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Computer-Vision System for Control of Drying Processes

A. I. Martynenkoa
a
School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

To cite this Article Martynenko, A. I.(2006) 'Computer-Vision System for Control of Drying Processes', Drying
Technology, 24: 7, 879 — 888
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 Drying Technology, 24: 879–888, 2006
Copyright # 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0737-3937 print/1532-2300 online
DOI: 10.1080/07373930600734067
Computer-Vision System for Control of Drying Processes
A. I. Martynenko
School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Computer-vision system (CVS) for control of a drying process
with a portable CCD camera with IEEE-1396 interface and config-
urable software LabView 7.0 and IMAQTM 6.1 was developed. An
object area was continuously monitored through the CVS by
extracting the green plane from the RGB color space followed by
thresholding and pixel counting. An object color was continuously
monitored through the CVS as color intensity in the hue-
saturation-intensity (HSI) color space. The observability of a drying
process was provided due to online image analysis and correlation of
image attributes (area, color, texture) with physical parameters of
drying (moisture, quality). A relationship between area shrinkage
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
and moisture content was used for online estimation of actual moist-
ure content. A relationship between color intensity and quality was
used for online estimation of quality degradation.
Experimental study of the CVS for ginseng drying showed
advantages of computer-vision for online monitoring of important
state variables, such as moisture content and material quality. Color
measurements demonstrated high sensitivity of quality to drying
conditions: drying at 50
C resulted in significant color changes
and unacceptable quality degradation. The quality of roots in
three-stage (38-50-38
C) drying process was compatible with recom-
mended isothermal (38
C) drying due to significant (30–40%)
reduction of drying time. This control strategy was used in a pilot
batch dryer for temperature control with respect to quality. Testing
of a pilot dryer with embedded CVS proved stability and robustness
of control strategy, combined with high accuracy in the estimation of
moisture content (8–14% of error with 95% confidence). The
composite moisture measurements at the endpoint demonstrated
uniform drying of root mixture to target moisture content 0.1 g/g
(db) with minor variations between individual roots in the range of
0.07–0.12 g/g.
Keywords Color; Ginseng; Machine-vision; Moisture; Quality;
Shrinkage
INTRODUCTION
The use of computer-vision for industrial control keeps
on growing.[1,2] Recent advances in software development
essentially extended the area of computer-vision applica-
tions for fruit grading,[3] cereal grain classification,[4–7]
apple slices dehydration,[8] and food inspection.[9–11]
Computer-vision offers a tremendous resolution for the
Correspondence: A. Martynenko, School of Engineering,
University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1; E-mail:
omartyne@uoguelph.ca
879
quantifying of morphological,[4,12] color,[13,14] and textural[6]
features of agricultural and food materials. Selection of the
minimal set of non-correlated features, sufficient for
discrimination of object attributes in an informational space,
was recognized as one of the most important issues in image
analysis.[7,15] Usually it requires careful image pre-processing:
segmentation, pixels clustering, optimal thresholding, and
advanced data analysis.[3,16] To improve a computer vision
systems a variety of learning techniques were developed.[17]
An application of computer vision for apple slices dehy-
dration has been recently reported.[8] Experiments showed
significant changes in the shape, color and texture of apple
slices, produced by drying. However, the gap between
image attributes and physical parameters of drying (moist-
ure, quality) essentially limits the use of computer vision
for control of drying processes.
The objective of this study was to develop a CVS for
automated control of a drying process with practical appli-
cation for ginseng root drying. Ginseng root is a good
example of temperature-sensitive biomaterial,[18] which
requires careful thermal processing. The best temperature
for ginseng root has been reported as 38
C;[19,20] however,
drying at this temperature to target moisture 0.1 g=g (db)
takes about two weeks. Increasing the temperature to
45–50
C essentially accelerates drying; however this results
in undesirable browning.[19] To avoid quality degradation
Li[21] proposed a three-stage temperature control 38-50-
38
C; changing air temperature according to the critical
root moisture content. As highlighted by Davidson
et al.,[22] a lot of complex mechanisms are involved in qual-
ity changes, which make it difficult to control.
A ginseng quality is specified as a desirable color, tex-
ture, and moisture content.[23] All of these variables are
measurable with computer-vision. It follows that appropri-
ate control of ginseng drying can be developed on the
basis of computer vision and online image processing. To
achieve the objective, the procedures of image segmen-
tation, feature extraction, and data analysis for ginseng
roots were developed. Relationships between image
attributes and physical parameters of drying (moisture
and quality) were established.
 880 MARTYNENKO
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Computer-Vision System
The hardware consisted of a portable compact CCD
Fire-i camera (Unibrain Inc.) with a built-in 4.65 mm lens
with anti-reflective coating connected to a personal com-
puter (P4, 2.4GGz) using PCI IEEE-1394 FireWire adapter
(Unibrain Inc.). The software consisted of NI-IMAQ data
acquisition driver for IEEE-1394, LabVIEW 7.0 and
IMAQ6.1TM Vision Builder (National Instruments). Digi-
tal camera and data acquisition interface were configured
with a measurement and automation explorer NI-MAX
(National Instruments). The camera was mounted on a ver-
tical stand, which provided easy vertical movement and
stable support. The depth of field was enough to obtain
quality images with a high contrast of boundaries and high
color resolution. The image resolution was 0.1 mm=pixel
and 0.08 mm=pixel in the horizontal and vertical directions,
respectively. Twenty-four-bit RGB-images were converted
to square pixels with the resolution 0.01 mm2=pixel.
Uniform illumination was provided with SYLVANIA
CF15EL=830 diffuse fluorescent bulbs with a corrected
color temperature of 4200 K and a color reproduction
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
index about 95%. Image capturing, processing, and sub-
sequent analysis were performed online using a LabVIEW
graphical interface.
Image Analysis
An image analysis included image segmentation,
features extraction, and data analysis. Image segmentation
was designed to separate region of interest (ROI) from
background. Extraction of morphological, color, and
textural features was provided every hour with the library
of virtual instruments, embedded in NI-IMAQ6.1. Image
features, determined as time-dependent variables, were
used further in data analysis to calculate physical (moisture
and quality) and rate (drying rate, quality degradation)
parameters of drying.
Image Segmentation
The first step of the image analysis was image segmen-
tation. This algorithm, based on edge detection, operated
by finding the optimal threshold in RGB color space that
maximizes the difference between images. The output
[0,256] gray image was then converted into binary [0,1]
image with 1 assigned to the object and 0 assigned to the
background. This binary image was used for two purposes:
(a) estimation of morphological features (area) and (b)
masking original color image for extraction of color and
textural features. Multiplication of the original image on
its binary mask enabled a conversion of all background
pixels to zero intensity pixels and elimination this class
from next calculations.
FIG. 1. Image segmentation.
The block-scheme of image segmentation procedure is
shown in Fig. 1. An original color image was filtered twice:
in RGB color space to extract morphological features and
in HSI (hue-saturation-intensity) color space to extract
color features.
Feature Extraction
Morphological Features. The software library of NI-
IMAQ 6.1 enabled the quantification of surface area,
length, width, radius, shape factor, and their statistical
(mean and variance) characteristics. Length-to-width
ratio was used for the identification of object orientation
in the XOY plane. To distinguish the object area from
isolated small clusters of pixels, the procedure of multi-
threshold filtering with next particle analysis was applied.
Object area was determined as the largest object on the
binary image. Overall surface area was obtained by the
conversion of ‘‘1’’ pixels of binary image into area
through the conversion coefficient of 0.01 mm2=pixel with
the next multiplication by p for cylindrical geometry.
Color Features. Color features were extracted as means
and variances of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) channels
in RGB color space and color intensity (I) in HSI color
space. To avoid effects of size sampling on color intensity
distribution, the number of pixels for each intensity line
was normalized with respect to the overall number of
pixels in the extracted area. The histogram of color
intensity was treated as a fuzzy variable with lightness
as a support. Average color intensity was calculated from
intensity histogram on the basis of center-of-gravity
defuzzification.[24] Means and variances were used to test
statistical hypothesis (F-test) of color changes on each
interval of observation.
The flow chart of features extraction is shown in Fig. 2.
Drying Chamber
Drying of ginseng roots was carried out in a specially
designed drying chamber (Fig. 3). For automated monitoring
 COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DRYING PROCESSES
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
FIG. 2. Flow chart of feature extraction.
of visual color and area changes during drying the
chamber was made from a 190-cm-long Plexiglas tube with
an inside diameter of 40 cm. It was connected to an air
conditioning unit that produced constant airflow with regu-
lated temperature and humidity. Temperatures of air and
root were measured with identical T-type thermocouples
with a spherical junction 0.85 mm in diameter. Measure-
ments with the thermocouples were made using an interface
card NI PCI-6220 (National Instruments) with built in
cold-junction compensation in the control computer. Based
on the calibration, absolute error associated with the
881
FIG. 3. Experimental drying chamber with computer-vision system.
thermocouple measurements was 0.1
C and the relative
error between measurements was 0.05
C. Air relative
humidity was measured using a humidity sensor HIH-
3602C (Honeywell Inc.) with a sensitivity of 25 mV=% RH
and an accuracy of 2%. Air flow rate was measured with
an anemometer ALNOR-6350 (Cole-Palmer) with an accu-
racy of 5%. Root weight was measured continuously with a
digital balance HF-8000 (A&D Engineering) with a serial
interface to the control computer. Data from the thermo-
couples, humidity sensors and the digital balance were
recorded continuously by National Instruments Lab VIEW
7.0 through a data acquisition interface card.
Samples
The ginseng roots were obtained from Hare Farms
(Waterford, Ontario) in October 2004. Both harvests were
taken from four-year ginseng plots. Ginseng population
contained roots of different shapes and sizes in the range
from 4 to 40 mm in diameter. Fresh ginseng roots were
stored in a refrigerator at 5  2
C during the experimental
study period (3 months). Prior to each drying experiment,
roots were washed and care was taken to drain the roots
and remove surface water.
Data Analysis
Data analysis was provided to relate the set of morpho-
logical, color, and textural features with the set of physical
parameters of drying (moisture, quality). Moisture content
 882 MARTYNENKO
was calculated from continuous weighing on a dry matter
basis (g=g):
mðtÞ  mdm
X¼ ð1Þ
mdm
The dry matter weight (mdm) was determined after each
experiment based on 24-hour oven drying at 102
C. Aver-
age moisture values were estimated at hourly intervals.
An exponential equation was used to describe moisture
changes over time:
X ðtÞ ¼ Xe þ ðX0  Xe Þekt ð2Þ
or in dimensionless form:
X ðtÞ  Xe
wðtÞ ¼ ¼ ekm t ð3Þ
X0  Xe
Equilibrium moisture content (Xe, g=g db) was determined
from ginseng sorption isotherms.[21] The effect of root
maturity on equilibrium moisture content was neglected.
The initial moisture content (X0) was verified based on
the mass measurements at the end of the experiment and
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
analysis of dry matter weight. In each experiment, the final
target for moisture content was 0.1 g=g db.
The accuracy of the computer vision system was evalu-
ated as errors in area, color and texture estimation. The
error in area estimation due to isolated or small clusters
of pixels, mainly located at the boundaries of adjacent
regions was evaluated by comparison with binary images,
obtained with reference high-resolution (1392  1040)
CCD camera DFW-SX900 (Sony Corp., Japan) with an
automatic adjustment of white balance and 25-mm F=1.4
Mega Pixel Iris (model 23FM25SP, Tamron) lens. The error
in color estimation was evaluated by comparing standard
color indices from bright yellowish to beige, corresponding
to the color of the ginseng roots. These indices were calcu-
lated in XYZ color space, provided by a standard Minolta
colorimeter (CR-300, Japan). To avoid possible effects of
non-uniform lighting, each sample was imaged three times
for different angle orientation of roots (0, 120, 240
) in the
plane of measurement. The color was calculated as the aver-
age of three measurements. The error in texture estimation
was evaluated by using a set of samples with calibrated grids
of different sizes. Performance in the estimation of period-
ical components was estimated as a signal-to-noise ratio
in power spectrum density function, calculated with FFT.
All experiments were carried out with three replications
in a random order to exclude the influence of uncontrolled
changes including ageing and moisture loss. The correla-
tions between morphological, color and textural features
were tested with cross-correlation analysis (SAS 9.1). The
significance of features and their interactions was tested
by standard ANOVA procedures. Adequacy of linear rela-
tionships between image attributes and physical parameters
was tested on the basis of Fisher criteria with 0.95 confi-
dence level. The average moisture content and color of
ginseng roots in each batch were determined on the basis
of composite sample measurements.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Image Segmentation
The first step in image analysis was image segmentation.
The original color images of the ginseng batch at the begin-
ning (a) and at the end of drying (b) are shown in Figs. 4a
and b. Images represent the random mixture of ginseng
roots without a contrast background, so it makes difficult
to segment underlying layers by simple filtering.[8] Hence,
the special algorithm of image segmentation, relevant to
physical shrinkage of ginseng roots, was developed. Pre-
vious experiments showed that the area shrinkage of
fully-exposed ginseng roots at the end of drying is about
0.5  0.5 of the initial area.[25] This knowledge was used
as the reference point to normalize area ratio in the range
[1,0] with 1 assigned to the initial state (fresh roots) and
0 to the final state (dried roots).
To quantify the shrinkage-relevant difference between
Figs. 4a and b, both images were decomposed on red, green,
and blue planes in RGB color space. Histograms of color
distribution in R, G, and B for ginseng roots showed that
all red pixels were concentrated in the region of high color
intensities with saturation at 255, blue pixels in the range
of low color intensities from 140 to 0 (interfering with
background pixels), and green pixels were distributed
over the entire intensity scale with maximum in the range
160–200.[25] Mean values of R, G, and B color distributions
show some difference caused by drying (Table 1).
It follows that drying caused the shift of red, green, and
blue color intensities to lower numbers. This shift of aver-
age color intensity can be used as the measure of specific
color sensitivity. The differences in red and blue color
intensities were not statistically significant. The green plane
appeared to be the most sensitive channel, providing the
best discrimination between fresh and dry ginseng roots
images. The most significant changes in green occurred in
the range of [150 . . . 210]. Hence the median value 180
was chosen as the optimal threshold for conversion of a
grey image into binary image.
Binary images (Figs. 4c and d) were filtered from orig-
inal color images in the green plane with the next thresh-
olding at 180. Corrected binary images were used as the
mask for color intensity images.
Morphological Features (Shrinkage)
Structural changes in ginseng roots during drying were
accompanied by volumetric shrinkage and a decrease in
the projected area. The surface area of roots was calculated
 COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DRYING PROCESSES 883

FIG. 5. Kinetics of area shrinkage in drying process (circles, points of

observation; solid line, exponential fit).
FIG. 4. Segmentation of original images of fresh (a) and dry (b) ginseng
roots with thresholding and conversion to binary images (c, d).
(Eq. (3)). The coefficient of determination (0.995) of
exponential fit reflected good accuracy of image analysis
from binary image (Figs. 4c and d). The ratio between for surface area estimation. The exponential behavior of
initial area A0 (Fig. 4c) and endpoint area Ae (Fig. 4d) in area shrinkage is going along with the results presented
the batch corresponded to real physical shrinkage of
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011

individual roots (0.55–0.45). Area shrinkage n(t) was calcu-
lated as a time-dependent dimensionless variable, changing
from 1 (initial state) to 0 (dried state):
Ai  Ae
ni ¼
A0  Ae
The example of area shrinkage of ginseng roots during
100 h of drying at temperature 38
C, relative humidity
12% and air flow rate 1 m=s is presented in Fig. 5. Kinetics
of shrinkage followed exponential behavior in all experi-
ments over the range of experimental conditions from
38
C to 50
C, from 12 to 25% relative humidity, and air
velocity from 1 m=s to 3 m=s. In time domain it could be
expressed as an exponential model:
by Fernandez et al.[8]
The relationship between dimensionless values of
shrinkage and moisture content is shown in Fig. 6. It was
linear in the range from 0.9 to 0.1 of moisture content:
ð4Þ w ¼ an þ b ð6Þ
with a ¼ 1.0124, b ¼ 0.0755, standard error 0.016, and
R2 ¼ 0.99. The linear relationship between shrinkage and
moisture ratio in this range could be related to the phenom-
enon of free water evaporation.[26] A small deviation from
linearity at the beginning of drying (1–0.9) can be explained

nðtÞ ¼ expkS t ð5Þ

with ks ¼ 0.042 h1, which corresponds to the drying
rate constant km calculated from continuous weighing

TABLE 1
Averagea color intensity of fresh and dry roots in RGB
color space
Fresh Dry Difference p-Value
Red (R) 250  2.5 249  12.5 1 0.7645
Green (G) 185  15 151  17.5 34 0.0189
Blue (B) 50.5  8.8 44  10.4 6.5 0.4141
a
Mean values and standard deviations (95% confidence) were
calculated from four identical drying experiments (38
C tempera- FIG. 6. Relationship between area shrinkage and moisture ratio (trian-
ture, 1 m=s air velocity, and 12% relative humidity). gles, 38
C; circles, 50
C; line, regression).
 884 MARTYNENKO
by the effect of quick collapse of porous cellular structure.
Deviation from linearity at the end of drying (below 0.1)
can be related to critical water content 0.25–0.3 g=g (db).
Below this critical point the area shrinkage is not correlated
with moisture losses.
Color Features (Color Intensity)
Color intensity was extracted as a mean value of histo-
gram of color intensity distribution in HSI color space.
Kinetics of color changes during drying at different air
temperatures are presented in Fig. 7.
It follows that color degradation was proportional to dry-
ing time and air temperature. The rate of color degradation
was 0.056 h1 at the temperature 38
C, and 0.29 h1 at the
temperature 50
C. The increase of rate with temperature
can be explained with Arrhenius-type temperature depen-
dence of non-enzymatic browning.[27] From drying experi-
ments at the recommended temperature 38
C it was
concluded that the acceptable level of ginseng browning is
above 158 of color intensity. However, 40 h drying at
50
C resulted in unacceptable browning of ginseng roots
(color intensity 154). Three-stage drying (38-50-38
C)
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
provided color intensity at the end of drying at the threshold
value 158. It seems that three-stage drying can be a good
alternative of isothermal drying, providing acceptable
material quality, which is compatible with isothermal 38
C
drying.
Color changes measured by image analysis and standard
colorimeter gave high average correlation with R2 ¼ 0.95.
These results were similar to those, reported for chromatic
parameters ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ in lab color space, reported by
Krokida et al.[28] and Fernandez et al.[8] It follows that
color intensity of root surface, measured with CVS, can
FIG. 7. Color changes of ginseng roots at different drying scenarios: (a)
isothermal drying at 38
C (diamonds); (b) isothermal drying at 50
C (rec-
tangles); (c) non-isothermal drying 38-50-38
C (triangles). Air velocity
1 m=s, relative humidity 12%.
be used as a process variable for monitoring of quality
degradation in ginseng drying process.
EVALUATION OF THE CVS PERFORMANCE FOR
FEEDBACK CONTROL
Performance of the CVS for control of drying processes
was tested in industrial conditions on pilot batch dryer.
Since the bulk average moisture content cannot be mea-
sured directly, it was estimated using CVS observer. Esti-
mated moisture content was used as a global feedback
parameter for the identification of the drying stage and
adjustment of the drying conditions according to the speci-
fied control strategy. Subsequently, the control system
consisted of three modules: CVS observer, estimator, and
controller (Fig. 8).
CVS observer identified area shrinkage n(t) and color
C(t) of ginseng roots in the batch as a time-dependent pro-
cess variable. The estimator was a real-time module, which
used the information from the CVS observer about shrink-
age at a particular temperature T to estimate the rate con-
stant ks,T by fitting to the exponential model (Eq. (5)). It
was running in a regime of continuous loop execution in
the range i ¼ 3, . . . , 1, delivering a dynamic set of coeffi-
cients {n0, ks, ne} of shrinkage model.
From inputs ks,T, Xe, and Xc1,2,3 the estimator calculated
current bulk average moisture content Xi (Eq. (2)) and time
estimate test to the next critical control point Xc:
1 Xi  Xe
test ¼ ln ð7Þ
ks;T Xc  Xe
The estimate of moisture and time {Xi, test} were used as
an input to the digital controller to adjust the drying tem-
perature according to moisture content.A three-stage strat-
egy of ginseng drying[21] entailed online identification of
three critical control points: bulk average moisture content
Xc1 ¼ 1.0 g=g (db) to change the drying temperature from
38 to 50
C; bulk average moisture content Xc2 ¼ 0.25 g=g
db to turn back from 50 to 38
C; and bulk average moist-
ure content Xc3 ¼ 0.1 g=g db to stop drying. Observer and
controller were developed as reconfigurable LabVIEW
FIG. 8. The structure of computer vision control system for ginseng
drying: n(t), area shrinkage; C0, Ci, initial and current color; X0, Xe, Xc,
Xi, initial, equilibrium, critical, and current moisture content, respectively.
 COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DRYING PROCESSES
applications with an extensive set of optimized functions
for image processing, blob analysis, spatial measurements,
calibration, and advanced logic control of digital I=O
devices.
The performance of the CVS for online identification of
the pair {Xi, test} was evaluated on the basis of batch
drying experiments, which included isothermal drying
experiments (38
C) and three-stage (38-50-38
C) drying
experiments with three different root distributions. The
performance evaluation included the estimation of the
shrinkage-moisture relational model for moisture and
time prediction. Online identification of the critical control
points was provided by three alternative ways: (a) CVS
estimation of area shrinkage and shrinkage=moisture
relationship (Eq. (6)); (b) the exponential model (Eq. (2));
and (c) experimental measurements. The CVS estimation
of shrinkage was used for the exponential approximation
of shrinkage rate constant ks,38 (Eq. (5)) and calculation of
moisture content (Eq. (6)). Equation (7) was employed to
predict the drying time to reach critical control points.
Hence, performance of CVS for accurate estimation of
critical control points (t1, t2, and t3) was tested with respect
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011
to both predicted and experimental data.
Testing of Accuracy in Moisture Estimation
The shrinkage=moisture relational model (Eq. (6)) was
used to predict moisture content in the critical control
points with the bulk moisture content Xc1 ¼ 1.0 g=g,
Xc2 ¼ 0.25 g=g, Xc3 ¼ 0.1 g=g (db). The real values of bulk
average moisture content were determined from balance
readings in three-stage batch drying experiments (Fig. 9).
Prediction error was calculated as a sum of squared errors
(SSE) with respect to each control point. It followed that
moisture content in the critical control point could be pre-
dicted with a standard error of 4–6%. Results of calculation
FIG. 9. Estimation of moisture in critical control points with CVS for
nine three-stage batch drying experiments.
885
TABLE 2
Accuracy of moisture prediction in critical control points
Critical moisture
content (g=g) Mean SSE RMSE
Xc1 ¼ 1.0 0.94 0.0613 0.062
Xc2 ¼ 0.25 0.24 0.0114 0.021
Xc3 ¼ 0.1 0.1 0.0054 0.014
are presented in Table 2. The predictive model had a
tendency to underestimate the value of moisture content.
The linear relationship between shrinkage and moisture
rates (Eq. (6)) was evaluated in a series of three-stage
(38-50-38
C) batch drying experiments. Exponential fitting
of shrinkage kinetics at correspondent stages of drying
approximated the rate constants ks. A comparison of ks
from shrinkage measurements versus km from weight
measurements for two temperatures (38
C and 50
C) is
shown in Fig. 10.
It follows that the estimate of ks-value from shrinkage
analysis was close to the experimental km-value only for
38
C (coefficient of determination R2 ¼ 0.93 and
RMSE ¼ 0.0008 h1). However, for high temperature
(50
C) there was no linear relationship between the esti-
mated ks-values and experimental km. At 50
C the drying
rate was slower than shrinkage kinetics. It can be con-
cluded that for high (50
C) temperature the shrinkage-
moisture model has a tendency to overestimate the real
kinetics of moisture transfer.
Taking into account the temperature 38
C for the third
stage of drying, the shrinkage-moisture relational model
was used for estimation of average moisture content at
FIG. 10. Relationship between estimated ks and km and for three-stage
batch drying at 38
C (circles) and 50
C (squares).
 886 MARTYNENKO

TABLE 3
Moisture content at the endpoint of drying: estimation vs.
experiment
Average bulk
moisture content
Composition Measured
Experiment of root sizes Estimate value Deviation
10 ‘‘Normal’’ 0.1 0.13 0.03
11 0.1 0.14 0.04
12 ‘‘Small’’ 0.1 0.09 0.01
13 0.1 0.07 0.03
14 0.1 0.09 0.01
15 ‘‘Large’’ 0.1 0.11 0.01
16 0.1 0.10 0.00
17 0.1 0.11 0.01

the endpoint. The results of the experimental estimation of FIG. 11. Estimation of time in critical control points with CVS for
average moisture content and direct moisture measure- three-stage batch drying experiments.
ments at the endpoint of drying are summarized in Table 3.
The discrepancy between the estimated and measured
values of bulk average moisture content may be related
Downloaded At: 03:29 21 January 2011

to non-uniform drying conditions in the batch. However,

from Table 3 it follows that the moisture content at the
endpoint could be predicted as an interval estimate from
0.08 to 0.12 with 95% confidence. The standard error of
estimation of moisture content at the endpoint was
0.0176 g=g.

Testing of Accuracy in Time Estimation

A performance evaluation of CVS for time estimation
was done on the basis of nine batch experiments (3 iso-
thermal and 6 three-stage) with some variation in size
assortment (normal, large, and small) and moisture con-
tent. The time to the critical control point was estimated
from the recurrent approximation of the shrinkage rate fac-
tor ks for isothermal conditions and Eq. (7). The results of
the time estimation with the shrinkage=moisture relational
model are shown in Fig. 11.
The standard error of linear regression was 3.09 h with
the coefficient of determination 0.99. The accuracy in the
estimation of critical control points in time domain was
10% with 95% confidence. It follows that the model could
be successfully used for the control of ginseng drying and is
robust to uncertainty in size assortment, initial moisture
content and drying conditions. The results of testing the
computer-vision intelligent controller in isothermal drying
are shown in Fig. 12a, and results of testing the com-
puter-vision intelligent controller in three-stage batch dry-
ing in Fig. 12b.
From the experimental data it follows that the estimator
gives an overestimation of drying time at t1 and t2, while FIG. 12. Accuracy of prediction of critical control points with CVS-esti-
the exponential predictor gives an underestimation at the mator and predictor for isothermal (a) and three-stage (b) drying.
 COMPUTER-VISION SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DRYING PROCESSES
first critical control point t1 and an overestimation at the
second point t2. At the endpoint of drying, the estimation
of t3 was close to the prediction.
The error in estimating the critical control points was
not evenly distributed on the drying cycle. For the first
critical control point (Xc1 ¼ 1.0 g=g), the error of time
prediction was greatest (11%). For the second critical point
(Xc2 ¼ 0.25 g=g), the error was about 8%. The minimal
error 5% occurred at the endpoint of drying (Xc3 ¼
0.1 g=g). It follows that towards the end of drying the accu-
racy of time prediction increases. The moisture content
estimate X(t) was used as a dynamic variable in global con-
trol loop, providing observability of the drying process.
Color degradation was estimated as an independent
dynamic variable with another model (see Fig. 7). This
estimate was used to prevent quality degradation below
specified threshold. Errors for estimation of moisture con-
tent and quality were calculated as discrepancy between
estimation from the observer and direct measurements.
Additionally, the user-friendly graphical interface was
developed. The operator was able to specify drying con-
ditions (temperatures for each stage of drying, relative
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humidity, air velocity, size), initial, equilibrium, and critical
moisture contents, as well as the rate of image sampling.
Online estimates of shrinkage, color, and moisture content
in each stage of drying were displayed online. The quality
of drying process was indicated ‘‘EXCELLENT,’’ ‘‘HIGH,’’
‘‘SATISFACTORY,’’ or ‘‘NON SATISFACTORY.’’ If
quality was within an allowable threshold, then ‘‘DRYING
IN PROGRESS’’ was displayed. Otherwise it was displayed
‘‘CORRECTION’’ and correction of the drying regime was
required.
CONCLUSIONS
Experimental study of the computer-vision system
(CVS) for control of ginseng drying showed advantages
of computer-vision for online monitoring of important
state variables, such as shrinkage, color, and texture. Area
shrinkage was identified from image morphological attri-
butes, providing sufficient discriminatory information
about moisture loss in the range from 2.6 to 0.3 g=g and
temperatures from 38 to 50
C. Moisture was determined
from the relationship between area shrinkage and moisture
content with 8% error and 95% confidence.
Color measurements demonstrated high sensitivity of
quality to drying conditions. Drying at 50
C resulted in sig-
nificant color changes and unacceptable quality degradati-
on. However, the quality of three-stage (38-50-38
C) drying
was compatible with recommended isothermal (38
C) dry-
ing due to significant (30–40%) reduction in drying time.
Online estimates of moisture and color were used for
temperature control in the pilot batch dryer with embedded
computer-vision observer (IMAQTM Vision Builder) and
887
controller (Lab View 7.0). Experiments showed the
stability and robustness of the control system, combined
with high accuracy in the estimation of drying time
(8–14% of error with 95% confidence). The discrepancy
between the estimation of moisture from the shrinkage=
moisture relational model and direct measurements did
not exceed 20%. Composite moisture measurements at
the endpoint demonstrated the uniform drying of root
mixture to the average moisture content of 0.1 g=g, with
minor variations between individual roots in the range of
0.07–0.12 g=g.
The results demonstrated the feasibility of CVS as an
accurate online tool for a closed-loop food drying. Data
extracted from image analysis represent both quality
factors perceived by consumers (color, texture) and process
parameters (moisture content, drying rate), important for
the development of ‘‘smart’’ drying technologies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Valerie
Davidson and Dr. Ralph Brown, who helped me very
much with valuable comments. I would like to express spe-
cial acknowledgement to Scott Noble for his help in the
development of IMAQ Vision Builder control applications.
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