Full heat moving target grain drying system

• US 6,834,443 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2003
• Issued: 12/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CTB Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: CTB Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bloemendaal, Brent J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US10/364,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20040154184A1
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 345/24, 341/65, 341/68, 341/74, 34/65, 345/50, 344/91, 345/54, 426/461, 426/507, 426/618
• US Class Current: 34/491
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 17/126 the vertical walls consisting of baffles, e.g. in louvre-arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 25/22 Controlling the drying process in dependence on liquid content of solid materials or objects

Abstract

A grain dryer control system uses the grain dryer discharge temperature to account for moisture reduction in the grain as it cools after discharge from the dryer. The control system includes moisture and temperature sensors and a means to control the discharge of grain from the grain dryer. Given a grain discharge temperature, a control temperature and a moisture reduction factor as a function of temperature, the control system calculates an expected moisture reduction in the grain as the grain cools. Grain is discharged from the dryer when the target moisture content after cooling added to the expected moisture reduction in the grain as the grain cools meets the measured grain moisture content in the dryer.

Claims

1. A method for drying grain in a grain dryer having a drying portion, wherein the drying portion is adapted to expose the grain to a drying gas for reducing the moisture content of the grain comprising the steps of:

moving grain through the grain dryer;

sensing the moisture content of the grain within the drying portion;

sensing the temperature of the grain within the drying portion;

automatically determining an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount as a function of the temperature sensed within the drying portion; and

controlling the discharge of the grain from the drying portion to achieve a target moisture content range in a storage bin after taking into account the automatically determined expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount comprises performing a calculation using a bin factor, a sensed temperature and a control temperature.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount comprises multiplying a bin factor by the difference between a sensed temperature adjacent an outlet portion and an in-bin control temperature.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount is performed at predetermined periodic intervals.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount is performed at least about once every hour.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically determining an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount uses a temperature recently sensed within an outlet portion.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling the discharge of the grain provides a batch drying process.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein controlling the discharge of the grain provides a continuous flow drying process.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein sensing the temperature of the grain includes sensing the temperature of the grain adjacent an outlet portion of the grain dryer.

7. A system for use with a grain dryer comprising:

a moisture content input receptive of a signal from a moisture sensor;

a temperature input receptive of a signal from a temperature sensor; and

a moisture control module adapted to generate a grain discharge control signal in response to a moisture control module calculation based upon the temperature input and the moisture content input indicating that a target storage moisture content range will be achieved in a storage bin after the grain cools.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising a data storage adapted to receive, store and transmit information, wherein said data storage is in communication with the moisture control module.

9. The system of claim 7 further comprising an additional moisture sensor representative of the moisture content of grain that has not been dried.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the moisture control module is adapted to perform the calculation based upon the temperature input and the moisture content input at a predetermined periodic time interval.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the moisture control module is adapted to perform the calculation based upon the temperature input and the moisture content input at least about once every hour.

25. The system of claim 7 wherein a discharge controller is adapted to initiate a flow of grain within the grain dryer through a discharge outlet of the grain dryer in response to the grain discharge signal.

26. The system of claim 7 wherein a discharge controller is adapted to adjust a flowrate of grain within the grain dryer through a discharge passage of the grain dryer in response to the grain discharge signal.

12. A control system for a grain dryer comprising:

a grain moisture content sensor;

a grain temperature sensor;

a discharge controller; and

a dryer controller comprising a computer-readable memory, the dryer controller being in communication with the grain moisture sensor, the grain temperature sensor, and the discharge controller, wherein the dryer controller is adapted to account for a delta to the sensed grain moisture content based upon an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount as a function of a sensed grain temperature and information stored in the computer-readable memory in the operation of the discharge controller.

13. The control system of claim 12 wherein the computer-readable memory contains values representative of a desired moisture value and a bin factor.

14. The control system of claim 12 wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to calculate the delta at a periodic interval.

15. The control system of claim 12 wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to calculate the delta at least about once every hour.

27. The control system of claim 12 wherein the discharge controller is adapted to initiate a flow of grain through a discharge outlet of the grain dryer as part of a batch grain drying process.

28. The control system of claim 12 wherein the discharge controller is adapted to adjust a flowrate of grain through a discharge outlet of the grain dryer as part of a continuous flow grain drying process.

29. The control system of claim 12 wherein the grain temperature sensor is located adjacent a discharge outlet controlled by the discharge controller.

16. A grain dryer comprising:

a grain chamber through which grain to be dried is moved toward a grain discharge outlet;

a drying unit adapted to communicate a heated gas through the grain in the grain chamber;

a moisture sensor for sensing the moisture content of grain within the grain chamber;

a temperature sensor for sensing the temperature of grain within the grain chamber;

a discharge controller to control the flow of grain through the grain dryer; and

a dryer controller comprising a computer-readable memory, the dryer controller being in communication with the moisture sensor, the temperature sensor and the discharge controller, wherein the dryer controller is adapted to calculate an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount as a function of the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor and information stored in the computer-readable memory and to operate the discharge controller to achieve a desired target storage moisture content by accounting for the calculated expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount.

17. The grain dryer of claim 16 wherein the computer-readable memory contains values representative of a desired target storage moisture content and a bin factor.

18. The grain dryer of claim 17 wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to compare a measurement from the moisture sensor to a sum of the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount and the desired target storage moisture content.

19. The grain dryer of claim 16 wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to calculate the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount at a periodic interval.

20. The grain dryer of claim 16 wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to calculate the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount at least about once every hour.

21. The grain dryer of claim 16 further comprising an input moisture content sensor adjacent a grain inlet to the grain chamber wherein the dryer controller is further adapted to control a temperature of the heated gas based upon the difference in sensed temperature between the input moisture content sensor and a discharge moisture content sensor.

30. The grain dryer of claim 16 wherein the discharge controller is adapted to initiate a flow of grain through a discharge outlet of the grain dryer as part of a batch grain drying process.

31. The grain dryer of claim 16 wherein the discharge controller is adapted to adjust a flowrate of grain through the grain discharge outlet of the grain dryer as part of a continuous flow grain drying process.