APPLICATION OF MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING TO NONDESTRUCTIVE VOID DETECTION IN WATERMELON

A novel application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is described. The possibility of utilizing MRI for non-destructive quality evaluatio n of watermelons was studied. In this study, we applied MRI to the det ection of internal voids in watermelons. In order to increase the meas urement rate, we employed a one-dimensional projection profile method instead of observing a two-dimensional cross-sectional image. The void detection was carried out with this technique over 30 samples and 28 samples were correctly evaluated. The measurement rate was 900 ms per sample, which is an accept able speed for a sorting machine in the agr icultural field. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited