MULTIPURPOSE MOISTURE CONTENT DETECTOR

This report explains on the designation of multipurpose moisture content detector.
The objective of this project and research is to design and implement a device that
can determine moisture content of substances. The detector is designed to measure a
minimum range of 5 to 30 percent of moisture content in substances by utilizing a
correlation with the electric resistivity of the sample. A pair of probes is used to
measure the voltage difference in the sample and then the value is converted into
percentage of moisture content by a microcontroller, PIC16F877. The output of the
conversion circuit is indicated by a LCD display. The detector was able to measure
the moisture content of two substances; soil and paddy. However the value measured
by the detector is unstable and inconsistent. The main reasons are because the effect
of electrolysis, distribution of moisture and physical and electrical properties of
samples. As the recommendations, the direct current (DC) supply of the detector
should be replaced with alternate current (AC) supply and the properties parameters
should be held as constant values.