Journal of the Society of Agricultural Structures, Japan

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To make good-quality products, it is very important to monitor the process change in the dehydration process. Therefore, a method for continuous and nondestructive weighing of the dehydration process of chili peppers using a rotary-type dryer was designed and tested. The dehydration process was operated by putting chili peppers into a dehydration drum that was supported by two cantilevers. The weight of empty dehydration drum was considered as the dead weight in the weighing system. The product's weight, with three times larger dead weight, was measured using laser distance meters with simple cantilevers and a simple mechanism. The cantilever deflections were calibrated, expressed into regression equations, calculated using the computer program, and then expressed into the weight. A continuous-weighing system of the product inside a rotary drum was applied without removal of the samples. Moreover, the dehydration parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and airflow rates were measured on-line to the computer. The measurement system was successfully tested on the dehydration process continuously for 27 hours under stable conditions. It was confirmed that stability of the measurement system has been achieved.

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