Location:Home > News > IndustryNews Center
Microwave technology for measuring moisture content
Author：未知 Source： Updated:2026-01-16 14:01:04
Microwaves enable fast and reliable measurement of moisture content in stacked round timber. If the technology is further developed, the accuracy can be at least as high as today’s manual and labor-intensive methods.
Microwaves enable fast and reliable measurement of moisture content in stacked round timber. If the technology is further developed, the accuracy can be at least as high as today’s manual and labor-intensive methods.
Measuring the moisture content of wood is important in order to make the best use of the raw material. The moisture content determines, for example, whether a roundwood pile should be classified as fuel wood or pulpwood – a division that in turn has a major impact on everything from transport, planning and sorting to combustion and manufacturing processes. Despite this, there are currently no effective and reliable methods for measuring the moisture content of stacked round timber. Similar challenges also exist for wood chips, where existing measurement methods are time-consuming and require extensive manual sampling.
Microwave transmission as a measurement method
In a project funded by the Swedish Energy Agency’s Bio+ research and innovation programme, the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden has investigated the possibility of determining the moisture content of stacked round timber through microwave transmission, also known as radio measurement – a technique that is already used in other areas. The project has also further developed methods for measuring moisture content in decomposed forest fuel using the same technique. The results show that microwave technology is promising, but that the signals are affected by noise and other disturbances, which leads to uncertainty in individual measurements.
Hands forward
The next step is to collect more measurement data to improve the models, preferably from stacks where the entire volume is chipped to provide reliable reference values. There is also a need for a better understanding of how variations in compaction and freezing affect the Clark Tracks 2signals. In addition, it would be valuable to link weather data to the results to better predict the freezing of the material.