An optical automatic measurement method for the moisture content of rough rice using image processing techniques

This study proposed an automatic measurement method for the moisture content of rough rice using image processing techniques. Under a fixed hot air temperature and humidity, this measurement method uses drying time as a variable. After the rough rice with stalks is placed in the rough rice test carrier, an image acquisition system is used to set the multiple thresholds for the color histograms of the images. Based on the distribution of the colors, the stalk images are separated from the rough rice images, and edge enhancement and shape detection are applied to more accurately acquire specific detected areas from the image. Finally, the moisture content of rough rice can be determined according to the specific colors of the stalks. This study also explored the impact of the dynamic equilibrium moisture content on the drying of rice, rendering it more consistent with the actual drying behavior. The experimental results were compared with the results of other measurement methods for correction, in order to achieve real-time measurement and analysis of the batch re-circulating rice drying process. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.