Application 179

Fruit/Vegetable Penetrometer

Application Summary

Whether you are storing fruits and vegetables for controlled ripening or you are a farmer in a field, you need a way to accurately quantify ripeness coupled with experience and expertise that comes with the job. Ripeness can be quantified as the force required to dent or puncture the flesh of fruits and vegetables. This requires a device such as a penetrometer equipped with a compact load cell.

Products in Use

One LSM250 or LSM300 OEM Line Load Cell paired with Instrumentation (IHH500, USB220).

How it Works

An LSM250 or LSM300 OEM Load Cell is mounted inside a handheld unit with a penetrating tip attached.
An operator then presses the assembly into the flesh of the fruit or vegetable.
The load cell measures the force applied throughout the entire process which is sent to the IHH500 Digital Hand Held Display or USB220 High Resolution USB Solution connected to a laptop running our SENSIT software.
The IHH500 and USB220 track the force applied and displays the maximum load that was applied.
Peak load is then correlated to tables to determine the ripeness of the specimen.
The LSM250 and LSM300 provide up to 1000% axial overload protection (2.2lb to 25lb) to mitigate operator error.