Hardware Developments for Fruits and Vegetables Quality Determination

• Main Author: Ahmad, Zizie Zulaiqa
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2009
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/7963/1/2009%20-%20Hardware%20development%20for%20fruits%20and%20vegetables%20quality%20determination.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/id/eprint/7963/

Traditionally, for fruits and vegetables quality assessment are determined by the physical characteristics such as colour, shape and firmness. In this research, an electronic nose will be used to determine the freshness state of tomatoes. And the electronic nose is a combination of three different types of gas sensor. The electronic nose detects the aroma produced by the tomatoes before analyzing it into its stage of ripeness. Then the electronic nose will then categorize it into three different states; fresh, slightly fresh and rotten based on the results obtained from the sensors. Before the experiments can be started, suitable types of sensors should be chosen and tested separately to ensure it is working well. By observing the output waveforms between normal conditions with a fresh fruits, it shows a slight change in terms of the voltage. Therefore it is safe to say that during the process of ripeness, the fruits actually produce gas and it is detected by the sensors. During the fresh condition and also rotten condition, we can also see the differences in terms of the voltage. One of the sensors, even during the rotten condition, the voltage across the load resistance increases. But for the other two sensors, during the fresh condition, the voltage it obtains increases however during the rotten condition, the voltage drops. Therefore, it is feasible to say that the electronic nose can detects whether the fruit is fresh or rotten by observing the changes in all three sensors.