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Accurate Moisture Tester for Various Grains and Seeds that Conforms to the International Standard

Accurate Moisture Tester for Various Grains and Seeds that Conforms to the International Standard

Kett Electric Laboratory Co. Ltd.

Compact Tester That Accurately and Instantaneously Measures the
Moisture Content of Various Grains and Seeds in Accordance with the International Standard

Kett Electric Laboratory provides compact and precise testers to measure the moisture of grains such as rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, coffee beans, and cacao beans, based on international standards.
Moisture tester that enables quality control of grains (prevention of mold formation during storage, prevention of quality deterioration due to over-drying), fair business transactions based on objective numerical values in accordance with the international standard.

We have developed two types of grain moisture testers.
i) Electrical resistance type
Moisture is calculated by the analysis of electrical resistance. The mill equipped with the tester crushes grain for analysis (see Fig. 1).


                                             Fig. 1 Electrical resistance type tester “Riceter fg512”

ii) Capacitance (dielectric constant) type
Moisture is calculated by the analysis of capacitance. Non-destructive measurement (see Fig. 2).


                                                          Fig. 2 Capacitance type tester “PM-650”

【Product video】
Electrical resistance type: Capacitance type:

Major Features and Advantages

  • A large number of applications.
  • High accuracy against the international standard method used in a laboratory (within 0.5% standard error when moisture content is 20% or less) (Standard method: Loss on drying method that is commonly used to determine the moisture content by calculating from the initial weight of a sample and final weight of dried sample in a drying oven. Many industry standards adopt it; however, it takes hours and requires many apparatuses for testing)
  • The standard method and its condition are open to the public.
  • Equipped with a temperature compensation function
  • Bulk density measurement is also available as well as moisture measurement for some of the products
  • Weight correction function is available for some of the products for further accuracy of moisture measurement.

Technology Data

Technology data

Possible applications

    After harvest, grains are dried until they reach a moisture level suitable for storage and distribution. It is important to measure moisture content in order to prevent mold formation during storage due to high moisture content and quality deterioration due to over-drying. (In the case of rice, over-drying brown rice make the kernels cracked. Cracked brown rice are easily broken when being milled).

    Since grains are dried for storage and distribution, moisture content is closely related to their weight. Grains are traded by weight between producers and processors, and the moisture value of the grain is sometimes used as an indicator of the selling price, so accurate moisture measurement is important.

    Since the above cannot be achieved in areas where customary methods such as touching and chewing are used to determine the state of dryness and moisture value, by using our moisture meter to measure moisture values accurately and traceable to international standards (ISO), accurate quality control and fair trade based on objective values during weight transactions can be achieved. This enables accurate quality control and fair trade based on objective values at the time of weight trading.

    Competitive advantage

    • High accuracy (The mechanical and electronical part of each and single tester is strictly checked and adjusted when manufactured. They are certified as type approval system in some countries, including Japan.)
    • Various application (Over 300 calibration curves for grain and seed)
    • Accordance with the international standard
    • Durable
    • Rubber sealing is adopted in some part
    • Long-term service (spare parts supply and repair)

    Performance

      High accuracy (standard error of calibration is 0.5% or less compared to the international standard method when the moisture range is 20% or less).
      Regarding the specification of the product, kindly refer to our website: https://www.kett.co.jp/products_category_en/grain/

      Typical examples of moisture measurement

      1. Continuous measurement of rice grain
        We provide the automated electrical resistance type testers which conduct high-speed continuous moisture measurement of unpolished grains. It can treat max. 999 grains and quickly calculate moisture distribution of the whole section by measuring a single grain (see Fig. 3).

        Fig. 3 High speed continuous measurement of rice grains by using single kernel grain moisture analyzer “PQ-520” (electrical resistance type)

      Technical maturity / Past record of introduction

                                                                              Table 1 Overseas sales

      Information on patent related to this technology

      N/A

      Company Data

      Company data

      Name Kett Electric Laboratory Co. Ltd.
      Address 1-8-1 Minami-Magome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 143-8507 Japan
      Capital 72 million JPY (as of September 30, 2022)
      Contact person

      Mr. Ryosuke TAKAHASHI
      E-mail: Refer to the link below Tel: +81-3-3776-1121
      Corporate website: https://www.kett.co.jp/english/

      Number of employees 77 (as of September 30, 2022)
      Date of company foundation October 26, 1946
      The type of business Research, Development and Manufacture of measuring instruments


      International operation

      Number of employees for international operation 
      5
      Overseas offices

      City, Country Name of Company (if applicable)
      N/A N/A

      Modality of business transaction

      Partnership
      Use local partners as sales agents and outsource sales and after-sales support for its products.

      Attachments

      Schematic illustration of the technology

      Contact Person(s)

      Mr. Ryosuke TAKAHASHI

      *Please mention that you saw UNIDO's website when making the first contact with the company.

      Registered Category

      • Agribusiness Technologies : Food value chain