Res. Agr. Eng., 2008, 54(2):104-112 | DOI: 10.17221/1000-RAE

Dielectric properties of agricultural products and some applications

S.O. Nelson
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens, Georgia, USA

The use of dielectric properties of agricultural products for sensing moisture in grain and seed and their application in radio-frequency and microwave dielectric heating is discussed briefly. Values for the dielectric properties of a number of products, including grain and seed, fruits and vegetables, and poultry products, are presented graphically to show the dependence of these properties on frequency, moisture content, and temperature. The potential for using the dielectric properties to sense quality factors other than moisture content is also considered.

Keywords: permittivity; radio frequency; microwave; dielectric constant; loss factor; frequency dependence; moisture content; grain; seed; fruits; vegetables; poultry products

Published: June 30, 2008  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Nelson SO. Dielectric properties of agricultural products and some applications. Res. Agr. Eng. 2008;54(2):104-112. doi: 10.17221/1000-RAE.
Download citation

References

  1. ASAE (2000): ASAE D293.2 Dielectric properties of grain and seed. In: ASAE Standards 2000. American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, 549-558.
  2. Guo W., Nelson S.O., Trabelsi S., Kays S.J. (2007a): 10-1800-MHz dielectric properties of fresh apples during storage. Journal of Food Engineering, 83: 562-569. Go to original source...
  3. Guo W., Trabelsi S., Nelson S.O., Jones D.R. (2007b): Storage effects on dielectric properties of eggs from 10 to 1800 MHz. Journal of Food Science, 72: E335-E340. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
  4. Hasted J.B. (1973): Aqueous Dielectrics. Chapman and Hall, London.
  5. Knipper N.V. (1959): Use of high-frequency currents for grain drying. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 4: 349-360.
  6. Kraszewski A.W., Nelson S.O. (1989): Composite model of the complex permittivity of cereal grain. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 43: 211-219. Go to original source...
  7. Nelson S.O. (1965): Dielectric properties of grain and seed in the 1 to 50-mc range. Transactions of the ASAE, 8: 38-48. Go to original source...
  8. Nelson S.O. (1973): Electrical properties of agricultural products - A critical review. Transactions of the ASAE, 16: 384-400. Go to original source...
  9. Nelson S.O. (1980): Microwave dielectric properties of fresh fruits and vegetables. Transactions of the ASAE, 23: 1314-1317. Go to original source...
  10. Nelson S.O. (1983): Dielectric properties of some fresh fruits and vegetables at frequencies of 2.45 to 22 GHz. Transactions of the ASAE, 26: 613-616. Go to original source...
  11. Nelson S.O. (1987): Models for the dielectric constants of cereal grains and soybeans. Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, 22: 35-39. Go to original source...
  12. Nelson S.O. (1992): Microwave dielectric properties of fresh onions. Transactions of the ASAE, 35: 963-966. Go to original source...
  13. Nelson S.O. (1996): Review and assessment of radio-frequency and microwave energy for stored-grain insect control. Transactions of the ASAE, 39: 1475-1484. Go to original source...
  14. Nelson S.O. (2003): Frequency- and temperature-dependent permittivities of fresh fruits and vegetables from 0.0l to 1.8 GHz. Transactions of the ASAE, 46: 567-574. Go to original source...
  15. Nelson S.O. (2006): Agricultural applications of dielectric measurements. IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 13: 688-702. Go to original source...
  16. Nelson S.O., Bartley P.G., Jr. (2002): Frequency and temperature dependence of the dielectric properties of food materials. Transactions of the ASAE, 45: 1223-1227. Go to original source...
  17. Nelson S.O., Trabelsi S. (2006): Dielectric spectroscopy of wheat from 10 MHz to 1.8 GHz. Measurement Science and Technology, 17: 2294-2298. Go to original source...
  18. Nelson S.O., Whitney W.K. (1960): Radio-frequency electric fields for stored-grain insect control. Transactions of the ASAE, 3: 133-137. Go to original source...
  19. Nelson S.O., Soderholm L.H., Yung F.D. (1953): Determining the dielectric properties of grain. Agricultural Engineering, 34: 608-610.
  20. Nelson S.O., Forbus W.R., Jr., Lawrence K.C. (1994): Permittivities of fresh fruits and vegetables at 0.2 to 20 GHz. Journal of Microwave Power and Electromagnetic Energy, 29: 81-93. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
  21. Nelson S.O., Forbus W.R., Jr., Lawrence K.C. (1995): Assessment of microwave permittivity for sensing peach maturity. Transactions of the ASAE, 38: 579-585. Go to original source...
  22. Nelson S.O., Trabelsi S., Kays S.J. (2006): Dielectric spectroscopy of honeydew melons from 10 MHz to 1.8 GHz for quality sensing Transactions of the ASABE, 49: 1977-1981. Go to original source...
  23. Nelson S.O., Guo W., Trabelsi S., Kays S.J. (2007): Dielectric spectroscopy of watermelons for quality sensing. Measurement Science and Technology, 18: 1887-1892. Go to original source...
  24. Trabelsi S., Kraszewski A., Nelson S.O. (1998): New density-independent calibration function for microwave sensing of moisture content in particulate materials. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 47: 613-622. Go to original source...
  25. Zhuang H., Nelson S.O., Trabelsi S., Savage E.M. (2007): Dielectric properties of uncooked chicken breast muscles from ten to one thousand eight hundred megahertz. Poultry Science, 86: 2433-2440. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.