Design and Test of a Non-destructive Measuring Instrument for Sunflower Seed Moisture Content

In order to achieve a rapid and accurate measuring instrument for sunflower seeds moisture content.In this paper, a non-contact parallel plate capacitance method is used to study the dielectric properties of sunflower seeds with different moisture content levels in different temperature and frequency ranges.The dielectric properties are studied a mathematical model describing moisture content, temperature and dielectric constant was established, and the feasibility of detecting the moisture content of sunflower seeds based on the dielectric constant and the reliability of the model were verified, and a measuring instrument for sunflower seed moisture content that could be fast and reliable at a predetermined frequency was designed. The results show that the design of sunflower seed moisture content detection device has an average absolute error of less than 0.95% in the temperature range of 10°-40℃ and the moisture content 6%-20%w.b. range, which verifies the accuracy and reliability of the moisture content detection device. It provides technical support for the drying, safe storage and quality control for sunflower seeds.