Intensification of the Flow Process of Grain Drying Using Two-sided Infrared Irradiation

The object of research is the process of infrared drying of grain of agricultural crops. In the process of processing seeds of cereals and oilseeds is a fairly large number of technological operations, among which one of the most important is drying. Maintaining the required grain moisture is a major factor influencing its shelf life and quality. Therefore, an urgent and important problem is the intensification of the process of drying seeds of cereals and oilseeds at low energy consumption.

The process of infrared drying of grain has significant advantages over the most common convective drying due to the fact that no organic fuel is used. Infrared rays are characterized by high thermal action of products, so the demand for the use of infrared radiation in agricultural, food and processing industries for drying grain, bulk ingredients, thermal disinfection, etc. is growing. The principle of operation of the infrared method is that the moisture inside the grain absorbs infrared rays, due to which it is heated. In other words, energy is directly supplied to moisture, which is why we managed to achieve not only high efficiency but also high efficiency.

To increase the efficiency of removing moisture from the grain by infrared irradiation, it is necessary to increase the area of contact of grains with infrared rays. Given the permeability of infrared rays and the layer of grain on the working body of the conveyor, it is possible to use several ways to increase the area of irradiation. The first method is to apply the vibration of the working body to mix the layers of grain, which contributes to a more uniform processing of products. The second method described in this paper is to use a larger number of emitters, which are located not only above the tray of the conveyor, but also below it. The tray must be made of infrared-permeable material.