Abstract
Moisture distribution information is a critical element in drying processes. The drying of products by employing high-power microwave (MW) technology is widely used in the industry. Although microwaves allow volumetric and selective heating resulting in a significant reduction of processing time and energy consumption, there is always a risk of non-uniform moisture distribution in the final product. This paper investigates the capability of a designed electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sensor to estimate the moisture distribution of polymer foams in a microwave drying process. The moisture distribution is estimated based on the non-intrusive contactless measurements of the electrical capacitances between the electrodes mounted on a frame around the target polymer foam. The obtained moisture information can be employed as feedback to a controller to adjust the power level of each microwave source in the microwave system to reduce or eliminate the non-homogeneity of the moisture distribution inside the polymer foam. In a series of experiments, we first examine the capability of the ECT sensor in estimating the moisture distribution in a stationary foam. We extend the tests to estimating the moisture distribution in a case where the foam is moving on a conveyor belt. Several study variables are taken, including the sample size, the sample location, the moisture percentage, the conveyor belt speed, and the microwave power. These experiments show that the sensor has a satisfactory accuracy in estimating the moisture distribution of the foam, and the ECT measurements can be further used in a closed-loop control system.
Highlights
D RYING processes have many industrial applications, for example, in food preservation and wood processing.Among different drying technologies, such as conventional heating, where there is an external heating source, microwaveManuscript received March 12, 2021; revised April 28, 2021; accepted May 20, 2021
This paper aims to design an electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sensor to estimate the moisture distribution of polymer foams in a continuous microwave drying process
Three different experiments were conducted in the stationary measurements where a board of foam with three moisture locations was placed inside the ECT sensor
Summary
D RYING processes have many industrial applications, for example, in food preservation and wood processing.Among different drying technologies, such as conventional heating, where there is an external heating source, microwaveManuscript received March 12, 2021; revised April 28, 2021; accepted May 20, 2021.
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