Patent ID: 8192080

Claim:
Apparatus for the treatment of objects, comprising: a chamber configured to hold an object to be treated, there being a magnetically susceptible microwire sensor element associated with said object and operable to sense a parameter related to the temperature of the object during the treatment thereof, said microwire sensor element operable to generate a temperature-sensitive re-magnetization response under the influence of an applied alternating magnetic field, said re-magnetization response being: (1) correlated with said temperature parameter during said treatment of said object; (2) defined by at least one short, detectable pulse of magnetic field perturbation of defined duration; and (3) different above and below at least one set point temperature; and a detector including an antenna assembly proximal to said chamber and operable to generate said alternating magnetic field in the region of said sensor, and to detect said re-magnetization response of said sensor as a measure of said parameter.