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Abstract.

Radio frequency energy is an alternative method to pesticides and fumigants for disinfestation of insect pests in stored grains. The modern type 50-ohm radio frequency (RF) technology offers many advantages but there have been a small number of installations globally because of poor understanding of this technology and lack of knowledge in solving related problems. In addition, this technology has never been applied in disinfestation. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive discussion of the RF principles for disinfestation, understanding the installation process and parts of the system with basic electrical parameters (inductance, capacitance, impedance, frequency), tuning the system for maximum power transfer to the load, and issues encountered with solutions during installation. The RF disinfestation principle is based on how the insect pests being killed and how the quality of the grains not being degraded. To have a successful installation, understanding the parts of the system and tuning the matching network with basic electrical parameters are important. Lack of knowledge of these results to a poor reputation of RF technology in spite of its advantages. Furthermore, suggestions are given for a successful installation of 50-ohm RF heating system.