves that pass through the reactor 6 and are absorbed by the object to be treated, thereby treating the object to be treated.

The reactor 6 containing the material to be treated within the housing 2 is positioned directly in front of the microwave inlet 41a, i.e., along the propagation direction of the microwaves introduced into the housing 2 from the waveguide 7, allowing the microwaves to be efficiently absorbed by the material to be treated. Furthermore, the portion of the microwaves introduced into the housing 2 that is not absorbed by the material to be treated is reflected by the inner surface of the peripheral side body 4 and propagates within the housing 2. However, the peripheral side body 4 is formed in a pentagonal arrangement in plan view, with five side bodies 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45 arranged perpendicularly on the bottom body 5 and without facing parallel to each other. This makes it difficult for the microwaves to reflect off the inner surface of each side body and propagate toward the microwave inlet 41a, effectively preventing the microwaves from flowing back into the waveguide 7 and causing energy loss.

Microwaves introduced into the housing 2 are reflected by the fan antenna 8 located on the side body 44, which is not facing the microwave inlet 41a, and then diffuse and propagate within the housing 2. This, combined with the microwaves that propagate while being reflected by the inner surfaces of each side body, causes the microwaves to be diffused uniformly throughout the housing 2. This makes it less likely that areas inside the housing 2 will be locally concentrated with microwaves, and enables efficient processing of objects placed within the housing 2.

Furthermore, a heat exchanger 12 is provided below the bottom body 5, and temperature changes caused by the heat dissipation or cooling operation of the heat exchanger 12 are transferred into the housing 2 via the bottom body 5, thereby controlling the temperature inside the housing 2 and appropriately adjusting the reaction temperature of the object to be treated to promote the reaction. Because the heat exchanger 12 is installed outside the housing 2, there is no loss due to microwave absorption by the heat exchanger 12.

In addition, when treating the treatment object, the reaction of the treatment object can be promoted by adjusting the temperature of the treatment object by circulating a heat medium through the cooling or heating coil 10 as needed while stirring the solvent and treatment object contained in the reactor 6 with the agitator 9 or measuring the temperature of the treatment object with the thermometer 11.

Furthermore, because the cooling or heating coil 10 is formed by spirally winding a metal tube, it also has the effect of promoting the reaction of the object to be treated in the center of the reactor 6 due to the action described below. Generally, microwaves are blocked by metal plates, metal tubes, etc., but in the case of a spiral winding as in this embodiment, when microwaves irradiated to the reactor 6 reach the cooling or heating coil 10, an induced current flows in the cooling or heating coil 10 due to so-called electromagnetic induction, and an induced magnetic field and electric field, i.e., microwaves, are generated in response to this induced current. In the case of a spiral winding, the microwaves are generated in a concentrated manner near the center of the cooling or heating coil 10. Therefore, it is presumed that the microwaves thus generated promote the reaction of the object to be treated inside the cooling or heating coil 10, i.e., the object to be treated in the center of the reactor 6.
In addition, when an induced current is generated by the microwaves that reach the cooling or heating coil 10, so-called induction heating occurs in the cooling or heating coil 10 itself, which has the effect of promoting heating of the object to be treated.
In this embodiment, the distance (D) between the outer periphery of the cooling or heating coil 10 and the inner wall of the reactor 6 is set to a distance less than the microwave half-depth, so that the microwaves penetrate the reactor 6 and deeply irradiate the object to be treated within the range up to the cooling or heating coil 10, and furthermore, the reaction is promoted by the above-mentioned action even after the microwaves reach the cooling or heating coil 10.
In this way, the reaction field caused by microwave propagation within reactor 6 spreads over a wide area, making it possible to absorb the microwaves throughout the entire object to be treated, from the periphery to the center of reactor 6, thereby efficiently treating the object to be treated.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic external view of a microwave reaction apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
The microwave reaction device 1 of the illustrated form has waveguides 7, 7 installed on the outside of two side bodies, namely, side body 41 of a peripheral side body 4 formed in a pentagon in a plan view and side body 44 located in a position not facing said side body 41, and is configured so that microwaves output from the waveguides 7, 7 are introduced into the housing 2 through microwave inlets formed in both side bodies 41, 44, and is configured so that a supply pipeline 13 and a delivery pipeline 14 for the treatment object are connected to a reactor 6 which contains the treatment object and is installed in the housing 2, and untreated treatment object is allowed to flow into the reactor 6 from outside the housing 2 through the supply pipeline 13, and after the treatment of the treatment object, it can be delivered from the reactor 6 to the outside of the housing 2 through the delivery pipeline 14.
The configuration of the peripheral side body 4, which is pentagonal in plan view, the fact that a fan antenna 8 is installed on a side body in a position inside the housing 2 that does not face the side bodies 41, 44 on which the waveguides 7, 7 are provided, the fact that a heat exchanger 12 is installed below the bottom body 5, the fact that the reactor 6 consists of a main vessel 61 and a lid 62, the fact that a cooling or heating coil 10 is installed inside the main vessel 61, and the fact that it is equipped with a stirrer 9 and a thermometer 11 are also the same as those of the above-mentioned embodiment. At least one of the side bodies constituting the peripheral side body 4 is provided with a viewing window so that the inside of the housing 2 can be observed from the outside.

According to the microwave reaction apparatus 1 of this embodiment, microwaves output from the two waveguides 7, 7 can be introduced into the housing 2 and absorbed by the object to be treated housed in the reactor 6 for treatment. The peripheral side body 4 of the housing 2 is formed in a pentagonal arrangement in plan view by arranging five side bodies 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 vertically on the bottom body 5 and so that the side bodies do not face each other in parallel. This effectively prevents the microwaves from being reflected by the inner surfaces of the side bodies and flowing back into the waveguides 7, 7, causing energy loss, and also prevents the microwaves from being diffused within the housing 2 by the fan antenna 8 provided inside the housing 2, making it possible to prevent the microwaves from concentrating locally.
Furthermore, by placing the material to be treated in the reactor 6 from outside the housing 2 through the supply pipeline 13, and after treatment by microwave irradiation, sending the material to be treated in the reactor 6 out of the housing 2 through the delivery pipeline 14, it is possible to continuously process the material to be treated without opening or closing the housing 2.
Furthermore, the temperature change caused by the heat dissipation or cooling operation of the heat exchanger 12 is transferred into the housing 2 via the bottom body 5, thereby controlling the temperature inside the housing 2 and appropriately adjusting the reaction temperature of the object to be treated to promote the reaction.

The following shows the results of verifying the effectiveness of using the fan antenna 8 to diffuse microwaves introduced into the housing 2 of the microwave reaction device 1 shown in Figures 1 to 3.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the housing 2 is constructed with the fan antenna 8 mounted on the side body 43 .
100 cc of water was placed in each of the 30 Erlenmeyer flasks, and the flasks were arranged side by side on the bottom body 3 of the housing 2 as shown in both figures. The water temperature before the test was 20°C.
Microwaves with an output of 400 W were introduced into the housing 2 from the waveguide 7 and irradiated onto the flask.
In the example, the fan antenna 8 was rotated while the microwave was being introduced into the housing 2, while in the comparative example the fan antenna was not operated.
Microwave irradiation was carried out for 10 minutes, and the water temperature of each flask was measured after the irradiation was stopped.

Figure 9 shows the test results for the comparative example. The "circle" marks on the bottom body 5 represent flasks, with double circles representing flasks where the water temperature measured was 30°C or higher, and single circles representing flasks where the water temperature measured was lower than 30°C.
In the comparative example, in which microwaves were applied with the fan antenna 8 turned off, the degree of rise in water temperature was smaller than in the example, and the flasks whose water temperature exceeded 30°C were located along the inner surface of the peripheral side body 4. The water temperature of the flask located near the center of the bottom body 5 did not reach 30°C.

Figure 10 shows the test results of the example. As in Figure 9, the "circle" mark on the bottom body 5 indicates a flask, the double circle indicates a flask where the water temperature measured was 30°C or higher, and the triple circle indicates a flask where the water temperature measured was 40°C or higher.
In the example in which the fan antenna 8 was rotated, the water temperature in all flasks on the bottom body 5 exceeded 30°C, and in many cases, including those placed near the center of the bottom body 5, the water temperature exceeded 40°C.
This is presumably because the microwaves were reflected by the fan antenna 8 and diffused within the housing 2, and propagated with a substantially uniform distribution within the housing 2 without propagating back to the waveguide 7.

FIG. 11 shows the results of a temperature rise test using the microwave reaction apparatus 1 of the present invention equipped with the heat exchanger 12.
The temperature rise test was carried out by placing 2.4 L of water in the reactor 6, irradiating the reactor 6 with microwaves at an output of 500 W, and measuring the temperature rise time.
In the first measurement, the temperature rise time was measured without operating the heat exchanger 12, and the temperature reached 100° C. in 60 minutes from the start of the measurement.
In the second run, tap water was fed to the heat exchanger 12 at a rate of 2.1 L/min (inlet water temperature 17.5°C, outlet water temperature 19.2°C) and cooling was continued from the bottom body 5 of the microwave reaction device 1. As a result, the temperature reached 100°C 76 minutes after the start of the measurement. This was 16 minutes longer than the time without cooling.
Furthermore, after reaching 100°C, the microwave output was reduced and the microwave output required to maintain a temperature around 100°C was measured. When the heat exchanger 12 was not used, a temperature around 100°C could be maintained at about half the output (250 W).
On the other hand, when the microwave reaction device 1 was cooled by the heat exchanger 12 under the above conditions, it was found that an output of about 500 W was required to maintain a temperature of around 100°C.
From this result, it was confirmed that the heat exchanger 12 of the microwave reaction apparatus 1 of this embodiment can slow down the temperature rise rate and maintain a constant temperature with 500 W microwaves without reducing the initial output.

The configuration, shape, and combination of the microwave reaction apparatus of the present invention and the components that make it up, such as the housing and reactor, are merely examples, and various modifications can be made based on design requirements, etc., without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1. Microwave reactor, 2. Housing, 3. Top panel, 4. Peripheral side panel, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. Side panels, 45A. Main side panel, 45B. Door, 5. Bottom panel, 6. Reactor, 61. Main vessel, 62. Lid, 7. Waveguide, 8. Fan antenna, 9. Stirrer, 10. Cooling or heating coil, 11. Thermometer, 12. Heat exchanger, 13. Supply line, 14. Delivery line

Claims (12)

A vertical microwave reaction apparatus that introduces microwaves into a housing having a top surface, a peripheral side surface, and a bottom surface to process a processing object placed in the housing,
The peripheral side body is formed into a polygonal shape in a plan view by arranging a plurality of side bodies vertically on the bottom body and so that the side bodies do not face each other in parallel,
a microwave introduction port is provided in at least one of the side bodies,
A fan antenna for diffusing microwaves is provided on at least one of the other side bodies that does not have a microwave inlet, and
A microwave reaction apparatus characterized in that it has a configuration in which a heat exchanger for heating or cooling the inside of the housing is provided below the bottom body. The microwave reaction apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger is installed with its flat upper surface joined to the lower surface of the bottom body of the housing. The microwave reaction apparatus of claim 2, wherein the upper surface of the heat exchanger and the lower surface of the base body are in close contact with each other via a heat transfer sheet or heat transfer cement. A microwave reaction device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the refrigerant of the heat exchanger is a refrigerant used in the temperature range of -100°C to 30°C. A microwave reactor according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the heat medium of the heat exchanger is water or oil usable up to 180°C. A microwave reactor according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the heat exchanger is a thermomodule system. A microwave reaction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the heat exchanger is in close contact with the bottom body to control the temperature inside the housing. A microwave reaction device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the peripheral side body is formed into a pentagonal shape in plan view by combining five side bodies, at least one of which has a width different from the widths of the other side bodies. A microwave reaction device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the fan antenna is positioned so as not to face the microwave inlet. The microwave reaction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, having at least one reactor in which the object to be treated is housed inside the housing. The microwave reaction apparatus of claim 10, wherein the reactor is positioned in front of the microwave inlet. The microwave reaction apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the reactor is provided with a cooling or heating coil inside.