Rapid Determination of Moisture Content in Cut Tobacco by Microwave Resonant Cavity Perturbation Technique

In order to determine the moisture content in cut tobacco fast and accurately,the calibration models of moisture content in cut tobacco versus microwave detecting parameters,such as output voltage,resonance frequency,output signal bandwidth,and output voltage/signal bandwidth,were developed based on microwave resonant cavity perturbation technique and least squares,and the moisture content in cut tobacco predicted by the models were compared with the values determined by standard oven method.The results showed that the standard deviations of moisture contents predicted by the models of signal bandwidth and output voltage/signal bandwidth were less than 0.3%,which were up to the precision requirement of oven method.The method is suitable for the rapid determination of moisture content in cut tobacco.