Bollocks. Even a high-power USB port can source a maximum of about 2.5W (the cable isn't a Powered USB version, to forestall any objections). You might get 2W of actual microwave power out of that (ignoring the drain required to run the ancillary electronics). Bearing in mind that a cheap and cheerful domestic oven is 700W, with 1000-1100W more common, this would possibly be able to heat the beans just enough to promote mould growth and nothing else. Unless it has auxiliary power from an unseen wall brick, this device is physically impossible.
Dave G. is right, you need tens of KJ to warm an object like that up.
Say hot is 60°C, so you need to raise the temp by ca. 40°C. Snap pots are 200g. Water has a heat capacity of 4.2 J/g/°C (that's a simplification for baked beans but a fair one).
40x200x4.2 = 34,000 J
Which is supplied in about 40 seconds using a 900W output oven. With the 4.5 watts or so available from USB 3 it would take more like 2 hours to do the same thing (and that's assuming 100% conversion efficiency and no loss of heat -in practice it would never get hot).
Either there is an additional power supply or this is a wind up.
"To date, the device, which stands just 7.4inches tall by 6.2in wide and 5.9in deep, is only a prototype.
However, experts at the Microwave Association insist the sophisticated miniaturised technology does exist to turn the eye-catching gadget into a reality."
If it's not a "reality" then it's obviously not a "prototype" as they claim but an "artist's impression" of what such a device "might" look like. Rubbished all over the net.
3 comments:
Bollocks. Even a high-power USB port can source a maximum of about 2.5W (the cable isn't a Powered USB version, to forestall any objections). You might get 2W of actual microwave power out of that (ignoring the drain required to run the ancillary electronics). Bearing in mind that a cheap and cheerful domestic oven is 700W, with 1000-1100W more common, this would possibly be able to heat the beans just enough to promote mould growth and nothing else. Unless it has auxiliary power from an unseen wall brick, this device is physically impossible.
Nice try, though.
Dave G. is right, you need tens of KJ to warm an object like that up.
Say hot is 60°C, so you need to raise the temp by ca. 40°C. Snap pots are 200g. Water has a heat capacity of 4.2 J/g/°C (that's a simplification for baked beans but a fair one).
40x200x4.2 = 34,000 J
Which is supplied in about 40 seconds using a 900W output oven. With the 4.5 watts or so available from USB 3 it would take more like 2 hours to do the same thing (and that's assuming 100% conversion efficiency and no loss of heat -in practice it would never get hot).
Either there is an additional power supply or this is a wind up.
The Daily Mail seems to have the full story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1191606/Beanz-meanz-microwaves-Heinz-create-gadget-heat-snack-60-seconds.html
"To date, the device, which stands just 7.4inches tall by 6.2in wide and 5.9in deep, is only a prototype.
However, experts at the Microwave Association insist the sophisticated miniaturised technology does exist to turn the eye-catching gadget into a reality."
If it's not a "reality" then it's obviously not a "prototype" as they claim but an "artist's impression" of what such a device "might" look like. Rubbished all over the net.
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