Tag Archives: portable microwave

This Award-Winning Foldable Microwave Oven Concept Turns into a Portable Carry Case

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You’ve got portable grills, induction cookers, and portable stoves, but there’s no portable version of the microwave. Most microwaves today are heavy, bulky, and aren’t designed to be carried around… but what if they were? Designer Park Saun created the Foldwave concept to show what a portable microwave could look like. With a collapsible design that turns into a portable carry case when not in use, the Foldwave gives you the option of being able to carry your microwave around. Use it at home from one room to another, carry it to work, or even to a picnic. The collapsible design makes it easier to carry on your shoulders… and if you’re wondering whether portable microwaves are even feasible as a concept, a Japanese company developed the world’s first battery-powered microwave this year!

Designer: Park Saun

The Foldwave’s innovation, as a concept, lies primarily in the way it goes from cube-shaped to compact. The sides of the microwave buckle inwards, allowing the top and the bottom elements to join together into a smaller, more manageable carrying volume. A handle on the top makes it easy to carry the Foldwave around with you, and using the Foldwave is as simple as opening the door in front, adding your food, and turning the knob on top to run the appliance.

Even though conceptual, it’s important to really address how this technology would be feasible in the long run. Microwaves are usually sealed shut to prevent radiation leakage, and it’s important that the Foldwave keeps that in consideration too. As far as the components go, the microwave magnetron sits on the top, while the rotating platform can be found at the bottom. One would assume that the high-voltage transformer sit right at the top with the magnetron, powering the device, while a battery unit could be potentially stored at the bottom, allowing the microwave to balance its components and weight out while still being bottom-heavy enough to stay stable when open.

The Foldwave is a winner of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept for the year 2023.

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The Makita MW001G Portable Microwave: Bringing Culinary Convenience to the Great Outdoors

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Wanting a portable microwave is simultaneously a problem that I’ve never had or thought of, and a problem that I now can’t stop thinking of. If we can have portable coffee makers, portable induction stovetops, and portable blenders, why hasn’t anyone ever built a portable microwave yet? Sure, microwaves consume massive amounts of energy to stay operational – so do refrigerators and air-conditioners, but you’ve got portable ACs and fridges, right? Well, seems like Japanese power tool manufacturer Makita took on this rather unique challenge and designed what is easily the first ever portable microwave I’ve ever seen. Given the company’s core strengths, the microwave looks a little like a portable power station – and with good reason too. It runs on two 40V 4Ah lithium-ion batteries, and has a power output of up to 500W, giving you the ability to heat up to 11 dishes in one full battery cycle. It sports a USB-A port to charge your smartphones and comes with a handle that lets you carry the appliance around and even take it outdoors. Why? Because you can!

Designer: Makita

The fact that a power-tool maker built a portable microwave makes a fair bit of sense considering its primary audience. Picture this – you’re a construction worker who’s on site. It’s lunchtime and everyone’s digging into their room-temperature sandwiches and burritos… but you show up with the Makita MW001G. Thanks to the MW001G, you (and a bunch of your other friends) can have a hot, nourishing meal instead of a cold, insipid one. Pretty cool, right?

The MW001G measures 13.50 x 12.52 x 13.31 inches and weighs about 20 lbs (8.8kg). Its inner cabin is compact enough to fit one meal in at a time, or a few mugs of coffee. The microwave comes with two power settings, a lower 350W that lets the appliance run for longer, but takes more time to heat your food too, and a max 500W output that gives the microwave 8 full minutes of run-time. There’s no rotating table inside the MW100G, and a pretty rudimentary control panel lets you start/stop the appliance, and set the timer for your heating cycle, which displays on the simple seven-segment LED display.

The MW001G runs on Makita’s standard XGT batteries that also run the company’s other cordless power tools. This is convenient if you use Makita’s appliances because there’s a fair bit of synergy in being able to easily swap out battery packs between appliances for better convenience. The MW001G runs on two XGT batteries that easily clip onto the back of the microwave, and a 2.4 A 5V USB-A output allows you to charge your smartphone on the go.

Although designed to be a convenient appliance for the blue-collar worker, the MW001G doesn’t come cheap. Limited to a Japan-only release for now, the MW001G is priced at ¥71,500 ($540 USD) making it roughly 3-4 times the price of a regular (and much bigger) corded microwave. Me, I’ll just enjoy my cold burrito instead.

The post The Makita MW001G Portable Microwave: Bringing Culinary Convenience to the Great Outdoors first appeared on Yanko Design.