Abstract
Moisture content in solid, granular and pulverized materials is one of the most important material parameters during production, trading, processing and storage of those materials. Recent advances in application of microwave measuring techniques to nondestructive determination of moisture content are reviewed, with a special emphasis being put on a newly developed concept of a density-independent calibration. It is concluded that those techniques provide accurate, fast and nondestructive means for moisture content testing in such materials and satisfy requirements of automated industrial processes, scientific laboratories, material mass storage, personnel safety and long-term transport.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Briggs, L.J., 1908, An electrical resistance method for the rapid determination of the moisture content of grain: Bureau Plant Industry Circular, no. 20, U.S. Dept. Agric.
Watson, A., 1965, Measurement and control of moisture content by microwave absorption, in Wexler, A. (ed.), Humidity and Moisture, v. 4, P.N. Winn (ed.), p. 87-93.
Kraszewski, A., 1973, Microwave instrumentation for moisture content measurement: J. Microwave Power, v. 8, no. 3-4, p. 323-336.
Benzar, V.K., 1974, Microwave Techniques of Moisture Content Measurements (in Russian), Minsk, USSR, Izdat. Vysheyshaya Shkola (University Publishers), 349 pp. 5.
Kraszewski, A. (ed.), 1980, Microwave aquametry: J. Microwave Power, v. 15, no. 4, p. 207-310.
Pyper, J.W., Buettner, H.M., Cerjan, C.J., Hallam, J.S., and King, R.J., 1985, The measurement of bound and free moisture in organic materials by microwave methods: ISA Internatl. Symposium on Moisture and Humidity, Washington, DC, p. 909-917.
Kupfer, K., (ed.), 1997, Material Moisture Measurements (in German), Renningen-Malmsheim, Germany, Expert Verlag, 394 pp.
Kupfer, K. (ed.), 1997, 9th Meeting on Moisture Measurement (in German, 9 Feuchtetag), Weimar, Germany, MFPA University of Weimar, 354 pp.
Kraszewski A., (ed.), 1996, Microwave Aquametry, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press, 484 pp.
Kraszewski, A. (ed.), 1996, Workshop on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances. Summaries. IEEE Internatl. Microwave Symp., San Francisco, CA, 145 pp.
Kraszewski, A. and Lawrence, K.C. (eds), 1999, Collection of Papers for the Third Workshop on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances, U.S. Dept. Agric., Athens, GA, 145 pp.
Kupfer, K., Kraszewski, A., and Knoechel, R. (eds), 2000, Sensors Update, v. 7: RF and Microwave Sensing of Moist Materials, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Germany, 444 pp.
Kupfer, K. (ed.), 2001, Proceedings of the Fourth Internatl. Conference on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances, University of Weimar, Weimar, Germany, 535 pp.
Trabelsi, S., Kraszewski, A.W., and Nelson, S.O., 2000, Phase-shift ambiguity in microwave dielectric properties measurements: IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., v. 49, no. 1, p. 56-60.
Nelson, S.O., 1981, Review of factors influencing the dielectric properties of cereal grains: Cereal Chem., v. 58, no. 6, p. 487-492.
Kraszewski, A., Trabelsi, S., and Nelson, S.O., 1997, Moisture content determination in grain by measuring microwave parameters: Meas. Sci. Technol., v. 8, no. 8, p. 857-863. Also Addendum, ibidem, v. 9, no. 3, p. 543–544, 1998.
Bartley, P.G., McClendon, R.W., Nelson, S.O., and Trabelsi, S., 1998, Determining moisture content of wheat with an artificial neural network from microwave transmission measurements: IEEE Trans. Instrum. and Meas., v. 47, no. 2, p. 123-125.
Kraszewski, A.W., Trabelsi, S., and Nelson, S.O., 1996, Wheat permittivity measurement in free space: J. Microwave Power and Electromag. Energy, v. 31, no. 3, p. 135-141.
Archibald, D.D., Trabelsi, S., Kraszewski, A.W., and Nelson, S.O., 1998, Regression analysis of microwave spectra for temperature-compensated and density-independent determination of wheat moisture content: Appl. Spectroscopy, v. 52, no. 11, p. 1435-1446.
Ben Slima, M., Morawski, R.Z., Kraszewski, A.W., Barwicz, A., and Nelson, S.O., 1999, Calibration of a microwave system for measuring grain moisture content: IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., v. 48, no. 3, p. 778-782.
Kraszewski, A.W., Trabelsi, S., and Nelson, S.O., 1998, Simple grain moisture content determination from microwave measurements: Trans. Am. Soc. Agriculture Engrs., v. 41, no. 1, p. 129-134.
Kraszewski, A. and Kulinski, S., 1976, An improved microwave method of moisture content measurement and control: IEEE Trans. Industr. Electron. and Control Instrum., v. IECI-23, no. 4, p. 364-370.
Meyer, W. and Schilz, W., 1980, A microwave method of density independent determination of moisture content in solids: J. Phys. D, v. 13, p. 1823-1830.
Kraszewski, A., Trabelsi, S., and Nelson, S.O., 1998, Comparison of density-independent expressions for moisture content determination in wheat at microwave frequencies: J. Agric. Eng. Research, v. 71, p. 227-237.
Trabelsi, S., Kraszewski, A.W., and Nelson, S.O., 1997, Simultaneous determination of density and water content of particulate materials by microwave sensors: Electronics Letters, v. 33, no. 10, p. 874-876.
Trabelsi, S., Kraszewski, A.W., and Nelson, S.O., 1999, Unified calibration method for nondestructive dielectric sensing of moisture content in granular materials: Electronics Letters, v. 35, no. 16, p. 1346-1347.
Trabelsi, S., Kraszewski, A.W., and Nelson, S.O., 2000, Universal microwave moisture sensor for granular materials. Am. Soc. Agriculture Engrs. Paper no. 003061, p. 11.
Pozar, D.M. and Schaubert, D.H. (eds.), 1995, Microstrip antennas, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press, 431 pp.
Volgyi, F., 1993, Microstrip antenna array application for microwave heating, Proc. 23rd European Microwave Conf., Madrid, Spain, p. 412-415.
Volgyi, F., 2001, Microstrip sensors used in microwave aquametry, in Proceedings of the Fourth Internatl. Conference on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances, University of Weimar, Weimar, Germany, [13], p. 135-142.
King, R.J., 1992, Microwave sensors for process control. Part II: Open resonator sensors. Sensors, v. 9, no. 10, p. 25-30.
King, R.J., 2000, On-line industrial applications of microwave moisture sensors. Sensors Update, v. 7: RF and Microwave Sensing of Moist Materials, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Germany, p. 109-170.
Keam, R.B. and Holdem, J.R., 1997, Permittivity measurement using a coaxial-line conical-tip probe: Electronics Letters, v. 33, no. 5, p. 353-355.
Kim, S.-W., Cho, Y.-S., Huyn, S.-Y., and Kim, S.-Y., 2001, A comparative study on the stability of four different conversion models of the open-ended coaxial probe in Proceedings of the Fourth Internatl. Conference on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances, University of Weimar, Weimar, Germany, p. 185-192.
Ball, J.A.R., Horsfield, B., Holdem, J.R., Keam, R.B., Holmes, W.S., and Green, A., Cheese curd permittivity and moisture measurement using 6-port reflectometer, Proc. Asia Pacific Microwave Conf., New Delhi, India, v. 2, p. 479-482.
Kraszewski, A.W. and Nelson, S.O., 1996, Moisture content determination in single kernels and seeds with microwave resonant sensors, in Kraszewski, A. (ed.), Microwave Aquametry, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press, p. 177-203.
Herrmann, R. and Sikora, J., 1977, Moisture content measuring with microwave resonators, in Kupfer, K. (ed.), Material Moisture Measurements (in German), Renningen-Malmsheim, Germany, Expert Verlag, p. 291-310.
Gallone, G., Lucardesi, P., Martinelli, M., and Rolla, P.A., 1996, A fast and precise method for measurement of the dielectric permittivity at microwave frequencies: J. Microwave Power and EE, v. 31, no. 3, p. 158-164.
Scott, B.N., Cregger, B.B., and Shortes, S.R., 1993, Technology for full-range water-cut measurements, Proc. 25th Offshore Technol. Conf., Houston, TX, p. 279-286.
Jean, B.R., 1996, Guided microwave spectroscopy for on-line moisture measurement of flowable materials, in Kraszewski, A. (ed.), Microwave Aquametry, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press, p. 123-126; also in Kraszewski, A. and Lawrence K.C. (eds.), 1999, Collection of Papers for the Third Workshop on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substance, U.S. Dept. Agric., Athens, Georgia, p. 171–184.
Stacheder, M., Koehler, K., and Fundinger, R., 1996, New TDR probes for water content determination in porous media, in Kraszewski, A. (ed.), Microwave Aquametry, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE Press, p. 123-126; also in Kraszewski, A. and Lawrence K.C. (eds.), 1999, Collection of Papers for the Third Workshop on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substance, U.S. Dept. Agric., Athens, Georgia, p. 171–184.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kraszewski, A. Microwave Aquametry: An Effective Tool for Nondestructive Moisture Sensing. Subsurface Sensing Technologies and Applications 2, 347–362 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013212916645
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013212916645