Process and instrument for moisture measurement

A process for the measurement of moisture content of an article selected from the group consisting essentially of grains, pulverized samples, fruits, nuts, dry fruits, and industrial and food products, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a multilayer microstrip integrated hybrid circuit from the group consisting of a microstrip with dielectric overlay, an asymmetric inhomogeneous Stripline, and a coplanar waveguide with dielectric overlay;
• precalibrating a pulse generator and a time domain reflectometer;
• connecting a pulse generating source to an input end of the multilayer microstrip integrated hybrid circuit;
• connecting an output end of the multilayer microstrip integrated hybrid circuit to a detector in a transmission mode;
• calibrating the time domain reflectometer and recording time of propagation through the multilayer microstrip integrated hybrid circuit;
• placing the sample over the multilayer microstrip integrated circuit in a sample holder;
• measuring time delay using the time domain reflectometer in response to a characteristic reference reflection obtained in the step of calibrating the time domain reflectometer;
• calculating effective permittivity based on a group of parameters of time domain reflectometer, time delay, reflection coefficient, and characteristic impedance of the multilayer microstrip integrated hybrid circuit;
• and
• calibrating effective permittivity against moisture.