Pneumatic Stirrer

That appears to be an elegant, simple solution to the problem - blades fixed via suction cup - bowl rotates via existing microwave mechanism - Result: bowl contents stirred.

Better than my idea, which was to hold the bowl stationary, and modify the existing rotational mechanism to magnetically turn paddles suspended in the bowl (similar to a type of laboratory stirrer).

There's also a design that has extendable arms on the top that sits on the bowl, as the bowl turns the arms catch on the inside walls of the microwave and turn the stirring mechanism...basically the same principal...Haven't tried either one, I just pause the heating cycle occasionally and manually stir the contents, usually only takes once...I don't see any practical use for this unless it's an automated kitchen...

Exactly. You put a static stirrer in and let the turntable do the work, Mildred. All this talk of pneumatics in a microwave is just a lot of hot air.

You would want to get the alignment of the bowl precisely in the centre of the rotating tray, plus the position of the suction cup directly overhead, or you could end up with some considerable mess to clean up

There are battery operated where performance is questionable for what I’ve seen.

as far as pneumatic... for the amount of air require, it wouldn’t be very affordable of effective. Unless on an industrial scale/usage.

The task is stirring porridge in a microwave, so no batteries and not a lot of power required either.

Yes, you said. And you seem to have become stuck on pneumatics where there is no need for it, Mildred.

A bowl of porridge takes about 30 seconds to cook in a microwave. It would take longer to set up a stirrer than to open the microwave half way through cooking and give it a stir. I have never previously stirred my porridge during cooking and an experimental stir this morning does not appear to have affected the finished quality at all.

Has it been invented/patented/marketed, probably not. Why not, no perceived market

Using more utensils for cooking isn’t the problem... the problem is the time it takes to wash those extra utensils being used.

You have to be joking. It takes longer than 30 seconds to heat a cup of coffee. My porridge-cooking recipe for two portions is 6 minutes on medium, 7 minutes on simmer and 7 more minutes on simmer, with stirring in between.

20 minutes to heat a bowl of soup? I don't think you understand how to operate your microwave oven...I could cook 3 whole potatoes in half that time....You're cooking stove-top speed....You're driving a Ferrari like you're in a school zone...

Erm, cooking porridge oats is not the same as heating a bowl of soup. Simmering it gently to achieve the full creamy texture used to take overnight on a stove.

I don’t disagree, but now,... is it cooked on a stove or a microwave?

I don't see how using a microwave and some sort of self stirring mechanism is going to get a much faster result than slow cooking and stirring porridge oats on a stove in a pot.

If your going to this much effort then surely the pot and stove method is the way to go over the microwave. How much time do you think each method will take? is there really a need for this level of complexity?

What about a crockpot or similar slow cooker?

yes,

Anything cooked slow makes it taste better...

where I worked a lifetime ago,... we had an aluminum box, that had a 200watt light bulb inside, with a door on the front,

we throw our left overs (a little butter maybe) in it first thing the morning let it warm, and by lunch it was a gourmet tasting meal. As my career shifted to food processing, only then did I find out why.

Have you ever tried one of these pressure cooker/steamer thingys?

I think this would eliminate all your problems, and save some time as well.....

Plan 'B'....$28

Thank you. I still feel that stirring is important, so the pressure cooker is no improvement on the microwave. The oatmeal cooker doesn't appear to stir either and it takes slightly longer than my microwave schedule. Of course, you might suggest repurposing an electric jam maker, which does have a built-in stirrer...

Of course it is,... you want to avoid the Maillard reaction... because was you turn brown,... you never can turn back...

There's no ducks in oatmeal....

Wrong? Yes. It's complete nonsense.

I am obliged for your definitive opinion. However, young man, the interests of science are better served by your providing a reference. Please refer to that portion of my question which represents the complete nonsense. Is it the suggestion that pressure is equivalent to potential energy?

Pneumatic you insist?Simply drill a hole,insert a soda straw and blow!

Or,getting away from pneumatic,the microwave has a microwave stirrer,but it looks like a fan.It is designed to scatter the microwaves in the oven to prevent hot spots.

A small shaded pole motor could be mounted,using the same power supply,with a telescoping blade easily removed for cleaning.

The blade and shaft should be non metallic.

If you want to go to the expense,laboratories use a tablet-shaped magnet inside the test tube ,which is sitting on a plate with a rotating magnetic field.The magnet runs via induction like a motor,with variable speed.

You could incorporate this in the base of the microwave oven.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072K24X5P?tag=duckduckgo-ffnt-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

Two things:

Should it be stirred constantly or does it need to be static a bit between stirs?

Some microwaves come with a steel wire rack that snaps into plastic clips on the side walls. You could attach something non-metallic to the rack to stir as the built in turntable rotates, or use the rack clips for something custom if you need it to be taller.

After the 30 psi air goes through your air motor where does it exhaust, into the microwave cavity? If I calculated this right your hose will contain about 6.8 mL of air. This volume won't pressurize most microwave cavities but I don't expect this to move much porridge either.

I take your point that the exhausted air must go somewhere but my impression is that the door on my quite new microwave is not hermetically sealed. As for the volume, I stand by my calculation that 90cm of 1.5cm diameter tubing contains a volume considerably greater than 6.8ml. i haven't even begun on the design of the stirrer.

design of the stirrer...?

Maybe you you should look at it at a different prospective...

there is an issue with microwave heating unevenly, where you’d have to stop and stir... with stews and the like... that can be,... inconvenient,...

dig a letter deeper on how a microwave is put together.

maybe, you can design the stirrer to be an option to integrate in the micro wave,

maybe something you can insert, snap into place in the microwave, do it’s business and remove when done and wash. Like a kitchen-aid mixer paddle, only microwave safe.

only design to be able to install and removed with your bowl of porridge in the microwave. Similar to SE example,... only stronger and more robust.

that idea may even be worth securing and presenting to microwave name brand manufacturing.

Out of curiosity,... which bring one up to another question, how does the microwave turn table turn?... is it through vibration?

Thank you. Ideally the blade of the stirrer matches the outline of the bowl, of course. More difficult is the design of the turbine blades.

I’m looking at this as a brain storming session,... and I’m involved only for my own personal amusement. I hope I didn’t offend anybody,... but I’m sure i did.

so...

How we do it in industry.

we’d wouldn’t have the mixing paddle symmetrical, but one bladed to catch one side,... that way it doesn’t have to be centered.

there are draw backs... if your porridge is thick... extremely thick... it will lock onto the stirring paddle and spin with it.

again in industry we do have a fix for that... but industry, we’d make 2,000 lb batches...

how big is your porridge bowl...

I did make a mistake in my math. All lengths are in mm. V=π·r^2·h=π·7.5^2·900≈1.59043×10^5 I don't know how I did that but this is still under a liter of volume.

Use an aquarium bubbler tube in the bottom,from the side to the center of the bowl,and use plastic tubing to connect to an aquarium air bubbler pump outside of the oven.

Imagine an "L" immersed in the bowl but not touching the bottom:

Allow the tube to be immersed along the edge of the ,and as it rotates,it will circulate the stirring/bubbling action.

The tube should be constructed in a telescoping design,to allow it to retract when not in use and to lengthen according to bowl dimensions:

(Patent Pending)