Shotgun Crop Dryer First Of Its Kind

Shotgun Crop Dryer First Of Its Kind GRAIN DRYERS Grain Dryers (29E) 7-6-4 Developers of a residue-fired "shotgun-style" crop dryer are excited about their new design for low-cost, crop drying, saying that the system is the first "100% automated on-farm residue burning dryer". It burns a variety of fuels ranging from corn cobs, pellets or even shelled corn to wood, square bales or other, bulky "waste" materials. The crop-drying furnace features a large fire-brick lined circular firebox 6-ft. long and about 3 ft. in dia. Transversing the length of the box, and surrounding it, are six 6-in. dia. metal pipes. The pipes, along with an air chamber surrounding the entire inner chamber, collect the heat off the box and shoot it ù "shotgun style" ù into the bin. Any smoke and ash thrown off the fire goes up the smoke stack and out of the furnace. There's no danger of contaminating grain with smell from the fire. The heated air is pulled out of the drying furnace by a conventional bin fan. The drying furnace is unique in that not only can you feed in chunks of wood and other material up to 6 ft. long through a big door on one end of the firebox, but you can also feed in corn cobs or pelleted fuels through an automated system that feeds in measured amounts of fuel and is 100% thermostatically controlled. "You can set up a bulk bin with pelleted fuel to feed into the auto-mated feeding conveyor and the system will operate as independently and trouble-free as an LP dryer," says Randy Reinke, vice president of Fabridyne, Inc., Litchfield, Minn., developers of the new furnace. When thermostatic controls call for more fuel; a sliding door on top of the furnace opens automatically and the conveyor starts up, carrying in the right amount of fuel. When it shuts off, the sliding door closes again. "The amount of combustion airgoing into the chamber is controlled so the heat leaving the furnace is at the right temperature for proper drying. You can feed wood or other material into the fire even if you're using pelleted fuel and it'll add only as much fuel as is necessary," says Reinke. In addition to thermostatic control of combustion inside the firebox, a vent at the front of the furnace feeds fresh cool air into the heated air entering the dryer if it starts getting too hot. This, too, is automated by a control panel which can be mounted near the dryer. The big residue burning dryer is skid mounted and can be moved from bin to bin, or to buildings that need to be heated. The company has been testing its first prototype this fall and is producing units on order. The furnace sells for $8,700. The add-on automated corn cob or pelleted fuel system sells for an additional $3,700. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Randy Reinke, Fabridyne, Inc., P.O. Box 1040, Litchfield, Minn. 55355 (ph 612 693-7251).

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