Real-time Capacitive Sensor Applied to a Train Wagon Prototype for Measuring Iron Ore Moisture

The emission of particulates during rail transport is related to the low moisture of the ore, which causes environmental pollution along the railroad. Given this problem, this work proposes the development of a parallel plate capacitive sensor applied to a small wagon prototype made of acrylic to measure the iron ore moisture and support studies of particulate emissions carried out in a laboratory. The sensor uses the Real-Dual Frequency method, which decreases the influence of electrical conductivity on the dielectric constant, even using low frequency (up to 8 MHz). From the dielectric constant, iron ore moisture is determined from indirect calibration, which obtained an accuracy of 0.07 pp and a maximum error of 0.39 pp. This study shows the development of an innovative real-time capacitive sensor, which uses a modern impedance-based technique to investigate particulate emissions and the drying behavior of iron ore