Why do you need to measure Grain Moisture Content?

The consequences of not measuring grain moisture content can end up costing you a lot more than you think. In fact, the moisture in your grain can play a crucial part in its quality, storage, and sale weight. And as these factors contribute heavily to farmers’ overall bottom line, keeping a tab on its moisture is integral to your operations.

The most accurate method of determining grain moisture content is the standard scale and oven-based test which uses published standardized procedures to dry a sample in a laboratory oven. The moisture content is then calculated using an equation based on the weight lost during the oven drying. Other direct methods use microwaves or infrared technology. While very accurate, these methods are time-consuming and so not practical for farm and field use.

Quick Moisture content measurement by a meter!

Moisture meters are indirect methods – they measure an electrical property of the grain that is then converted to moisture content. Because of their simplicity, they are the tool of choice for farms and fields. Some meters use capacitance technology which requires a fairly large sample and an accurate test weight. Other meters use conductance where the meter measures the electrical resistance of the sample when a current is applied between two electrodes. But the Moisture meter is a portable meter, it cannot provide continuous measurement and data logging.

Real-time measurement of Grain Moisture Content

For measuring the grain moisture content in real-time in Silos or Storage tanks, the practical and cost-effective method is using the Ambient Humidity Sensor. It can be a wireless type or wired output.

The sensor is to measures the ambient relative humidity inside the silo, among the grains, and this ambient humidity has a direct correlation with grain moisture content.

To give the output grain moisture content, the user needs to grab the samples at different conditions and times to measure the grain moisture content by Laboratory.

From those results, they will create a look-up table to help convert the ambient relative humidity to grain moisture content.

Here are some wireless ambient humidity sensors:

1. Sub-GHz wireless humidity sensor: https://www.daviteq.com/en/?prd=_WS433-ATH_wireless-integrated-humidity-sensor 
2. Sigfox wireless humidity sensor: https://www.daviteq.com/en/?prd=_WSSFC-ATH_sigfox-integrated-humidity--temperature-sensor 
3. LoRaWAN wireless humidity sensor: https://www.daviteq.com/en/?prd=_WSLRW-ATH_lorawan-humidity--temperature-sensor 

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