A continuous hybrid microwave heating process for producing rapid and uniform rewarming of cryopreserved tissues

This study investigated use of a continuous hybrid microwave heating process for producing rapid and uniform heating of cryopreserved tissues. This process combines volumetric energy deposition by microwaves with convective surface heating to produce increased warming rates. Moreover, such as a combination of heating techniques introduces additional parameters which can be varied in order to obtain better control of the heating process. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of a continuous hybrid heating scheme, a numerical simulation was developed which solved for electric and temperature fields within a microwave resonant cavity containing beef tissue. The simulation accounted for the temperature dependence of cryopreserved tissue's dielectric properties through an iterative scheme which can simulate thermal runaway. The simulation indicated that a continuous hybrid heating heating process could produce uniform warming at rates which would be unobtainable by conventional microwave heating.