Prime
Drying your grain in peace
Douglas Opio examines how the control panel of the grain dryer works. Photo / Roland D. Nasasira.
What you need to know:
- Douglas Opio, the Sales Manager at China North Machine says the grain dryer processes grains such as maize, beans, millet, sorghum, ground nuts and soya beans, among others.
The most common methods of drying grains is spreading it on a tarpaulin or the bare ground. How long it takes to dry in terms of days, if not weeks, is normally primarily determined by the intensity of the sun and this normally comes with a lot of work.
However, poor postharvest handling, including drying on tarpaulins, is one of the factors that negatively affect the cost of grains on the international market. This is as a result of the low or poor quality of grains that may not command a high competitive advantage over that of other producers.
And what better way to improve the quality of your grains and the benefits it comes with, than acquiring yourself a grain dryer. It dries your produce thoroughly well in one day, and this means you will have saved drying time.
Douglas Opio, the Sales Manager at China North Machine says the grain dryer processes grains such as maize, beans, millet, sorghum, ground nuts and soya beans, among others.
How it works
When any of the above grains is fed into the machine, it goes to drying silo that is surrounded by a strong metal wire mesh that allows you see what’s going in the machine. At this stage, the operator sets the temperature using the control panel on the machine under which the grain starts to dry.
“Just like you keep on changing maize or any other grain spread under the sun so dry well, the grain dryer has a fun box which runs and circulates the heat throughout the machine so that the grains dry well. It also has the temperature regulator and moisture content reader and once the grain is completely dry, the machine notifies you through the sensor to remove it from the collection point,” Opio explains.
Different grains have different moisture content and dry at different temperatures. This explains why, when sun dried, millet will dry within a few days compared to grains such as maize and ground nuts that take some bit of time. This, Opio, adds, is where the temperature regulator kicks in to dry each grain well using normal hydroelectric power at the desired temperature. The total rated power capacity is 8.1kilowatts using normal three phase power, making it friendly and efficient.
According to Opio, the grain dryer has capacity to dry 15 tonnes in 24 hours under normal operating procedures and capacity as designed by the manufacturer. This is regardless of whether the grain has been put into the machine shortly or a few days after it has been harvested. It has a lower and upper chimney to release smoke that is generated as the machine runs, and a bowl for feeding or loading the grain to the machine.
It also has a mortar that houses the electric transmission system for running the machine, with the help of the V-belt. The V-belt is covered with a belt guard for the safety of the operator. Because different grains have different moisture content and take different times to dry, loading the grains into the machine has to be monitored.
Operating space
The machine only requires space of nine square meters by length and approximately three to four square meters width to set up. The fact that it’s fitted with tyres makes it mobile and can be towed to different places or farms. This does not only mean that you can dry your harvested grains at the farm and transport them for storage or factory ready for processing or milling but you can also hire it out to other farmers, thereby making more money.
Maintenance measures
To keep the grain dryer in the best mechanical condition, Opio advises that you have to keep greasing and monitoring the bearing before and after using the machine. It costs Shs88m, on top of aftersales training on how to operate the machine and installation.
Dynamics
When the cereal is inserted inside the grain dryer, it has a uniform degree of humidity, but when the humidity outside the kernels begins to evaporate (thanks to the hot air blown by the dryer), the water found in the internal begins to advance towards the outside, to re-establish a new balance of humidity. Therefore, all the water present on the surface is removed, followed by the water in the core of the seed.
