Full heat moving target grain drying system

• US 20040154184A1
• Filed: 02/11/2003
• Published: 08/12/2004
• 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.
• Granted Patent: US 6,834,443 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 34/391
• 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 defining an inlet portion and an outlet 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 adjacent the outlet portion;

sensing the temperature of the grain adjacent the outlet portion;

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

discharging the grain from the outlet 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 determining an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount comprises performing a calculation using the bin factor, the sensed temperature adjacent the outlet portion and a control temperature.

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

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

5. The method of claim 1 wherein 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 the outlet portion.

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 signal when a calculation based upon the temperature input and the moisture content input suggests a target storage moisture content range will be achieved in the 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.

12. A control system for a grain dryer comprising:

a discharge moisture content sensor;

a discharge temperature sensor;

a discharge rate controller; and

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

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 discharge moisture content sensor adjacent the grain discharge outlet;

a discharge temperature sensor adjacent the grain discharge outlet;

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

a dryer controller comprising a computer-readable memory and in communication with the discharge moisture sensor, the discharge temperature sensor, and the discharge rate controller for controlling operation of the discharge rate controller, wherein the dryer controller is adapted to calculate an expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount as a function of the discharge temperature and information stored in the computer-readable memory and to operate the discharge rate 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 discharge moisture sensor to the sum of the expected cooling bin moisture reduction amount and the desired moisture value.

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 the discharge moisture content sensor.