Paddy rice moisture content meter

The principle of the electrical capacitance properties to measure paddy rice moisture content is presented in this paper. The aim of this research is to design a low-cost paddy rice moisture content meter. Paddy rice was packed in a 600 cm³ cylindrical plastic container with the diameter of 9 centimeters and the length of 10 centimeters. The integrated circuit ICL8038 was applied to generate the frequency signal. After that, the capacitor in ICL8038 circuit was replaced by the cylindrical plastic container. Paddy rice capacitance was computed and applied to model the moisture content equation by using the second-order polynomial regression. The microcontroller (ATmega1280) was applied to calculate the moisture content and the calculation was demonstrated on 20 × 4 LCD display. Weight of each sample of paddy rice was 354 grams. The results of moisture content equation evaluated were 97.91% accurate. The examination results showed paddy rice moisture content was 97.83% accurate. The moisture content measurement range was 6% to 22% wet basis.