Identification of Moisture Content in Cotton Bale by Microwave Imaging

Understanding of cotton quality is important in order to properly identify the moisture content .Measurement of moisture is difficult particularly at harvest and through the gin, because of the influence these processes have different fibre quality. Dry cotton can be harvested cleanly and efficiently but may suffer undue damage in the gin. On the other hand harvesting and ginning wet cotton leads to significant issues in processing and quality. A number of methods are used to measure moisture in seed cotton, lint and fuzzy seed, each has its varying advantages. A moisture variation of the bales that is not monitored from the outside of the bale. This research examines a new microwave imaging technique to view the internal moisture variations of cotton bale. Tests on the developed imaging sensor showed the ability to resolve small structures of parameters, against a low standard background, that were less than 1 cm in width. The accuracy of the sensing structure was also shown to provide the ability to accurately determine parameter standards. A preliminary test of the imaging capabilities on a wet commercial bale showed the technique was able to accurately image and determines the location of the wet layer within the bale