Estudio metrológico de un sensor de impacto no destructivo para la determinación de firmeza de frutas en líneas de confección.

A non destructive impact sensor to measure fruit firmness has been installed on the sizer chain of an experimental fruit packing line. The sensor measures the fruit firmness related to the acceleration-time curve supplied by an accelerometer attached to an impacting arm. The sensor works correctly at a speed of 5 to 7 fruits per second. Ratio A/t (maximum acceleration value divided by its corresponding time), mean, and maximum slopes of the curves supplied by the accelerometer, were well correlated with the firmness data obtained in laboratory with the load-unload test. The accelerometer signal allows the classification of the fruit in three levels of firmness, by means of a specific software.