The current method for the extraction of olive oil consists on the use of a decanter to split it by centrifugation. During this process, different olive oil samples are analyzed in a chemical laboratory in order to determine moisture levels in the oil, which is a decisive factor in olive oil quality. However, these analyses are usually both costly and slow. The developed prototype is the foundation of an instrument for real-time monitoring of moisture in olive oil. Using the olive oil as the dielectric of a parallel-plate capacitor, a model to relate the moisture in olive oil and capacitance has been created. One of the challenges for this application is the moisture range, which is usually between 1 and 2%, thus requiring the detection of pF-order variations in capacitance. This capacitance also depends on plate size and the distance between plates. The presented prototype, which is based on a PSoC (Programmable System-on-Chip), includes a reconfigurable digital and analog subsystem, which makes the determination of moisture independent of the capacitor. Finally, the measure is also sent to a smartphone via Bluetooth.
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