Abstract:
The level of ripeness of palm fresh bunch (FFB) is one of the key factors of the
Crude Palm Oil (CPO) quality. Electronic determination of FFB levels is needed to
replace the manual system. The electronic nose can be used to detect level of ripeness
by relying on the aroma of the oil palm fruit. In this research, four MQ series gas
sensors were used and connected to an Arduino microcontroller, then calibrated. The
calibration of the sensors is performed in order to analyze the response voltage of
each sensor to a given fruit aroma. Calibration includes setting the resistance on each
sensor module so that the sensitivity of each sensor is maximum. The MQ sensor
modules used are MQ2, MQ3, MQ135, MQ136. Arduino IDE program was made to
acquire voltage versus time. Data Oil palm fruits from ripe FFB were taken as fruit
aroma test samples. The result showed that the voltage values of the four sensors are
readable. The MQ2 and MQ3 sensors reveal higher response than that for other types
of sensor. The system of four sensors have been connected to Arduino UNO which is
connected to python for real time of sublime text scripts and terminal command
prompt windows as data storage in the form of an excel file. The circuits of systems
can be used for electronic nose system of oil palm fruit.
