SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

SwRI Information

Toolkit

Food Processing

Contact Us

Home

Magnetic resonance (MR–also called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance or NMR) is a safe, nonradioactive, noncontacting, nondestructive, and selective measurement technique based on the interaction of matter with static and radio-frequency (RF) magnetic fields. The technique is performed by placing the material to be measured in a static magnetic field, applying a pulsed RF field, and analyzing RF signals from the material.

Use of MR measurements

Magnetic resonance methods are used to detect the amount of a selected element (e.g., hydrogen, fluorine, aluminum, phosphorus, sodium) present within the sensor’s sensitive volume. MR signals also contain information related to the viscosity of the material’s constituents and bonding of the selected nuclei to the lattice and other similar nuclei. Quantitative measurements can be made of:

The addition of the viscosity-related information in the signals enables determination of:

Examples of industrial applications (on- and off-line) addressed by SwRI include:

Industrial MR system development

MR has been used successfully to monitor industrial processes on-line and at-line. Typically, it has been explored when other more common off-the-shelf technologies failed to provide the required results. Some of the MR applications have demonstrated remarkable repeatability and stability. The instrumentation has proven to be rugged, dependable, accurate, and useable to control a process. Savings due to reductions in out-of-specification product, which is either recycled or disposed of, has justified the cost of the on-line instrumentation.

SwRI has the facilities, staff, and expertise necessary to complete all aspects of the development of customized MR systems from the initial technical concept through the installation and servicing of instruments in limited quantities. SwRI has multiple specialized MR systems in its laboratories to perform measurements on samples over a wide range of temperatures, magnetic field strengths, RF frequencies, and other operating conditions. These initial measurements are made to determine the applicability of MR to solve a process monitoring problem. SwRI has had continuous activity in MR for industrial applications for almost 50 years and will continue to develop effective solutions for the food industry.

For more information about process monitoring technology capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please e-mail Todd Goyen, or call (210) 522-3528.
 

| Fluids Engineering Department | Mechanical & Materials Engineering Division | SwRI Home |

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions.

August 06, 2007