Abstract
Application of radio frequency sensors for the automatic control of a pilot-scale infrared drying range for textiles is described. This was most successful for the classical proportional-integral-differential (PID) negative feedback control system, but with some important restrictions—the drying of a single fabric with a relatively low initial water content and at constant tension. The radio-frequency sensor detects changes in water content of the textile from capacitance variations arising from changes in the dielectric constant of the wet fabric. This parameter was influenced by many variables in addition to the amount of water in the fabric. In particular, the dielectric constant depended on the characteristics of the fabric and was very sensitive to the presence of ionic substances in the water. Thus, this sort of sensor is less appropriate for control of textile drying under industrial conditions.
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