ISHS Acta Horticulturae 421: II International Symposium On Sensors in Horticulture
A FIRMNESS SENSOR FOR QUALITY ESTIMATION OF INDIVIDUAL FRUITS |
| Authors: | E. Moltó, E. Selfa, R. Pons, I. Fornes, F. Juste |
| Abstract:
Traditional methods for firmness measurement are based either in destructive tests, either in tests which can produce some damage to the fruit. For this reason, they are used as estimators of the firmness of fruit consignments. Non destructive methods can measure individual firmness of every fruit and can be implemented in automatic sorting machines in packinghouses. The objective of this work is to develop an impact sensor able to evaluate fruit firmness in real time and relate its measurements with the quality of particular fruits. We also evaluate its aptitude to determine the variation of firmness with conservation time. Results are compared with compression tests with a Universal Testing Machine. The sensor demonstrated to be able to discriminate between "puffed-non puffed" mandarins for commercial purposes. In the rest of the varieties studied, the developed sensor outperformed compression and destructive tests in the sense of better relating its measurements with sugar contents, with firmness estimation by experts or with the decay of fruits. | |
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