Design and Construction of a System for Measuring the Concentration of Water in Milk

Abstract

Decreased milk production and reduced milk quality is associated with mastitis (disease of dairy cattle) and adulteration with agents such as the water. The dairy industry has been damaged, thus a variety of diagnostic tests are frequently used to evaluate milk quality on dairy farms. Electrical conductivity (EC) of milk has been introduced as an indicator trait for mastitis and as a method to measure the volume of water mixed into the milk. Therefore, the objectives of the designed system are to determine the percentage of water into the milk and posteriorly to adjust it for predicting the presence of mastitis. In general, the equipment is constituted by a sensor (designed and characterized in the Institute) which measures the EC of the liquid by electrolysis, and a heating system by RF for compensating the effect of temperature (the conductivity and the temperature have an unavoidable relationship. For liquids, this relationship is no linear)