Resizing buffer rods for ultrasound testing of food products with acoustic noise considerations

► Buffer rods can be long and heavy for certain applications. ► In this paper, a resizing analytic procedure is described. ► SNR of the resized buffer rods was obtained from simulations and experiments. ► Resized rods attain higher SNR than conventionally designed ones. Buffer rods can be used to perform non-destructive and on-line analysis of food and beverage products. These rods, usually solid cylinders, can be long and heavy for certain applications. In this paper, a resizing analytic procedure is described. Buffer rods designed following this new procedure can be several times shorter than the conventionally designed ones, optimising thus their weight and cost. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the resized buffers is also studied in order to determine their practical usability. To this effect, simulations and experiments are conducted using metal and plastic buffer rod materials appropriate for food and beverage testing such as aluminium and polyethylene.