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Title: EFFECTS OF SHF AND EHF MICROWAVE ENERGY ON THE MORTALITY OF SITOPHILUS ZEAMIS IN SOFT WHITE WHEAT

Author
item HALVERSON, STEVEN - MICRO-GRAIN, CLINTON, WI
item Plarre, Ruediger
item Burkholder, Wendell
item BIGELOW, TIMOTHY - OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LAB
item MISENHEIMER, MARK - NORAN INSTRUMENTS, INC.
item NORDHEIM, ERIK - UNIV. OF WISCONSIN

Submitted to: ASAE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/18/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Proof-of-principle experiments predicted that microwave energy at high power levels and frequencies in the SHF and EHF bands will produce significant lethal effects on insects in stored-product efficiently and economically. These experiments indicated that selective heating of the insect increases at frequencies above 2.45 GHz and does not decrease monotonically as previously believed. Recent tests were conducted at SHF at 12, 15, 17.9 GHz and EHF at 55 GHz on samples of soft white wheat Tricicum aestivum (L.), infested with adults and larvae of Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky, to provide better frequency resolution of the predicted phenomenon. Replicated samples of adults and two age stages of larvae were exposed to microwave radiation in an untuned cavity to determine the mortality of the various ages as a function of input energy and resulting product temperatures. The results indicate that 15 GHz produced the greater adult mortality as a function of input energy and product temperature that at 12 and 17.9 GHz but that 55 GHz produced the greatest mortality at all age levels at the lowest energies and temperatures. Tests on adults at 14.25 GHz at various constant input energies but variable exposure times indicated that higher input powers can produce an increase in mortality for a given energy input.