THE loss of cane during the harvesting process is estimated to cost the Australian sugar
industry $50 million per year. Development of a monitor, that would measure cane
losses during harvesting operations and allow the operator to make adjustments required to improve recovery of cane, could benefit the industry by between $12.5 million and $25 million annually. Various cane loss monitors have been researched, with the sensor being located either on the extractor hood or extractor fan hub. This paper compares the performance of the hood and fan mounted sensors and investigates alternative methods for sensor calibration. The study has shown that both the hood and fan sensor were unable to distinguish actual billet hits and no relationship could be found linking sensor signal output to number of billet hits. Signal response to trash and tops dominates response due to cane billets. The study has, however, shown that both systems predict mass material flow and therefore cane loss through the extractor fan very well. This is because both sensors give a good measurement of total cane and trash flow through the primary extractor and cane loss is directly related to this total material flow. Calibrating the cane loss monitor by identifying ‘billet hits’ from the monitor when billets are thrown at the hood, which has previously been recommended, is not considered a good procedure. Derivation of a calibration equation based on an integration of sensor signal over time is considered more appropriate.