Non-Destructive impact method for quality assessment of horticultural products

Abstract

In the case of organic production the quality assessment of the fruits and vegetables is especially important. Monitoring of the maturation and ripening process, early detection of diseases, decision about harvest date and postharvest treatment need reliable, objective and – preferably – non-destructive quality testing methods. Dynamic hardness or stiffness measurement methods (resonance, impact, wave propagation) offer very useful tools in this field, but with strong limitations in applicability area and/or physical interpretation of the measured parameters. Our objective was to develop method and appropriate portable instrumentation to measure surface hardness – as quality measure – with a nondestructive method. The computer controlled instrument has an electromagnetically excited impactor fitted with a piezoelectric acceleration sensor, a signal conditioner and A/D converter. To ensure the uniform contact behavior (contact area) between the impactor and the tested produce of wide range of shape, spherical head was applied. Conclusively, Hertz contact theory is to be applied for evaluation of the impact signal. Instead of using empirical “hardness index” – as in the case of several existing instruments – our objective was the physical interpretation of the contact phenomena. The measured acceleration signal was mathematically processed to calculate real physical parameters (force, speed, deformation), and to characterize the process similarly to the widely used texture analyzers, penetrometers. A new hardness parameter – “dynamic elastic modulus” – was introduced. According to the methodological investigations, the measurement was found to be perfectly non-destructive for a wide range of products. Conclusively, the developed method offers a useful tool for quality evaluation of organic horticultural products.