moisture control
Dryer Master Experiences: Myron in Illinois
Myron has worked with Dryer Masters systems for over 10 years. He currently uses two DM510s on two Zimmerman 4500 tower dryers, typically drying around 4 million bushels of corn a year. In the first photo you have the DM510’s sitting side by side, along with the printers that Myron makes good use of. The bottom picture shows a slightly unusual sensor placement (the conduit runs to the back of the moisture sensor).
How does the Dryer Master change the way that you dry, or help your drying operations from an operational perspective?
We can generate a printout tape to evaluate the functions over night or during the day. To monitor moisture ranges.
Did anything surprise you about how your Dryer Master worked when you first used it?
The ease of operation.
What drying tips (if any) would you like to pass on to other dryer owners about how to get the most out of their dryer and/or their Dryer Master?
During start up – give it plenty of time to learn and if possible they work the best if you don’t shut down, and run 24 – 7.
Have you f
ound a financial difference in your drying performance using Dryer Master?
Yes, more consistent for moisture blending.
DM-Mobile from Dryer Master: Adding mobility and peace of mind to your drying season.
DM-Mobile brings true real time remote moisture monitoring and drying control to the grain industry.
Now your moisture and drying information can be easily accessed through your web browser on your smart phone, tablet or PC. There is no app to run. Just open your browser and go to my.dryermaster.com and log in to your Dryer Master DM510*
With DM-Mobile you can view real time moisture and drying information (including alarms) as well as up to 24 hours of historical data. You can also even make changes to moisture and rate set points all directly from your browser. Now you no longer always have to be close to the dryer to know what’s going on.
Why not try out DM-Mobile at my.dryermaster.com (log in: demo, password: demo). If you are not yet familiar with the DM510 you might want to take a minute to read the help page for a quick run down of DM-Mobile’s features.
To help promote this valuable new feature Dryer Master is adding DM-Mobile as a standard component to its industry leading DM510 computerized drying control systems at no additional charge for 2014.
If you would like to learn more about the DM510 and how it can add profits and peace of mind to your next drying season why not check out our product page on our web site or one of our DM510 training videos on our YouTube channel, or even better give us a call at 1-888-318-0009 (toll free in North America) or at 1-519-725-4700.
* requires connection of DM510 to an internet enabled router
How “Representative” is Your Moisture Sample?
Taking a moisture sample when you are drying may seem like an easy process, and in some ways, it is. But it can also give you a false sense of having a very precise result.
Take the case of when you go to the dryer and take a grab sample. You take the sample back to the bench top tester and get a digital readout. Let us say this time the readout is 15.2 percent… So, what does this number mean?
It does not mean that all the grain coming out of the dryer is at 15.2 percent. One way to easily see this is to watch the continuous readout from the Dryer Master, which can move up and down a few tenths of a point over a few minutes.
Another way to see this is to take three samples three or four minutes apart and see if the three samples give you the same reading. In most cases, they will not be exactly the same. The questions begin: Which one is right, and which one should you be using to make any adjustments to your drying?
Small differences are actually a very normal part of sampling. It is all but impossible to get an exact reading that covers all the grain exiting the dryer. There is simply too much inherent variation. This also explains why you may see small differences with your readings and the Dryer Master readings when you are doing calibrations.
That brings us to one of the benefits of Dryer Master. The DM510 continually (6 times a second) samples the grain moisture at the outlet of the dryer, and at the inlet too, so you always have a good idea of the moisture levels going into and coming out of the dryer. The Dryer Master is also aware of these variations and takes them into account when making its control (discharge rate) adjustments.
Maximizing Drying Efficiency
One of the things that makes grain drying a challenge is the number of uncontrollable variables—such as different moistures, temperatures, wind speeds, and humidities. But there are a few things you may have some control over (at least some of the time) that can make your drying more efficient. In this post we are going to highlight two of them:
Longer dryer runs. The trend to larger dryers has meant that in some cases there is only enough product for short runs, so the dryer may only run for a couple of hours, then be turned off for a few hours. The problem is that the grain that is left in the dryer during the shutdown will tend to come out over dried. And of course, the more often there are shutdowns the more grain will come out over dried. Ideally, the goal should be to try for longer dryer runs when possible because a dryer is most efficient when running continuously at capacity.
Tempering. Many times on the graphs we download from our customers, we can see the clear difference in moisture variation between day time and night time operation.
During the day, incoming product may go straight into the dryer, but as the product is coming from different locations, the moisture may vary significantly from one truck load to the next. This variation in moisture makes drying to a constant target that much more of a challenge.
In contrast, the product being dried at night may have sat for a few hours in storage having some time to temper—or an opportunity to mix with other product. The result is more consistent moisture going into the dryer and an easier process to control.
Keeping your Pet Foods Fresh
If you spend more than 10 minutes on Facebook, you will notice that people really love their pets. It is not a shock because in the U.S. alone there are 86 million pet cats and 78 million pet dogs. Along with birds, fish, and horses (and anything that will stick around if you feed it) the pet products industry is worth $52.87 billion. Of that, around $20 billion is spent on just food.
Like any grain-based product, moisture monitoring is incredibility important to the makers of pet foods. A good example is cat food, which comes in both high-moisture and low-moisture varieties. Both demand exacting moisture levels in order to stay viable. High moisture cat food must be stored at 17-18%, while low-moisture must remain at 8%.
Some of the biggest names in pet food production around the world rely on Dryer Master’s complete line of moisture measurement and moisture control technology. As this industry booms and people become more aware of the quality of their pet foods, it is even more critical to avoid poor storage techniques. Recently there has been a spike in the levels deadly aflatoxins in pet foods. As we have discussed before, aflatoxins are a fungus that occurs when grains are poorly stored, while they can’t been completely eliminated, proper moisture level monitoring can help limit their spread.
At Dryer Master, we know how important the health of your pet is to you and your family. Therefore, we use the same innovative technology in the pet food world that we do for the grains humans rely on for survival. In the end, our pets are part of our families, so they deserve the same level of protection and care as we do.
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