Study on Designing and Manufacturing a Radio Frequency Generator Using in Drying Technology

Radio Frequency (RF) dielectric heating using in drying has obvious advantages such as reducing drying time, volumetrically uniform heating and improving product quality. A RF generator applied in drying technology was designed, manufactured and tested for drying Ganoderma lucidum. The drying experiments were conducted by two drying methods include heat pump drying and RF assisted heat pump drying in order to inspect the operating parameters of the RF generator and to evaluate the effect of the drying methods. The results shown that the operating parameters of RF generator got the design requirement, such as operating capacity of 3 kW and operating frequency of 27 MHz. The drying time of RF assisted heat pump drying process was about 7 hours to achieve material moisture content of 13% (w.b) that was less drying time than heat pump drying process, the Ganoderma Lucidum retained its color and flavor and Polysaccharide content after drying was 0.881%.