Computer-Aided Neuro-fuzzy Algorithm for Prediction of Ginger(Zingiber officinale) Rhizome Drying

Abstract

Neuro-fuzzy modeling technique has been used for the development of computer-based adaptive process control systems for most postharvest operations instead of convectional mechanistic modeling technique owing to its good prediction without prior knowledge of process operation. Therefore, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) modeling and prediction of ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizome moisture content in a forced convective tray dryer was investigated in this study. Computer codes for an exhaustive search and grid partitioning were written in the Matlab software environment and used for the analysis of experimental data obtained from the ginger rhizome drying experiment. The data were trained and checked using the grid-partitioning ANFIS method for the development of neuro-fuzzy network for ginger drying prediction. The prediction accuracy of the network was evaluated by varying input and output Membership Function (MF) types. The exhaustive search analysis shows that drying time (DT) has the highest effect on the moisture content, followed by air drying temperature (ADT), air relative humidity (ARH), and air flow velocity (AFV). Moreover, combination of DT and ADT as two interactive variables; and combination DT, ADT and ARH as three interactive variables show highest effect on ginger moisture content removal during the process. Generalized bell (gbell) MF with two MF for each input variable and constant output MF 2 type were obtained as the best ginger drying ANFIS network with corresponding R and MSE of 0.9667 and 0.0971, respectively. Therefore, this study shows the reliability of the ANFIS model for the prediction of ginger rhizome drying in a tray dryer.