Some Electrical Properties of Melon (Citrullus colosynthis L) Seeds

Abstract

In this work, some electrical properties of melon (Citrullus colosynthis L), as a function of moisture content and frequency variations, were investigated using the parallel-plate capacitance technique. Results show that electrical resistance, conductivity, dielectric constant, loss factor, loss tangent and capacitance of melon seed were significantly affected by moisture and frequency variations in an alternating electric field. It was observed that electrical resistance decreased from 70.30 Ω to 16.53 Ω for corresponding moisture levels of 9.12% to 32.0% db. On the contrary, capacitance increased from 0.308 pF to 0.740 pF at 9.12% to 20.42% db moisture levels respectively and declined to 0.332 pF at 32.0% db moisture content. Dielectric constant and loss factor values both increased from 0.130 to 2.58 and 17.52 to 88.69 for corresponding increases in moisture from 9.12% to 32.0% db. Conversely, dielectric constant and loss factors values were observed to decrease with an increase in frequency values.