I am from South Africa and new to this forum. I have developed a system that can dry grain inside an ordinary silo bag. This system compliments the known benefits of silo bags. ( Moist grain can be stored for longer periods in a silo bag before drying is necessary than in conventional storing systems). The system has been tested successfully locally and in Australia (Southern Region of Western Australia near Bremer Bay).
There are already some of these commercial systems drying grain in South Africa and Australia. The capacity of the system is 2% moisture reduction per 7 days per silo bag. The system is installed after the bag is filled. Once the system is installed virtually no labour other than refuelling gensets is required.
The system cannot overheat the grain and there is no risk of contaminating grain due to polluted air being sucked through the grain.
When the bag is dried the system is taken of and installed on the next bag. The bag can then be debagged immediately after drying or at a later stage. No modifications are necessary to existing bagging and debagging equipment.
The system uses a combination of electrical and solar energy to dry the grain. Up to 75% of the drying energy is solar. In total 16.5 kW of power is used to dry a 75m bag. (3 x 5.5kW/unit). Air is sucked out of the bag by the suction blowers. Fresh air enters the bag through the solar collectors which heat up the air. This dry air is sucked through the grain towards the suction blowers which dries the grain. Underneath the solar collectors are self regulating heating elements which assist with heating the air entering the bag at night time and cloudy days.
The operating cost is halve of that of known commercial dryers.
There is a huge demand for such an in the bag drying system. SILOSTRAT in South Africa has bought units from me and after a couple of weeks they bought another couple of units. The system works really well and I am looking for new opportunities. Patent applications have been handed in already in 2015.
The tests were done on two different farms is Australia and I am already working with Damon Parker in the Bremer Bay region( Southern region of WA). He has a lot of experience with silo bags and can supply silo bags, the driers and other bagging equipment.
Happy to answer any questions.
There are already some of these commercial systems drying grain in South Africa and Australia. The capacity of the system is 2% moisture reduction per 7 days per silo bag. The system is installed after the bag is filled. Once the system is installed virtually no labour other than refuelling gensets is required.
The system cannot overheat the grain and there is no risk of contaminating grain due to polluted air being sucked through the grain.
When the bag is dried the system is taken of and installed on the next bag. The bag can then be debagged immediately after drying or at a later stage. No modifications are necessary to existing bagging and debagging equipment.
The system uses a combination of electrical and solar energy to dry the grain. Up to 75% of the drying energy is solar. In total 16.5 kW of power is used to dry a 75m bag. (3 x 5.5kW/unit). Air is sucked out of the bag by the suction blowers. Fresh air enters the bag through the solar collectors which heat up the air. This dry air is sucked through the grain towards the suction blowers which dries the grain. Underneath the solar collectors are self regulating heating elements which assist with heating the air entering the bag at night time and cloudy days.
The operating cost is halve of that of known commercial dryers.
There is a huge demand for such an in the bag drying system. SILOSTRAT in South Africa has bought units from me and after a couple of weeks they bought another couple of units. The system works really well and I am looking for new opportunities. Patent applications have been handed in already in 2015.
The tests were done on two different farms is Australia and I am already working with Damon Parker in the Bremer Bay region( Southern region of WA). He has a lot of experience with silo bags and can supply silo bags, the driers and other bagging equipment.
Happy to answer any questions.