Microwave Nondestructive Sensing of Moisture Content and Water Activity of Almonds

HighlightsMoisture and water activity were determined nondestructively and in real time from measurement of dielectric properties.Moisture and water activity calibration equations were established in terms of the dielectric properties.Situations in which bulk density was known or unknown were considered.SEC ranged from 0.41% to 0.68% for moisture and from 0.02 to 0.04 for water activity.Abstract. A method for rapid and nondestructive determination of moisture content and water activity of granular and particulate materials was developed. The method relies on measurement of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor at a single microwave frequency. For the purpose of illustration, the method was applied to predicting the moisture content and water activity of almond kernels. A free-space transmission technique was used for accurate measurement of the dielectric properties. Samples of Bute Padre almond kernels with moisture content ranging from 4.8% to 16.5%, wet basis (w.b.), and water activity ranging from 0.50 to 0.93 were loaded into a Styrofoam sample holder and placed between two horn-lens antennas connected to a vector network analyzer. The dielectric properties were calculated from measurement of the attenuation and phase shift at 8 GHz and 25°C. The dielectric properties increased linearly with moisture content, while they showed an exponential increase with water activity. Situations in which the bulk density was known and unknown were considered. Linear and exponential growth regressions provided equations correlating the dielectric properties with moisture content and water activity with coefficients of determination (r2) higher than 0.96. Analytical expressions of moisture content and water activity in terms of the dielectric properties measured at 8 GHz and 25°C are provided. The standard error of calibration (SEC) was calculated for each calibration equation. Results show that moisture content can be predicted with SECs ranging from 0.41% to 0.68% (w.b.) and water activity with SECs ranging from 0.02 to 0.04 for almond kernel samples with water activity ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 and moisture contents ranging from 4.8% to 16.5% (w.b.). Keywords: Bulk density, Dielectric constant, Dielectric loss factor, Free-space measurements, Loss tangent, Microwave frequencies, Moisture content, Water activity.

The Analysis of Dielectric Constant, Loss Factor and Q-Factor of Selected Fruits at Microwave Frequency Range

The dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor and Q-Factor of orange, red and green apples were studied at Microwave frequency range. An algorithm was written using the Debye equations and the interactive problem-solving environment of Maple-18 was used to generate results for the dielectric constant, loss factor and quality factor. The variation in the dielectric constant, loss factor and Q-factor as both frequency and temperature changes respectively within and range were shown graphically. The dielectric constant of all the fruits were higher at lower frequencies, it then decreases continuously as frequency increases. On the other hand, the loss factor of this fruits were small at lower frequencies but increased to its peak before decreasing continuously for all temperatures. Interestingly, the fruits’ Q-Factor were higher at lower frequencies and temperatures but decreases rapidly as the frequency increases. The contribution of the space charge, orientation, ionic and electronic polarizations to the dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor and Q-Factor of these fruits at lower frequency and higher frequency were discussed. The effect of the excess sugar and water content on the dielectric constant, loss factor and Q-Factor attributed to the appearance of vibrational peaks was also discussed. This work hereby provides a guidance in developing new microwave processes.

Dielectric Properties of Eucalyptus urophylla Under an Ultra-Wide Frequency Range

Dielectric properties of Eucalyptus urophylla wood were measured by using a network analyzer over an ultrawide frequency range between 0.2 GHz and 20 GHz. The effects of moisture content (MC), temperature and frequency on the dielectric permittivity and the dielectric loss factor of Eucalyptus urophylla were investigated along different grain directions. The results showed that the dielectric permittivity along with the dielectric loss factor increased significantly with the elevation in MC. At the frequency of 2380 MHz with the MC increasing from 0% to 100%, the dielectric permittivity along different grain directions (including longitudinal, radial and tangential directions) increased by 180%, 110% and 112%, respectively, while the loss factor along these three directions increased by 1642%, 3703% and 5058%, respectively. In addition, the increase in dielectric properties of Eucalyptus urophylla wood was determined with the temperature elevating. When the temperature elevated from 20 °C to 140 °C, the dielectric permittivity at 2380 MHz along the longitudinal, radial and tangential directions, increased by 19%, 14% and 15%, respectively, while the loss factor increased by 133% at most. As the radio frequency increased, the dielectric permittivity of wood decreased. Regression equations satisfactorily described the dielectric properties of wood along different grain directions with different moisture contents.

Acoustic Measurement of Ultrasound Sensors in a Water Bath

PMN-PT is one of promising materials for fabrication ultrasound sensors for flow metering, in that the relative permittivity and the dielectric loss factor are superior to PZT, the popular piezoelectric materials at present. However, there are not many studies focusing on characterizing the PMN-PT ultrasound sensors by acoustic measurements. This study introduces an acoustic bath to accommodate a pair of ultrasound sensors for measuring the relative acoustic sensitivity and the dispersion angle by ultrasound waves. Ultrasound sensors with resonance frequencies from 0.2 MHz to 1 MHz are also tested in terms of the relative permittivity, the dielectric loss factor, the electric impedance, and the electric admittance. From these measurements, it is found that PMN-PT is superior to PZT for increasing the relative acoustic sensitivity of ultrasound sensors. Impedance matching electronic circuits are fabricated by designing capacitance and inductance with the reflectance coefficients. Smith chart is used to calculate the capacitance and the inductance for the PMN-PT ultrasound sensors with resonance frequencies of 0.2 MHz and 0.5 MHz. As a results, it is also found that the impedance matching electronic circuits enhance the electrical admittance by 3.6 ∼ 25 times while keeping the electrical impedance between 50 Ω and 100 Ω.