Grain Handling, Drying & Storage

Future-proofed and automated dryer control increases e iciency

Drying grain precisely is a complex process, but doing it correctly achieves the best grain quality for the best price. Relying on manual drying can risk either not attaining the desired moisture content or over-drying the grain – over-drying to 13% instead of 14% can typically add up to 20% to your energy bill, according to Allmet.

The company explains the Tornum Intelligent Drier Control (IDC) does all the hard work for you. The softwarebased control system continuously monitors incoming moisture content and physically controls the speed of the drier. Remote data includes the number of discharges per hour, chosen moisture content, drying air temperature, and a moisture tolerance – the latter is a reaction to uctuations with incoming moisture content, and is a reference to the intelligent control. This lets the IDC counter any e ect of over-drying grain caused by sudden moisture content uctuations and is achieved by automatically releasing grain with a slightly higher moisture content, to average out in-store variations.

Labour hours are greatly reduced by not having to rely on basic monitoring systems and crucially over drying is always kept to an absolute minimum – thus having a huge impact on costs.

A recent installation of the IDC software at Laurence Kirkby Farms, near Lincolnshire, has received positive feedback from George Strawson of Active Business Partnerships who manages the 800ha estate: “Drying grain is now a very easy process that no longer needs a member of sta permanently watching what’s going on.” FG

Making grain conditioning a pleasure, not a chore

Over the course of the year, Danagri-3s Ltd says it receives numerous calls from farmers asking if their current grain oor store can be upgraded into a drying oor store, and comments that happily, in almost all cases, the answer is yes.

Drive over Laterals and Rekord Floor Stirrers have been installed into many existing oor stores, giving the stores a new lease of life, Danagri claims.

Channels for the galvanised box section ducting can be cut into your existing oor with the top section consisting of a heavy duty welded frame with 2mm thick perforated metal plate, strong enough to withstand 10t of axle load. The sections are made with male and female connecting anges which not only locks the sections together but stops any potential grain slipping down between the joints.

At the far end of the store wall, each lateral ends in a blanking plate whilst at the other end the laterals run into an air tunnel. By tting a heater in front of the fan you have the option of not only drying the grain, but also when switched o you can cool and condition the grain.

Fitting a Rekord Floor Stirrer can assist in drying all types of combinable crops as well as wood chip and pellets. As well as reducing the static air pressure it signi cantly increases air ow, leading to faster drying times through greater e ciency of your oor store. FG

Offering you the complete grain drying and storage equipment solution