• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.405-412
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• 2000

A natural air in-bin grain dryer with a grain circulator was developed for on farm use. Natural air drying test for rough rice was carried out to evaluate drying rate, uniformity of moisture content distribution in grain bed and energy consumption. It took 10 days to dry 8 ton of paddy rice from 21.9%(w.b) to 16.7%(w.b) moisture contents using the prototype dryer. The average drying rate was 0.52%/day. The uniformity of moisture content after drying was superior to the conventional natural air dryer where is grains were not circulated during drying periods. The dryer performance evaluation index was 738.3KJ/(kg.water), which was more effective than that of grain circulation t)pe hot air dryer(3,500-5,000 KJ/kg.water).

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.3600-3610
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• 1974

Experimental work of batch-type dryer was conducted to develop its optimurm operating conditions by analyzing the major factors which affect the drying performance. A laboratory batch-type dryer was constructed and tested for various levels of heated-air rates, and depths of grain deposit. Tong-il rice variety having the initial moisture content of approximaely 23 per cent in wet basis was used for the experiment. The criteria selected for establishing the optimum operating condition were the drying performance rate, the thermal efficiency, and the operational cost of the dryer. The results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. The performance rate of dryer for a specific operating condition was defined as total amount of material dried per hour when the moisture content of grains in the upperlayer reaches to 16 per cent in wet basis. The optimum operating conditions as viewed in the rate of drying performance could be justified by functional realtionship between the depth of grain deposit and air flow rate. In other words, there was a definite depth of grain deposit for a given air-rate which make the dryer performance maximum. The optimum grain depth for the batch-type dryer with 3.3㎡ loading area and with the attached axial fan was about 35cm. 2. The thermal efficiency for the dryer was evaluated by the ratio of the latent heat required to evaporate the grain moisture to the heat input required to raise the ambient air-temperature to 40 degree centigrade. The optimum operating condition as viewed in term of thermal efficiency analyzed was that grater depth and lower air flow-rate may be desirable. This condition is contracted with the optimum condition as viewed by the dryer performance rate. 3. The annual operating cost of batch-type dryer was analyzed for different annual hour of use and for different operation condition. The optimum condition as viewed in terms of operating cost was almost identical to one as viewed in terms of dryer performance rate. Therefore, the most economical use of batch-type dryer for the same annual operating hours can be obtained when the dryer operated in the condition of maximum dryer performance rate. Increasing the annual operating hour may be desirable to cut down the dryer operation cost, since the annual hour of dryer use is much sensitive to the operating cost than any peractical conditions of dryer operation. 4. The most desirable operational condition as justified by combining all the criteria, dryer performance rate, thermal efficiency and annual operating cost, could be concluded to operate the dryer in the condition of maximum performance rate. The condition in general is identical to the lowest operation cost for a given annual operating hour.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.227-232
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• 2000

A natural air in-bin grain dryer with a grain circulator was developed for on farm use. Natural air drying test for rough rice was carried out to evaluate drying rate, uniformity of moisture content distribution in grain bed and energy consumption. It took 10 days to dry 8 ton of paddy rice from 21.9%(w.b) of moisture contents to 16.7%(w.b), by prototype dryer and the average drying rate was 0.52%/day. The uniformity of moisture content after drying was superior to a conventional natural air dryer in which grains were not mixed during drying periods. The dryer performance evaluation index was 738.3kJ/(kg.water), which was more effective than that of grain circulation type hot air dryer(3,500∼5,000 kJ/kg.water)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.877-885
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• 1993

Three types of solar grain dryers, namely , the solar grain bin dryer, the solar greenhouse rotary drum dryer and small scale solar green house tray dryer, have been tested. The results showed that each type of solar grain dryer has its feature. These solar drying units have three main advantages : (1) Required commercial energy to remove 1Kg moist from rough rice is only 5.3% to 15.8% of the energy consumed by common heated dryer : 2) The area of solar drying system is only about 10% of the area of the sunny ground to give equal drying capacity ; (3) There are good drying quality in the moisture uniform , germination percentage, and grain color.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2006

A need exists to monitor and control the localized high temperatures often experienced in solar grain dryers, which result in grain cracking, reduced germination and loss of cooking quality. A verified finite element model would be a useful to monitor and control the drying process. This study examined the feasibility of the finite element method (FEM) to predict temperature distribution in solar grain dryers. To achieve this, an indirect solar grain dryer system was developed. It consisted of a solar collector, plenum and drying chambers, and an electric fan. The system was used to acquire the necessary input and output data for the finite element model. The input data comprised ambient and plenum chamber temperatures, prevailing wind velocities, thermal conductivities of air, grain and dryer wall, and node locations in the xy-plane. The outputs were temperature at the different nodes, and these were compared with measured values. The ${\pm}5%$ residual error interval employed in the analysis yielded an overall prediction performance level of 83.3% for temperature distribution in the dryer. Satisfactory prediction levels were also attained for the lateral (61.5-96.2%) and vertical (73.1-92.3%) directions of grain drying. These results demonstrate that it is feasible to use a two-dimensional (2-D) finite element model to predict temperature distribution in a grain solar dryer. Consequently, the method offers considerable advantage over experimental approaches as it reduces time requirements and the need for expensive measuring equipment, and it also yields relatively accurate results.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 1984

While most of researches on the performance of high temperature grain dryer have dealt mainly with improving dryer capacity and drying speed during the last twenty years, energy efficiency, in fact, has not been emphasized. Current fuel supplies and energy cost have shifted the emphasis to reducing the energy consumption for grain drying while maintaining dryer capacity and grain quality. Since the energy input for drying is relatively large, the recovery and reuse of at least part of the exhaust energy can significantly reduce the total energy consumption in existing drying systems. Unilization of exhaust heat in grain dryer either through direct recycling or by a thermal coupling in heat exchanger have been subject of a number of investigators. However, very seldom research in Korea has been done in this area. Three drying tests(non-recycling, 0.22 recycle ratio, and 0.76 recycle ratio)were performed to investigate the thermal efficiency and heat loss factors of continuous flow type dryer, and to analyze the effect of recycle ratio (weight of exhaust air recycled/total weight of input air) on the energy requriements for rough rice drying. The test results showed that when the exhaust air was not recycled, the energy lost from furnace was 15.3 percent of input fuel energy, and latent and sensible heat of exhaust air were 61.4 percent and 11.2 percent respectively. The heat which was required in raising grain temperature and stored in dryer was relatively small. As the recycle ratio of exhaust air was increased, the drying rate was suddenly decreased, and thermal efficiency of the kerosene burner was also decreased. Drying test with 0.76 recycle ratio resulted in 12.4% increase in fuel consumption, and 38.4% increase in electric power consumption as compared to the non-recycled drying test. Drying test of 0.22 recycle ratio resulted in 6.8% saving in total energy consumption, 8.0% reduction in fuel consumption, and 2.5% increase in electric power consumption as compared to the non-recycled drying test.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.232-237
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• 2015

Purpose: In Korea, wheat is dried using circulating cross-flow grain dryers. However, there is no research on wheat drying which can be utilized for the dryers. Therefore, this study developed and evaluated a simulation of the circulating cross-flow dryer, and examined the effects of various factors on drying performance. Methods: The simulation program was developed using drying models and was evaluated against wheat-drying experiments with a dryer having a 30-ton capacity. The influence of drying temperature, air volume, and grain falling rate on drying performance were examined through the simulation. Results: The experimental results validated the simulation program by showing the same root mean square error (RMSE) for moisture content (0.286%) and drying rate (0.056%/h) in both the experimental data and the simulation values. The appropriate wheat-drying parameter values, considering drying conditions, were determined to be $50^{\circ}C$ for drying temperature, $500m^3/min$ for air volume, and a grain falling rate of $36.0m^3/h$. Conclusions: The developed simulation program for circulating cross-flow dryers analyzed the influences of performance factors such as drying temperature, air volume, and falling rate on drying performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.957-966
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• 1996

An attempt was made to measure the availability of waste heat, released from the cooling system of a small engine, which can be utilized for grain drying. An engine powered flat-bed rough rice dryer was constructed and the performance of the dryer with available engine-waste heat was analyzed for 10 , 20, 30 and 40 cm rough rice bulk depths with a constant dryer base area of 0.81$m^2$/min. The waste heat was sufficient to increase the drying air temperature 7 to 12$^{\circ}C$ at an air flow rate of 8.8 to 5.7㎥/min, while the average ambient temperature and relative humidity were 24$^{\circ}C$ and 70%. The minimum energy requirement was 3.26 MJ/kg of water removed in drying a 40 cm deep grain bed in 14h. A forty to fifty centimeter deep grained seems to be optimum in order to avoid over-drying in the top layers. On the basis of minimum energy requirement (3.26 MJ/kg ) , an estimation was made that the waste heat harvest from an engine of a power range of 1 to 10.5PS can dry about 0.1 to 1 metric on of rough rice from 23% to 15% m.c. (w.b) in 12 h at an average ambient temperature and relative humidity of $25^{\circ}C$ and 80%, respectively. The engine-waste heated grain dryer can be used in the rural areas of non industrialized countries where electricity is not available.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.396-404
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• 2000

Post harvest processes for rice include drying, storage and processing. Drying has a great effect on the quality of the grain. The existing rice centers are with the ill equipped, especially with drying and storage facilities. The rice harvesting has bully mechanized, a large volume of rice with high moisture content are taken to the rice processing complex(RPC). Three, the need for drying and storage facilities becomes more urgent. At present the daily drying capacity of RPC can't exceed over 40~50 M/T. Therefore new technology and facilities for a high quality and main efficient drying should be introduced one such technology is the continuous flow drying system. This research, aims to test performance efficiency the mixed continuous flow grain dryer was whose daily drying capacity is 100 M/T. The results of the performance tests of the dryer are shown as follows; (1) The temperature distribution of the drying modules were measured by a temperature recorder. The fifth module showed the highest value, followed by the seventh and the third. (2) When the intake air temperature was $55^{circ}C$, the drying rates were 1.7 and 2.6%, wb/pass in the exhaust temperatures of 20 and $22^{circ}C$. And when the intake air temperature was $60^{circ}C$, the drying rates were 1.7 and 2.3%, wb/pass in the exhaust temperatures of 22 and $25^{circ}C$. (3) The average increased rate of cracked grains after the drying process was 0.7% which is below the tolerance limit (2.0%) of the continuous grain dryer.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.59-70
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• 1988

A computer simulation model for rice circulating concurrent-flow dryer was developed and verified by conduction a series of pilot-scale experiment. The effects of design parameter and operating conditions on dryer performance were analyzed by using simulation. The results indicated that the developed model was found suitable for analyzing operating characteristics. The other results from simulation also showed that; 1) an increse in the initial moisture content resulted in an increase in the drying rate and a reduction in the grain temperature and total energy requirements. 2) an increase in the drying air temperature resulted in an increase in the drying rate and grain temperature. 3) an increase in air flow rate resulted in an radical increase in drying rate, fan power requirements and total energy requirements but an radical decrease in final head rice yield. 4) an increase in the bed depth resulted in an increase in fan power requirements and a lowering of the final head rice yield.