Patent ID: 8372350

Claim:
A conditioning system for sterilizing products comprising: a product conditioning unit including of a tunnel having one or more sidewalls, an entrance and an exit, said tunnel subdivided into one or more consecutively aligned stages; a plurality of pressure sealing doors to seal at least one stage to form a pressurizeable stage; a pressurizing means for controlling the pressure of said pressurizeable stage; a heating means for providing heating in at least said pressurizeable stage of the conditioning unit, said heating means including a series of microwave sources for creating a microwave field for heating products; a conveyor means for transporting products from upline to downline through said conditioning unit, or from downline to upline through said conditioning unit; a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of products traveling through said tunnel; a controller connected to said conveyor means and said temperature sensor; and said controller controlling said conveyor means to automatically move products upline to downline and downline to upline depending on temperature measurements of the products within the tunnel.