A Non-Invasive Cotton Moisture Measuring Device for Ginning

The management of moisture in cotton through harvesting and particularly during ginning remains one of the most important factors in determining the final quality of cotton.  Resistance plates are typically used to measure moisture in seed-cotton and lint as it is processed through the gin, but these are limited by inaccuracies that arise from the small proportion of cotton able to be tested by the sensors, contamination of the sensor and by the non-linear response to low and high moisture levels.  In this paper we present a new mass and moisture sensing device that has good potential for measuring the moisture of seed-cotton before ginning and/or the moisture in lint before it undergoes lint cleaning or baling.  The device combines large area capacitance plates with light detectors to measure the mass and moisture of material travelling quickly under pneumatic pressure or gravity through gin ducting.