Quality improvement of leather tanning process using a novel sensor

In this paper we reported a novel sensing system to measure the dielectric properties of sheep skin and there by alter the tanning process to produce better quality leather. Excessive chemical treatment can deteriorate the quality of final product and once the tanning process is finished it is impossible to reverse the procedure, so it is required to know the looseness in the skin prior to tanning. Using a non-invasive and non-destructive sensing method based on an interdigital sensor, it was attempted to correlate the dielectric property measured by the sensor with looseness values. The sensing system is required to be reliable, fast and cost efficient along with a low cost data acquisition system. The objective of the reported work is to develop a non-destructive low-cost system to identify the skin types and provides input to leather technician to modify the process improve the quality of the finished leather product.