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The design, construction and tests of an in situ capacitance moisture sensor and a portable capacitance moisture meter for organic soil and sawdust Kra, Eric Y.
Abstract
A capacitance chamber was constructed to measure the capacitance and hence the moisture content of a sawdust sample placed within it. Five readings of capacitance were taken for each sawdust moisture content level. The readings varied widely for each moisture content level suggesting some conditioning of the sample will be necessary if this type of chamber is used as an accurate alternative to the gravimetric oven method of moisture content determination. A simple in situ capacitance moisture meter was also designed and constructed. The device consisted of a 2.0 x3.0 xO.6 cm sensor and a hand-held digital multimeter with a capacitance range. The sensitivity of this moisture meter was compared to that of a commercially available fibreglass resistance type. In a series of experiments, two sensors (one of the capacitance type and one of the fiberglass resistance type) were installed in a different saturated soil and sawdust samples and the readings of the meters and weights of the samples were recorded at regular intervals. Of the two moisture meters, the capacitance moisture meter was found to be more sensitive to small changes in moisture content. With a few modifications (discussed in Chapter 5) to the sensor design, to improve accuracy, it is possible to monitor small changes in small volumes of organic soil and sawdust with this simple in situ capacitance moisture meter.
Item Metadata
Title |
The design, construction and tests of an in situ capacitance moisture sensor and a portable capacitance moisture meter for organic soil and sawdust
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1992
|
Description |
A capacitance chamber was constructed to measure the capacitance and hence the moisture
content of a sawdust sample placed within it. Five readings of capacitance were taken for each
sawdust moisture content level. The readings varied widely for each moisture content level suggesting
some conditioning of the sample will be necessary if this type of chamber is used as an accurate
alternative to the gravimetric oven method of moisture content determination.
A simple in situ capacitance moisture meter was also designed and constructed. The device
consisted of a 2.0 x3.0 xO.6 cm sensor and a hand-held digital multimeter with a capacitance range.
The sensitivity of this moisture meter was compared to that of a commercially available fibreglass
resistance type. In a series of experiments, two sensors (one of the capacitance type and one of the
fiberglass resistance type) were installed in a different saturated soil and sawdust samples and the
readings of the meters and weights of the samples were recorded at regular intervals. Of the two
moisture meters, the capacitance moisture meter was found to be more sensitive to small changes in
moisture content. With a few modifications (discussed in Chapter 5) to the sensor design, to improve
accuracy, it is possible to monitor small changes in small volumes of organic soil and sawdust with this
simple in situ capacitance moisture meter.
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Extent |
1489374 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-01-05
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0086704
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1992-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.