Temperature control strategy based on a heat and mass transports model in microwave drying

Microwave is widely used in both domestic and industrial usage as a source of thermal energy, which provides more advantages in comparison with convectional drying methods. A one-dimensional model of heat and mass transports model is studied with two variables: moisture content and temperature of the unsaturated porous materials in microwave drying process. The Lambert's law is utilized to compute the microwave power generation. An optimal control strategy is presented in this paper to regulate the superficial temperature to follow the desired temperature profiles of the material. Simulation results show that the control strategy achieves a good control performance and robustness.