Patent ID: 7112971

Claim:
A method for determining the moisture content of a material with a measuring line extending through the material and having a proximal end and a distal end spaced from the proximal end, said method comprising the steps of: applying a pulsed signal to the proximal end of the measuring line which is reflected at a distance from the proximal end of the measuring line, forming a threshold value from the amplitude of a summing signal generated by the signal supplied to the measuring line and the reflected signal wherein the slope of the voltage change of the summing signal corresponds to one third to two thirds of the average inclination of the increasing flank of the signal applied to the measuring line, detecting the reflected signal at the proximal end of the measuring line and comparing it with the threshold value, determining the travel time up to the return of the reflected signal at the proximal end of the measuring line which is detected when the signal at the proximal end exceeds the threshold value, evaluating the travel time and adjusting the threshold value based on the change of the amplitude per time unit of the reflected signals at the proximal end of the measuring line, whereby the moisture content is determined on the basis of the threshold value, and displaying the moisture content on a display unit.