PC-Based Instrumentation System for the Detection of Moisture Content of Tea Leaves at Its Final Stage

Author

Hazarika, D. ; Laskar, S. ; Sarma, A. ; Sarmah, P.K.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Assam Eng. Coll., Guwahati

Volume

55

Issue

5

fYear

2006

Firstpage

1641

Lastpage

1647

Abstract

This paper describes a PC-based instrumentation system designed for online monitoring of the moisture content (MC) of tea leaves at its final stage. A fringe-field capacitive probe is used as a sensor to detect the MC of a tea leaf sample. The probe is mounted on the shaft of a stepper motor. The stepper motor is used to shake the tea leaf samples to obtain similar compactness for all tea leaf samples whose MCs are to be monitored. The introduction of shaking facility in the measurement procedure ensures consistency of measurement. The three-dimensional finite element method is used for the determination of field distribution around the surface of the sensor and the capacitance of the sensor

Keywords

capacitive sensors; computerised instrumentation; finite element analysis; moisture; moisture measurement; 3D finite element method; PC instrumentation system; capacitance; capacitive sensor; field distribution determination; fringe-field capacitive probe; fringe-field capacitor; moisture content detection; moisture measurement; online monitoring; stepper motor; tea leaves; Capacitance; Capacitive sensors; Chemical sensors; Finite element methods; Instruments; Mechanical sensors; Moisture; Monitoring; Probes; Shafts; Capacitive sensor; finite element method (FEM) analysis; fringe-field capacitor; moisture measurement; tea leaves;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2006.881031

Filename

1703911