Patent ID: 8530806

Claim:
A regulation method for regulating electrical power supply to a magnetron as a function of an instantaneous microwave power setpoint, the magnetron forming part of means for generating UHF electromagnetic waves, said method comprising: storing, in a memory, at least one previously determined value η for electrical efficiency of the magnetron, the electrical efficiency expressed as the microwave power divided by the electrical power supplied to the magnetron; inputting a setpoint mean microwave power value P mean ; converting said setpoint mean microwave power value to obtain a setpoint instantaneous microwave power signal having a first frequency; sampling setpoint instantaneous microwave power values from the setpoint instantaneous microwave power signal at a plurality of sampling instants corresponding to a second sampling frequency which is higher than the first frequency; measuring and sampling an instantaneous value of anode current and an instantaneous value of high voltage fed to the magnetron; calculating a product of the instantaneous value of the anode current at a sampling instant n, the instantaneous value of the high voltage at said sampling instant n, and the previously determined value η for the electrical efficiency of the magnetron, in order to obtain the instantaneous microwave power value as measured at said sampling instant n; comparing said measured instantaneous microwave power value with the setpoint instantaneous microwave power value sampled at the sampling instant n, and deducing therefrom a difference value ε at said sampling instant n; from said difference value at the sampling instant n and from the setpoint instantaneous microwave power value sampled at an immediately consecutive sampling instant n+1, determining an instantaneous microwave power value at the immediately consecutive sampling instant n+1 that is corrected in relation with a predetermined regulation relationship valid at said immediately consecutive sampling instant n+1; and converting a corrected instantaneous microwave power value to an electrical control magnitude signal to obtain a corrected analog instantaneous microwave power signal for controlling the electrical power supply to the magnetron.