Optical Tomography: The potential of mass flow rate in rice industry

Published Date
5 July 2015, Vol.213:508–514, doi:10.1016/j.snb.2015.02.078

Title 
Optical Tomography: The potential of mass flow rate in rice industry

• Author 

• Siti Zarina Mohd. Muji ^a,,,
• Ruzairi Abdul Rahim ^b,
• Mohd Fadzli Abdul Shaib ^a,
• Naizatul Shima Mohd Fadzil ^b,
• Mohd Hafiz Fazalul Rahiman ^c,
• Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin ^d,

• aEmbedded Computing System (EmbCoS) Research Group, Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
• bDepartment of Control and Instrumentation Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
• cTomography Imaging and Instrumentation Research Group, School of Mechatronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pauh Putra Campus, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia
• dResearch Centre for Applied Electromagnetic, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Received 10 November 2014. Revised 16 February 2015. Accepted 16 February 2015. Available online 6 March 2015.

Highlights

• •
  This paper has a potential to solve the problem of online weighing in rice industry.
• •
  This paper using a new polynomial equation to calculate the mass flow rate.
• •
  The polynomial equation improves the previous technique that using a linear equation.

Abstract

The capability of Optical Tomography (OT) to visualize pipe flow is undeniably beneficial and of utmost importance to solid gas industry. The other striking feature of OT is its ability to measure and analyze real-time mass flow rate (MFR), which enables online monitoring of material weight. This paper addresses the problem posed by online weighing system in rice industry. The current system slows down the overall industrial production by impeding the device operation, and is therefore becoming obsolete. To overcome this drawback, we confirmed that OT has great potential in online weighing process using a polynomial equation. In addition, MFR measurement can gauge weight loss of rice during the enhancement process. Encouragingly, the application of novel MFR technique to accurately monitor weight loss of rice has proven to outperform the existing system in rice industry.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

• Optical Tomography
• Mass flow rate
• Rice industry
• Direct technique
• Polynomial equation

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Vitae

S.Z.M. Muji received her M.Sc. degree in Electric and Electronic Engineering from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2004 and his PhD degree in Electronic Instrumentation at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2012. She is currently a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Electric and Electronic Engineering at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, focusing on Optical Tomography and application

R.A. Rahim received B.Eng. degree with Honours in Electronic System and Control Engineering in 1992 from Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK. He received his PhD in Instrumentation & Electronics Engineering from Sheffield Hallam University, UK in 1996.At present he is a Professor and a Director of Research Management Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His current research interests are process tomography and sensor technology.

Mohd Fadzli Abdul Shaib obtained his Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from UNITEN. He is currently a Master student at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

N.S.M. Fadzil received her Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical-Electronics in 2007 at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). She is currently a PhD student at the same university under Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

Mohd Hafiz Fazalul Rahiman received B.Eng. (Hons) degree in electrical (control and instrumentation), M.Eng. and PhD degree in electrical engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor, Malaysia, in 2003, 2005, and 2013 respectively. In 2006, he joined Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Perlis, Malaysia, as a teaching staff member and at present he holds senior lecturer position. His research interests include process tomography, sensors and instrumentations.

Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1978. She received the B.Eng. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia, in 2001, the M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn, Malaysia, in 2003, and Ph.D. degree from the School of Engineering, Design and Technology, Bradford University, West Yorkshire, U.K in 2011. She is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia since 2004. She has authored or coauthored several refereed journal articles and international conference papers. Her current research interests include MIMO antenna design, electromagnetic bandgap (EBG), defected ground structures (DGS), and neutralizations techniques for wireless and mobile systems.

• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 137086963.

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