A simple rectangular microstrip technique for determination of moisture content in Hevea rubber latex

Abstract

A simple rectangular microstrip sensor for determination of moisture content in Hevea Rubber Latex is presented in this paper. The microstrip patch sensor was designed to operate at microwave frequency range from 1 to 5 GHz on a RT/Duroid substrate with 6.15 ±0.015 permittivity and 1.27 mm thickness. The width and length of the rectangular patch antenna was 18 mm and 38 mm, respectively. The reflection coefficient of the sensor loaded with Hevea latex at various percentages of moisture content from approximately 36.1% to 88.6 %. Calibration equations have been established between moisture content and phase of reflection coefficient at several selected frequencies. These equations were used to predict the amount of moisture content on Hevea latex based on the measured reflection coefficient values. The actual values of moisture content were obtained using standard oven drying method. The lowest mean relative error between actual and predicted moisture contents was 0.04 at 1 GHz.

Rapid moisture determination for cup lump natural rubber by near infrared spectroscopy

“…NIRS has been successfully applied to the rapid determination of various chemical contents, such as moisture content (Rittiron and Seehalak, 2014;Yahaya et al, 2014). Black et al (1985) showed the potential of NIRS to quantify rubber/water blends.…”

“…In an assessment of cup lumps of varying sizes, coagulated from fresh field latex, the actual moisture contents have been determined gravimetrically (Rittiron and Seehalak, 2014). On comparing a cup lump to a thin sheet, both coagulated from equal amounts of latex, a gravimetric inspection after drying showed excess moisture remaining in the lump (Yahaya et al, 2014), indicating that the drying is severely diffusion limited. In other words, the gravimetric moisture content determination will require slicing the cup lump to reduce diffusion distances to surfaces.…”

Salinity and sugar detection system using microstrip patch antenna

“…To overcome these constraints, microstrip technology is now widely used in various applications like agriculture, medical, and communications, etc. which are studied in . In today's world, dielectric based sensors have been extensively studied which depend on the dielectric properties as well as the physical properties of the material.…”

“…A high‐performance UWB antenna has been rendered in for the imaging system which can be used in medical diagnosis. In reference, a microstrip patch antenna has been reported to determine the moisture content in Hevea rubber latex. Several methods reported in the literature review to determine the moisture content and the soluble solid content in agriculture products.…”

Development of a microstrip based sensor aimed at salinity and sugar detection in water considering dielectric properties

“… for the imaging system which can be used in medical diagnosis. In, a microstrip patch antenna has been reported to determine the moisture content in hevea rubber latex. A polymer‐loaded UHF RFID antenna for humidity sensing has been rendered in .…”