The Development of Rotating Rice Grain Dryer Prototype

Abstract

This research focused on the development of the rotating rice grain dryer prototype for Germinated Parboiled Brown Rice (GPBR) grains. The main GPBR producer in this study was Baan Dong Luang community enterprise, Bung Tawai Sub-District, Tao Ngoi District, Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand. The producer needs to reduce paddy moistures from above 20% wb down to 15% wb as the packaging and buyer requirements. The original prototype was designed to utilize heat from only the sunlight. It consisted of the driving part, the base and frame and the dryer chamber, which was a smooth-inside-area stainless steel cylinder. In this work, five aluminum fins were installed inside the cylinder to increase the grain distributions. The grain-collecting tray and wheels were attached to the prototype. Experimental investigations were performed repeatedly; 3 times. From the experimental results, the grain distributions observed from the developed prototype were better those from the original prototype. The tray could facilitate the users in taking the dehumidified grains out. The wheels made the prototype movable, the developed prototype could be moved to take the sunlight more convenient. The noticeable experimental result was the drying performance of the developed prototype. The developed prototype took 3 hours to reduce the paddy moistures down to 15% wb while the original prototype could reduce the paddy moistures down within 4.5 hours. On the other hand, the fins could distribute the grains, the heat transfer inside the chamber was enhanced. The reduced drying period was about 33.33%. As the rice dryer is an important tool in household and community rice producers, this dryer prototype could be proved to reduce the drying areas, periods and labors which affects the net incomes of farmers. The famers satisfied with the developed prototype.