JP7051080B2 - Portable moisture content measuring device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a portable water content measuring device for measuring the water content of the measured object, and in particular, can measure the water content of the measured object on the spot without collecting a sample. Regarding a portable water content measuring device.

In contrast to the measurement of the amount of water contained in a relatively large single object to be measured, the amount of water contained in an aggregate composed of a plurality of granular or fibrous objects may be measured. For example, in the measurement of the water content of hair, feathers, tea leaves, grains, etc., the average water content per unit mass or unit volume contained in a predetermined amount of the object to be measured is measured and calculated. The gravimetric method (mass method) is a typical method for such measurement, and a certain amount of an object to be measured is partially sampled and batch-processed for measurement and calculation.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method (weight method) in which the weight of feathers and the dry weight are weighed and the amount of water contained is calculated from the weight difference. A heating step is required to dry the feathers as the object to be measured, and here, microwaves are used to perform the process in a closed space. Therefore, it is difficult to treat living organisms other than feathers as they are as objects to be measured, but it is said that the water content can be measured accurately in a short time.

On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses a method of irradiating a measured object with near infrared rays and measuring the amount of water contained from the spectral data. Here, the hair is targeted as the object to be measured, and known measurement methods such as the gravimetric method, the curl-Fisher method, the electric conductivity measurement method, and the ATR-infrared (mid-infrared) spectroscopy are described, and then the near field is described. It is said that this method of irradiating infrared rays can measure the average water content of the entire hair in a non-destructive and accurate manner without sampling the object to be measured.

Further, Patent Document 3 discloses an apparatus for measuring the amount of water contained by using electromagnetic waves mainly for agricultural products such as grains, tea leaves and pastures. A group of objects to be measured scattered on a conveyor is continuously passed through an irradiation unit that irradiates electromagnetic waves, and the phase difference and amplitude change of transmitted or reflected electromagnetic waves are continuously measured and functionally processed. Then, the average water content contained in the object to be measured is calculated.

Here, in the gravimetric method as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the mass and volume of the object to be batch-processed are measured in advance and the average water content is calculated. On the other hand, in the method disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3, if a calibration curve is obtained in advance with the water content obtained by the gravimetric method, the average water content can be obtained without measuring the mass or volume. Can be calculated.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-333204. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-344279 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-161597

For hair and animal hair, similar fiber bundles, agricultural and livestock products such as grass, trees and fruits, and aggregates such as cement, gravel and sand, the average water content is non-destructive and on the spot without sampling. There is a demand for a method that can be easily measured in real time.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is that the water content of the measured object can be measured on the spot without destructive measurement without taking a sample. The purpose is to provide a portable moisture content measuring device.

The water content measuring device according to the present invention is a portable water content measuring device that non-destructively measures the water content contained in the object to be measured, and has a transmission unit that emits an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined frequency as a transmission wave and the transmission unit. The water content is determined from the change in the amplitude difference and phase difference between the receiving unit that receives the electromagnetic wave emitted from the object and reflected or transmitted by a part of the object to be measured as a receiving wave, and the transmitted wave and the received wave. The main body includes a calculation unit for calculation, and the receiving unit reciprocates or repeatedly moves the main body inside or around the object to be measured, along the inside or surface of the object to be measured. The transmission unit is provided to the main body unit so as to be movable, and the transmission unit is provided to the main body unit so that the reception unit can be arranged inside the electromagnetic wave to be formed.

According to such an invention, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be freely arranged by using electromagnetic waves, and even if the main body unit is reciprocated according to various shapes of various objects to be measured, the receiving unit is covered. It can be maintained in a constant positional relationship with the measured object, and the average water content contained in the measured object can be measured on the spot without destructive measurement without collecting a sample.

In the above-mentioned invention, the receiving portion may be characterized in that it is flexible and can be deformed along the shape of the object to be measured. According to such an invention, even if the main body is reciprocated according to various shapes of various objects to be measured, the receiving unit can be maintained in a constant positional relationship with the object to be measured, and the object to be measured is not sampled. In both cases, the average amount of water contained in the object to be measured can be measured in a non-destructive and accurate manner on the spot.

In the above-described invention, the object to be measured is hair, and the receiving portion may be provided on the comb tooth portion provided on the main body portion. According to such an invention, the average amount of water contained on the spot can be measured non-destructively only by reciprocating or repeatedly moving the main body along the hair without collecting a sample of the hair.

The invention described above may be characterized in that the predetermined frequency is between frequencies 10 ⁵ to 10 ¹² [Hz]. According to such an invention, by using an electromagnetic wave having low directivity, the transmitting unit and the receiving unit can be freely arranged with each other, and as a result, the measured object can be measured on the spot without collecting a sample. The average amount of water contained in the product can be measured non-destructively.

It is a side view of the moisture content measuring apparatus according to one Example of this invention. It is a perspective view of the moisture content measuring apparatus according to another embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the moisture content measuring apparatus according to still another Example of this invention.

A portable moisture content measuring device as one embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the water content measuring device 10 is a portable device having a hairbrush type that non-destructively measures the average water content of hair such as hair and animals and similar fiber bundles (hereinafter referred to as hair and the like). Is. The main body portion 1 includes a grip portion 1a as a handle and a brush portion 1b in which a plurality of comb tooth portions 2 are planted. Further, the main body unit 1 includes a transmission unit 3, a reception unit 4, and a calculation unit 5 inside thereof, and also includes a power supply unit (not shown) for operating these units. Further, a display unit 6 is provided on the surface of the main body unit 1 and is connected to the calculation unit 5 so that the calculated water content can be displayed.

The transmission unit 3 can emit an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined frequency as a transmission wave. Further, the receiving unit 4 includes a part of the comb tooth portion 2 as the receiving electrode 4a, and can receive the electromagnetic wave generated by the transmitted wave as the received wave. That is, the receiving electrode 4a is a part of the receiving portion 4 and also a part of the comb tooth portion 2.

Further, the calculation unit 5 is connected to each of the transmission unit 3 and the reception unit 4, and measures the amplitude difference and the phase difference between the transmission wave emitted from the transmission unit 3 and the reception wave received by the reception unit 4. , The amount of water contained in the hair or the like, which is the object to be measured, can be calculated from the change. That is, as for the mutual positional relationship between the transmitting unit 3 and the receiving unit 4, at least the receiving unit 4 is arranged inside the electromagnetic field formed by the transmitted wave from the transmitting unit 3. The details of the method for calculating the water content will be described later.

Next, a method of using the water content measuring device 10 will be described.

The water content measuring device 10 is used, for example, to grip the grip portion 1a and comb the hair. That is, the main body portion 1 is moved around the hair or the like, and the comb tooth portion 2, particularly the receiving electrode 4a thereof, is moved along the inside of the fibers such as the hair or the surface of the hair or the like. At this time, it may be a repetitive motion of repeatedly moving in one direction along the direction in which the fibers are stretched, such as a motion of combing hair, or a reciprocating motion of reciprocating without separating from the surface of the hair or the like. That is, the receiving electrode 4a is repeatedly moved along the inside or the surface of the hair or the like to be measured.

At this time, the transmission unit 3 emits a transmission wave, which is an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined frequency, so as to form an electromagnetic field around the water content measuring device 10, particularly around the receiving electrode 4a. As the transmitted wave, for example, the frequency may be set to a predetermined value between ^{105 and 10 12 [} Hz]. With such a frequency, an electromagnetic wave having low directivity can be used as a transmission wave, and the transmission unit 3 and the reception unit 4 and the reception electrode 4a can be freely arranged with each other, which is preferable.

The electromagnetic field formed by the transmitted wave is reflected or transmitted by a part of the object to be measured, such as hair, which moves inside the electromagnetic field, and changes, so that a received wave having an amplitude difference and a phase difference from the transmitted wave can be obtained. Further, by causing the receiving unit 4 (reception electrode 4a) to reciprocate or repeatedly move as described above, the amplitude difference and the phase difference change. This is because the electromagnetic field due to the transmitted wave is changed by changing the volume filling factor of the object to be measured with respect to air around the receiving electrode 4a.

At this time, it is known that the ratio of the above-mentioned amplitude difference and phase difference becomes constant if the amount of water is specific in a specific object to be measured. That is, when the amplitude difference and the phase difference are plotted on the graph with the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, respectively, the changes in the amplitude difference and the phase difference are on a straight line. Furthermore, the slope of this straight line is proportional to the water content of the object to be measured. Therefore, if a calibration curve showing the proportional relationship between the above-mentioned slope and the water content is obtained in advance using an object with a known water content, the calibration curve is based on the slope obtained from the change in the amplitude difference and the phase difference. The amount of water can be calculated through. The obtained water content is the average water content obtained by smoothing out the local bias inside the object to be measured. This calculation method is described in detail in Patent Document 3 described above, and further description thereof will be omitted here.

As described above, according to the water content measuring device 10, the water content of hair and the like can be measured non-destructively while being portable. That is, for example, in the case of hair, the average water content can be measured on the spot simply by combing with the comb tooth portion 2 of the water content measuring device 10. Similar measurements can be made even with other objects to be measured by performing reciprocating movements or repeated movements, such as moving them in contact with each other or in close proximity to each other so as to stroke the surface.

Since it is only necessary for the receiving unit 4 to measure the change in the electromagnetic wave due to the change in the volume filling rate of the object to be measured, the mutual arrangement of the transmitting unit 3 and the receiving unit 4 is not limited to the above. Further, as the object to be measured, hair and the like are mentioned as an example, but the subject is not limited to this. It will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 together with other embodiments of the water content measuring device.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the receiving unit 4 may have a flat plate shape, and the water content measuring device 11 may have the receiving electrode 4a arranged inside the receiving unit 4. Even in this case, the volume filling factor of the object to be measured can be changed around the receiving unit 4 including the receiving electrode 4a with respect to the electromagnetic field generated by the transmitted wave from the transmitting unit 3 inside the main body unit 1. The transmitting unit 3 and the receiving unit 4 may be arranged with each other. In the case of the water content measuring device 11 provided with such a flat plate-shaped receiving unit 4, for example, a tree or the like having a relatively large surface is reciprocated or repeatedly moved along the surface to measure the water content. Suitable for In addition, it can be applied to agricultural products such as grass and fruits and livestock products.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the water content measuring device 12 may have a rod-shaped receiving unit 4 (receiving electrode 4a). Similar to the water content measuring devices 10 and 11, the transmission unit 3 and the calculation unit 5 are provided inside the main body 1, and the display unit 6 is provided on the surface of the main body 1. In this case, for example, it is suitable for measuring the average water content of aggregates such as rice and other granules and powders, as well as aggregates such as cement, gravel and sand. For example, the receiving unit 4 is assembled by inserting the receiving unit 4 into the inside of the aggregate to be measured (between the grains) and causing the main body unit 1 to reciprocate or repeatedly move along the surface of the aggregate. Move inside the body. Thereby, the average water content of the object to be measured can be measured in the same manner as described above.

As described above, according to the moisture content measuring devices 10 to 12, hair and animal hair, similar fiber bundles, agricultural and livestock products such as grass, trees and fruits, and aggregates such as cement, gravel and sand are targeted. In addition, the average water content can be easily measured in real time on the spot without destructive and without sampling. As described above, the receiving unit is at least inside the electromagnetic field formed by the transmitted wave from the transmitting unit 3 so that the change in the electromagnetic wave due to the change in the volume filling factor around the receiving unit 4 of the object to be measured can be measured. 4 is arranged. On top of that, the mutual arrangement of the transmitting unit 3 and the receiving unit 4 can be freely set. Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned water content measuring devices 10 to 12, the arrangement and shape of the transmitting unit 3 and the receiving unit 4 can be changed according to the object to be measured.

The receiving unit 4 may be flexible and may be deformable along the shape of the object to be measured. In this case, regardless of the shape of the object to be measured, the reciprocating motion and the repetitive motion required for measuring the average water content can be easily performed, and the object to be measured can be moved closer to the receiving unit 4 and the receiving electrode 4a. .. Therefore, it is easy to give a large change to the received wave to the receiving unit 4, and the accuracy of measurement can be improved. It is preferable that such deformation of the receiving unit 4 be suppressed within a range in which the electromagnetic field formed by the transmitted wave does not change significantly.

Although the examples according to the present invention and the modifications based on the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and those skilled in the art deviate from the gist of the present invention or the scope of the attached claims. Without doing so, various alternative and modified examples could be found.

1 Main unit 3 Transmitter 4 Receiver 5 Calculation unit 10, 11, 12 Moisture content measuring device

Claims (4)

It is a portable moisture content measuring device that non-destructively measures the moisture content of the object to be measured.
A transmission unit that emits an electromagnetic wave of a predetermined frequency as a transmission wave, a reception unit that receives the electromagnetic wave emitted from the transmission unit and reflected or transmitted by a part of the object to be measured as a reception wave, and the transmission wave and the reception. The main body includes a calculation unit that calculates the water content from changes in amplitude difference and phase difference between waves.
The transmitting unit is provided to the main body unit so that the receiving unit can be arranged inside the electromagnetic field to be formed.
The receiving unit is provided to the main body so that when the main body is reciprocated or repeatedly moved inside or around the object to be measured, the main body can be moved along the inside or the surface of the object to be measured. Receive the received wave while moving
The calculation unit is a portable moisture content measuring device, characterized in that the moisture content is calculated from the change during the reciprocating motion or the repeating motion . The portable moisture content measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the receiving unit is flexible and can be deformed along the shape of the object to be measured. The portable moisture content measuring device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the object to be measured is hair, and the receiving portion is provided on a comb tooth portion provided on the main body portion. The portable moisture content measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the predetermined frequency is between frequencies 10 ⁵ to 10 ¹² [Hz].

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