biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

Available at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/15375110

Research Paper: PAdPrecision Agriculture

Capacitive throughput sensor for sugar beets and potatoes

Frantisek Kumhala*, Vaclav Prosek, Jir Blahovec
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Engineering, Kamycka 129, 165 21 Prague 6 Suchdol, Czech Republic

article info
Yield monitoring whilst harvesting, in combination with a positioning system, is a fundaArticle history:

mental source of information for generating field yield maps. In this research, a capacitive

Received 9 July 2008

throughput sensor for potatoes and sugar beets has been tested. The principle of the sensor

Received in revised form

is based on the fact that the dielectric constant of an air/material mixture between two

29 September 2008

parallel plates increases with material volume concentration. A theoretical model for

Accepted 6 October 2008

a capacitive throughput sensor has been developed; the model incorporates all the most

Available online 18 November 2008

important physical parameters that influence material throughput measurement. Two

basic relationships between the sensor electrical capacity and material throughput were
derived from the proposed model, a hyperbolic relationship and a linear relationship. The
method of presenting the measured material to the sensor was the most important factor
in explaining sensor behaviour. The theoretical considerations were confirmed by dynamic
laboratory experiments using potatoes and sugar beets.
2008 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Precision agriculture is focused on improving management to

increase profitability. To achieve this goal a large amount of
data is required. Spatial and temporal cropping patterns are
often expressed via yield maps (Hennens et al., 2003; Persson
et al., 2004) and yield monitoring is an essential tool for this
purpose. That is why a variety of yield monitoring techniques
have been studied over the past decade (Persson et al., 2004).
For non-combinable products, such as potatoes and sugar
beet, only few yield measurement systems are available
(Ehlert and Algerbo, 2000). The irregular flow, the high mass
yields and the wide range of harvesting conditions cause
serious problems (Hennens et al., 2003). Nevertheless, some
principles of yield sensors for potato and sugar beet have been
tested and are reported in the literature.

1.1.

Other techniques

DeHaan et al. (1999) used a bulk yield monitor for potato yield
mapping. They reported that after calibration the bulk

recorded weighs had been within 5% of actual weights. Ehlert

and Algerbo (2000) gave a short overview of possible potato
throughput measurement principles. They reported that
radiometric measurements, weighing cells in the continuous
conveyor belt, optical measurements with photo evaluation,
and deflection plate measurements were all known
techniques.
Gonigeni et al. (2002) developed an image-based system for
sweet potato yield and grade monitoring. However, when
sweet potatoes moved on the harvester conveyor belt, the
weight estimations correlated with the actual weights rather
poorly (R2 0.91, where R2 is the coefficient of determination).
Hofstee and Molena (2002) tested a machine vision based yield
mapping system of potatoes and recently, (Hofstee and
Molena, 2003) they used a similar system for estimation of
volume with potatoes partly covered with a soil residue. They
concluded that there were good prospects for their system
using 2-dimensional information; however, they reported that
further research into this method was necessary. Persson
et al. (2004) developed an optical sensor for tuber yield
monitoring. Under field conditions authors measured the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kumhala@tf.czu.cz (F. Kumhala).
1537-5110/$ see front matter 2008 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.10.002

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

Nomenclature
a
a1

capacitive throughput sensor plate length, m

width of material layer in capacitive throughput
sensor, m
b
capacitive throughput sensor plate width, m
c
distance between capacitive throughput sensor
plates, m
thickness of material layer in capacitive
c1
throughput sensor, m
y
measured output voltage, V
A1, B1, D1 constant parameters of the sensor in layer filling
(LF) regime

linear relationship of yield monitor data in relation to the

measured weight with R2 0.95.
Sugar beet yield sensors have also been studied. Weightsensing systems have been studied in several applications
(Isensee and Lieder, 2001; Schwenke et al., 2002; Walter and
Backer, 2003; Hall et al., 2003). The main disadvantage of all
systems is that they are sensitive to contaminants such as
mud, plant rests, small stones etc. For that reason, Schmittmann and Kromer (2002) tried to measure the mass flow of
clean beet. They based their method on online counting of
beets and calculating specific yield by multiplying the number
of beets the average mass of single beets. They reported that
in field tests the system worked successfully, but only under
optimised conditions.
Hennens et al. (2003) developed a mass flow sensor for
sugar beet harvesters based on the use of a curved impact
plate to measure momentum. The sensor was designed in
accordance with a mathematical model of beet flow and was
installed in the beet harvester cleaning unit. Using only
momentum to predict mass flow, errors up to 20% were
discovered. However, this error rate was reduced to 3% when
material velocity-corrected momentum was used.
Konstantinovic et al. (2007) evaluated an ultra wideband
radar system for sugar beet yield mapping. They tried to
distinguish sugar beet and its dimensions from the
surrounding agricultural soil. Sugar beet detection and mass
determination potentials under field conditions were evaluated. The simple threshold detection approach to the reflected
energy showed insufficiently accurate results and further
research into this method is necessary.
Several other systems and methodologies have also been
developed for other non-combinable crops which may be
suitable for potato and sugar beet as well, e.g. measurement of
mass accumulation rate (Godwin and Wheeler, 1997; Saldana
et al., 2006), but in this paper we concentrate on the use of
capacitance.

1.2.

Capacitive techniques

Capacitance sensor techniques can be used for the determining different properties of a range of plant materials. The
function of capacitance sensors depends on the fact that the
dielectric constant of an air/material mixture between two

37

A2, B2

constant parameters of the sensor in filling by

single particle (FSP) regime
C, C1, C2, C3 capacity, F
Q
measured material throughput, kg s1
2
R
coefficient of determination
v
measured material velocity, m s1
30
permittivity of vacuum, 8.85 1012 F m1
3r
relative permittivity of the material
relative permittivity of air (will be calculated that
3r(air)
3r(air) 1)
r
measured material volume density, kg m3

parallel plates increases with material volume concentration

increasing.
Capacitance sensors have been widely used for plant
material moisture content determination (Lawrence et al.,
2001). Eubanks and Birrell (2001) determined the moisture
content of hay and forages by using multiple frequency
parallel plate capacitors. They found that the amount of
material in the sensor did not affect the moisture content
prediction for the materials tested. However, the moisture
sensor developed was specific for each crop measured and
therefore had to be calibrated for each individual crop.
Osman et al. (2002) built a parallel plate capacitor with
variable spacing for hay and forage moisture measurement.
Their results indicated that the sensor could not directly
estimate the moisture content. However, a good correlation
was observed between the output of the sensor and the
amount of water within the volume of the capacitor. The
frequency drop and the amount of water correlated more
closely at low moisture content than at high moisture content.
Snell et al. (2002) used a radio-frequency application device for
sensing dry matter content of various agricultural products.
They found that the density of material had a significant
influence on the precision of the estimate. Using a mass and
density independent measuring system, they found that
water mass could be estimated much more precisely than dry
matter content.
According to many authors (e.g. Kim et al., 2003; Nelson,
2005; Wild and Haedicke, 2005; Jones et al., 2006) the dielectric
properties of many materials depend on frequency, moisture
content, volume density, temperature, chemical composition,
and permanent dipole moment association with water and
other constituent molecules.
Stafford et al. (1996) used a capacitive sensor to determine
grain mass flow. They reported that the disadvantages of
capacitive sensor for that purpose were that the sensor
responded to variation in grain moisture content and was
sensitive to material distribution within the sensing volume.
According to their research, the effect of moisture content can
be compensated by measuring capacitance at two widely
spaced frequencies. One section of the sensor ran at 10 kHz
and the other at 2 MHz.
Martel and Savoie (1999) used a capacitance controlled
oscillator placed at the discharge end the forage harvester
spout to measure changes induced by forage particles. This

38

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

equipment showed a linear drop in the frequency of the

oscillator as the wet mass flow increased. Recently, Savoie
et al. (2002) used a similar capacitance controlled oscillator for
their measurement. The frequency drop of the capacitance
controlled oscillator correlated poorly with mass flow rate but
correlated better with water flow rate.
Williams et al. (2000) used electrical capacitance tomography for particular solids flow rate measurement on
a conveyor belt. This sophisticated method can be used to
measure an image of the dielectric constant directly in a cross
section of conveyor belt with transported solids and showed
potential for online feed rate measurement.
In an earlier paper (Kumhala et al., 2007) we designed
a parallel plate capacitance sensor suitable for determining
forage throughput. The sensor was operating at 27 MHz
frequency. The results revealed a close linear relationship
between the feed rates of wet forage crop material passing
through the sensor. Small differences in material moisture
content did not influence the results. However, an improvement in the electronic circuit connection and further investigations were recommended.
It is clear from the above literature review, that yield
mapping systems for potatoes and sugar beet are known but
not commonly used. There still produce relatively high errors
under field conditions and in some cases the measurement
devices (radiometric measurement, machine vision systems)
as well as the principle of sensor function (machine vision,
electrical capacitance tomography) are not simple and require
further development. However, the advantages of capacitive
sensor are its relative simplicity, its possible suitability for the
often difficult operating conditions found on agricultural
machines, and its low cost.
It can be concluded from previous research that to use
a capacitive sensor, the material moisture content and
volume density, as well as the frequency of measuring device,
surrounding temperature, and the distribution of measured
material between capacitor plates all have to be taken into
account. Also, the potato and sugar beet throughput
measurements need to be conducted under the same conditions at a constant field frequency.
Although the shape of potato tubers and beets is also
relatively simple, the filling of any capacitive sensor is critical.
Therefore, the aim of our research was to clarify the influence
of various material filling strategies on throughput sensor
capacity.

2.

Theoretical considerations

It is possible to calculate the capacity of a simple parallel

rectangular plate capacitor C using:
C

30 3r ab
c

(1)

where 30 is vacuum permittivity 3r is relative permittivity of

the material a is capacitor plate length b is capacitor plate
width and c is distance between capacitor plates. Eq. (1)
expresses the capacity of the capacitor only when that the
dielectric material fills the space between plates uniformly
and distance c is much less than a and b. Bearing in mind

Fig. 1 Material distribution in capacitive throughput

sensor in the case of LF; (a) initial material throughput
layer; (b) substituted model; (c) LF realised using potatoes
(Q [ 12.6 kg sL1); a capacitive throughput sensor plate
length; b capacitive throughput sensor plate width; c
distance between capacitive throughput sensor plates; c1
thickness of material layer in capacitive throughput
sensor; C1, C2 capacity of substituted capacitors; Q direction
of measured material throughput.

the filling of the real capacitive sensor with some dielectric

material, two important separate cases have to be
considered.
I. Layer filling (LF). This case is characteristised by using the
whole plate area for transporting the material through
the sensor (Fig. 1) and the differences in throughput is
realised by increasing thickness c1 of the analysed
material. This regime of sensor operation is typical for
materials formed by small particles when the sensor is
used for higher throughput values.
II. Filling by simple particles (FSP) In this case the plate area
for transport is covered partially (Fig. 2) and the
throughput differences are solved only by the degree of
the plate covering that is expressed by a length a1 in
Fig. 2. This case describes lower throughput regimes
and/or regimes working with particles with dimensions
nearly comparable with the plates distance c.
In working conditions both cases (LF and FSP) can be
combined. Nevertheless if the average diameter of measured
material particle is relatively small compared to the capacitor
plates distance the resulting capacity tends to be described as
LF depending on material throughput and conversely, when
the average particle dimension approaches the distance c the
resulting capacity tends to depend on throughput as FSP. This
means that every plot of C versus Q starts at low throughputs

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

39

In that case it is possible to calculate the material

throughput Q from
Q c1 avr

(5)

where v is the speed of the measured material through the

capacitor and r is the volume density of the measured material. The measured material layer thickness c1 can be
expressed from Eq. (5) and substituted in Eqs. (2) and (3)
(Appendix). The resultant formula, which expresses the relation between capacitive throughput sensor capacity C and
measured material throughput Q is given as
C

Fig. 2 Material distribution in capacitive throughput

sensor in the case of FSP; (a) initial material throughput
layer; (b) substituted model; (c) FSP realised using sugar
beet (Q [ 12.7 kg sL1); a capacitive throughput sensor plate
length; a1 width of material layer in capacitive throughput
sensor; b capacitive throughput sensor plate width; c
distance between capacitive throughput sensor plates; c1
thickness of material layer in capacitive throughput
sensor; C1, C2, C3 capacity of substituted capacitors; Q
direction of measured material throughput.

30 3rair 3r a2 bvr
A1

Q 3rair  3r 3r abcvr B1 D1 Q

where A1, B1, and D1 are constant sensor parameters (given by

sensor dimensions and band velocity) and the evaluated
material (density and permittivity). The parameter D1 is
negative in all cases since the relative permittivity is higher
than air relative permittivity z 1. Eq. (6) describing the relationship between the sensor capacity C and the throughput
value Q is then described as an equation of the shifted
hyperbola as plotted for different densities in Fig. 3.
The behaviour of FSP is shown in Fig. 2 where the thickness
of material layer c1 is assumed to be constant and the material
throughput then increases by the function of a1 only. In that
case it is possible to substitute the sensor with three capacitors (Fig. 2). The capacity C1 comes from the equation
C1

C1

30 3r ab
c1

(2)

and the capacity of the second capacitor C2 using

C2

30 3rair ab
c  c1

(3)

where c1 in m is the measured material layer thickness, which

is the only variable in that case, 3r(air) is relative permittivity of
air and with some simplification it can be calculated with
3r(air) 1. The resultant capacity is then
1
1
1
C1 C2
0C

C1 C2
C C1 C2

(4)

30 3r a1 b
c1

(7)

capacity C2 is
C2

as FSP and changes to LF at high throughputs when this is

allowed by the sensor construction parameters and the
dimensions of the product.
Here, we will try to incorporate the different regimes of the
capacitive sensor filling into a simple model in which the level
of filling is described by geometrical dimensions (c1 for LF see
Fig. 1, and a1 for FSP see Fig. 2) assuming homogeneous (i.e.
constant density and permittivity) rectangular material
objects inside the capacitive sensor. Simple calculations based
on the capacitive sensors theory gave the following results:
The regime LF is described in Fig. 1. The sensor can be
substituted by two capacitors (as it is clear from Fig. 1). The
capacity of the first capacitor C1 can be calculated according to

(6)

30 3rair a1 b
c  c1

(8)

and capacity C3 is
C3

30 3rair a  a1 b
c

(9)

where a1 is the material layer width in the capacitor and is the

only variable.
The resultant capacity C of the substituted capacitive
throughput sensor model is in that case
C

C1 C2
C3
C1 C2

(10)

The material layer width a1 in that case can be expressed

from the formula for material throughput Q (see also Eq. (5)):
Q c1 a1 v r

(11)

After substitution of a1 in Eqs. (7), (8) and (9) (See Appendix)

we obtain the following expression for the capacitive
throughput sensor model capacity C


Q30 b 3r  3rair
30 3rair ab

A2 B 2 Q

(12)
C
c
cvr 3r c  3r c1 3rair c1
where A2, and B2 are constant sensor parameters (given by
sensor dimensions and band velocity) and the evaluated
material (density and permittivity). Eq. (12) shows that both
parameters A2 and B2 are positive and the result represents an
increasing linear dependence of the sensor capacity and the
sensor throughput. The results of the calculated plots for
different product densities are given in Fig. 4.

40

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

Fig. 3 Calculated capacities for capacitive throughput

sensor in the case of LF for the materials with different
material volume density r. Sensor dimensions: a [ 0.49 m,
b [ 0.26 m, c [ 0.18 m. Material throughput velocity
v [ 1 m sL1, material relative permittivity 3r [ 40,
permittivity of vacuum 30 [ 8.85 pF mL1.

3.

Materials and methods

The parallel plate capacitance sensor described by Kumhala

et al. (2007), and used for forage throughput measurement,
was modified and used for potato and sugar beet throughput
measurement purposes. The parallel plate capacitance sensor
consisted of two metal sheets 2 mm thick and with dimensions 830 mm in length and 260 mm in width. The distance
between the plates was 180 mm. This distance was the main
modification of capacitance sensor design in comparison with
the one used for forages (for forages the distance between the
plates was 300 mm). The metal sheet interiors were insulated
with two plastic sheets 1 mm thick with the same dimensions.
The sides of the capacitance sensor were made from 10 mm
thick acrylic glass. The capacitive throughput sensor and the
whole oscillating circuit were operated at 27 MHz. This
frequency was chosen based on our previous experience with
capacitive measurements with the aim to minimize the
influence of surrounding effects. It will be discussed in
detail later.

Fig. 4 Calculated capacities for capacitive throughput

sensor in the case of FSP for the materials with different
material volume density r. Sensor dimensions: a [ 0.49 m,
b [ 0.26 m, c [ 0.18 m. Material throughput velocity
v [ 1 m sL1, material relative permittivity 3r [ 40,
permittivity of vacuum 30 [ 8.85 pF mL1.

The capacitor was fed by an oscillator via a resistor or by

another capacitor with the same reactance. The resistor
together with the capacitive sensor acted as a voltage
divider and thus the output voltage of the divider depended
on the sensor electrical capacity and the permittivity
between the sensor plates. The AC output voltage of the
divider was then rectified in an AC/DC rectifying module
and amplified with an amplifier. Then, the rectified voltage
was converted into frequency by an electronic measuring
apparatus developed in our laboratory (Kumhala and Prosek,
2003). The output frequency was directly proportional to the
measured voltage. Thus, by connection to our electronic
circuit the resulting measured output voltage was directly
proportional to the measured electrical capacity of the
throughput sensor.
The laboratory set-up consisted of a conveyer belt
carrying a measured quantity of material through a capacitance sensor equipped with electronic measurement apparatus. For the purpose of measurement, the capacitance
sensor was mounted on the conveyer with an elastic belt.
The total transport length of the conveyer belt was 5.1 m,
transport width was 490 mm and its velocity v was 1 m s1.
The capacitance sensor was mounted on the conveyer by
inserting the bottom metal sheet of the capacitor under an
elastic belt, the centre of which was in the centre of the
metal sheet. The capacitor was placed towards the end of
the conveyor. The distance from the start of the conveyor
belt was 4.05 m. The arrangement of the measuring device is
shown in Fig. 5.
Potatoes and sugar beet were used to determine the relationship between the output voltage of the capacitance
measuring device and the material throughput through the
sensor. Lenka variety potatoes from the 2007 harvest were
measured. Potatoes were harvested from our University
experimental field by a two row tractor pulling a Fortschritt E
686 potato harvester. The same material was used on both
measurement days. Potatoes were not sorted after harvest but
were relatively clean; the amount of dirt was less than 2%. The
average diameter of tubers was about 35 mm.
Potato measurements took place over two days, November
9th and 12th 2007. Material moisture content was determined
by modified ASABE Standard, 2006 S358.2 (oven drying at

Fig. 5 The arrangement of laboratory set-up for potato

and sugar beet throughput measurement with capacitive
sensor.

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

41

wooden blocks was very regular in comparison with potatoes

and sugar beet. The blocks were placed between the capacitor
plates in layers (LF) and then in columns (FSP). Thus, seven
values for LF and FSP were obtained.

4.

Fig. 6 Dependence of measured capacitive sensor output

voltage on potatoes throughput. Below to 4 kg sL1 linear,
FSP, equation of fitted model: y [ 0.0123 D 0.0314 Q;
(R2 [ 0.95) and y [ 0.0016 D 0.312 Q; (R2 [ 0.98),
respectively. More than 5 kg sL1 nonlinear, LF, equation of
fitted model: y[6:6389=28:6221L1:0788Q; (R2 [ 0.96) and
y[3:4018=16:3L0:6618Q; (R2 [ 0.97), respectively.

103  C up to constant weigh of the dry sample, wet basis).

Potato moisture content was determined as 81.6% on the first
day and 80.8% on the second day of measuring.
Arosa variety sugar beets from 2007 harvest were
measured using the same measurement device. Sugar beet
was harvested manually from our University experimental
field. Beets were not sorted and were relatively clean (up to 3%
of dirt). The average diameter of beets was about 140 mm.
Measurements also took place over two days, October 19th
and November 2nd, 2007 using the same material. Sugar beet
moisture content was found to be 75.2% on the first day and
77% on the second day.
The signals from the capacitance measuring device were
measured every 0.5 s, so 8 voltage values were obtained during
each test run. Measurements started with material
throughput at 1.3 kg s1 for potatoes and 2.9 kg s1 for sugar
beet. The test run with the same defined amount of material
was then repeated at least three times. For the following
measurements the amount of material transported was
increased by increments of approximately 1.3 kg s1 up to
20 kg s1 for potato measurements or increments of approximately 3 kg s1 up to 26 kg s1 for the sugar beet
measurements.
In order to examine the changes that occurred one single
test run a logging time interval 0.5 s was used. Eight values
from each test run were obtained and each of those eight
values was an average of 0.5 s log interval. Those values
were then averaged to obtain the final result for a particular
feed rate value. The calculated data was used for further
statistical processing and charting using MS Excel (linear
approximation) and Statgraphics Plus for Windows
(nonlinear approximation). The Marquardt method of
nonlinear regression from Statgraphics Plus advanced
regressions menu was applied.
In order to determine the influence of particle shape on the
results obtained, stationary experiments were carried out
using wooden blocks. 36 wooden blocks made of pine-wood
with the dimensions 260 mm in length, 80 mm in width and
20 mm in height were fed through the sensor. The shape of

Results and discussion

The measurement results are shown graphically in Figs. 6

and 7. The results obtained corresponded with the theoretical predictions given by our simple sensor model. In the
case of potato measurements with the LF mode of filling
(Fig. 1) a nonlinear dependence was obtained at throughputs
greater than approximately 5 kg s1. This was followed
closely by the shifted hyperbolic trend described in Fig. 3
with empirical constants A1, B1, and D1 and coefficients of
determination 0.96 and 0.97. In case of sugar beet the plots
obtained of y (directly proportional to sensor capacity C )
versus Q were linear with a coefficient determination of 0.98.
This is in agreement with the results of the theoretical
model for FSP filling as shown in Fig. 2 and the predicted
plots in Fig. 4.
Very similar results were obtained with the wooden blocks.
Values obtained showed similar trends as predicted by the
described simple sensor model and as measured with potatoes (LF) and sugar beets (FSP). In order to simplify the
comparison with other values, all measured voltage values
were recalculated to capacity. The graphical comparison of
results obtained from the theoretical calculation, stationary
experiments with wood, and dynamic experiments with sugar
beets and potatoes is shown in Fig. 8.
The detailed analysis of the results obtained experimentally for potato testing at low level throughput showed that
there was some indication of the FSP filling since the plot of
the measured output voltage y versus throughput at less than
4 kg s1 was approximately linear as shown in Fig. 6. This is
a further indication of the validity of the simple sensor model
given in Section 2.
Another important aspect derived from our simple sensor
model, is that the influence of small differences in material
moisture content on the material throughput measurement
are not significant. This can be derived from the fact that the

Fig. 7 Dependence of measured capacitive sensor output

voltage on sugar beet throughput. Equation of linear fitted
models FSP: y [ 0.0843 D 0.0604 Q; blue line, R2 [ 0.98, and
y [ 0.0279 D 0.0633 Q; red line, R2 [ 0.98, respectively.

42

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

Fig. 8 Comparison of calculated (a) and measured capacities for FSP and LF for wooden blocks (b) and sugar beets and
potatoes (c). Sensor dimensions: a [ 0.49 m, b [ 0.26 m, c [ 0.18 m, material throughput velocity v [ 1 m sL1 in all cases.
Tentative values for calculation: material relative permittivity 3r [ 40, air relative permittivity 3r(air) [ 1, material volume
density r [ 600 kg mL3. Permittivity of vacuum 30 [ 8.85 pF mL1. Wooden blocks dimensions: length 260 mm, width
80 mm, height 20 mm. Wood material moisture content 33%.

relative permittivity of the materials measured (which mainly

affects resulting capacity and depends on material properties
including moisture content) will, in the majority of cases, be
considerably higher when compared with air (z1). In both
analysed cases (LF and FSP) high capacity capacitors are
combined with small capacity capacitors with the same
dimensions (see Figs. 1 and 2) according to Eq. (4). A capacitor
with small capacity is therefore essential, so it is difficult
using this method to distinguish between differences in
relative permittivity. Stafford et al. (1996) reported that their
capacitive grain throughput sensor was much less sensitive to
material moisture content than they had anticipated. Kumhala et al. (2007) observed similar results with grass
throughput measurement.

Acknowledgements
This project was funded by Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sports of the Czech Republic, Research project number MSM
6046070905.

Appendix
Detailed mathematical derivation
The first capacitor C1 (Eq. (2)) capacity of the LF regime after
substitution of c1 from Eq. (5) gives
C1

5.

Conclusion

The filling of the capacitive throughput sensor plays a very

important role that has to be respected during its calibration.
The variation in material density, permittivity and the particle
shape play a secondary role that can be minimized in the
calibration process. The filling regimes can be divided into two
groups; LF and FSP. They are connected either by sensor
construction or throughput level and differ one from the other
by the character of the capacity versus throughput plot: In this
case the shifted hyperbolic plot with LF and the linear plot
with FSP.

30 3r a2 bvr
Q

(13)

The second capacitor C2 (Eq. (3)) capacity of the LF regime

after substitution of c1 from Eq. (5) is therefore
C2

30 3rair a2 bvr
cavr  Q

(14)

The first capacitor C1 (Eq. (7)) capacity of the FSP regime after
substitution of a1 from Eq. (11) results
C1

30 3r bQ
c21 vr

(15)

The second capacitor C2 (Eq. (8)) capacity of the FSP regime

after substitution of a1 from Eq. (11) is then

biosystems engineering 102 (2009) 3643

C2

30 3rair bQ
c1 vrc  c1

(16)

and the third capacitor C3 (Eq. (9)) capacity of the FSP regime
after substitution of a1 from Eq. (11) results
C3

30 3rair ab 30 3rair bQ

c
cc1 vr

(17)

Thus, the expressions for Eq. (6) and Eq. (12) are derived
from Eq. (4) or Eq. (10) respectively.

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