Abstract
The possibility of utilizing MRI for the non-destructive quality evaluation of watermelons is described. MRI is a unique, non-destructive and non-invasive detection technique. Today it has become an important medical diagnostic modality. Recently several attempts have been made to utilize MRI for agricultural or industrial application. We have tried to apply MRI method to the detection of internal voids in watermelons. Our experimental apparatus consisted of a 0.5T superconducting magnet with a bore 68cm in diameter, an actively shielded gradient coil with highpower amplifiers and a PC-based spectrometer. From a practical point of view, it is not practical for the inspection of watermelons to take cross sectional images with two-dimensions, because it takes quite a long time. In order to increase measurement rate, we adopted a 1-D MRI. We have carried out void detection on 30 watermelons by this method and obtained convincing results.
