A Foundation Fit - Case Study
Sooner or later, every piece of equipment at a grain eleva- tor needs to be retired, and in 2013, it was past due for the continuous-flow dryer at FC Cooperative’s branch elevator
at Afton, IA (641-347-8428).
FC COOP ELEVATOR FINDS ADVANTAGES TO DELUX MODEL OVER TOWER DRYER
That dryer had been in service since 1979 and “was on its last legs,” says Location Manager Willie Smith, who manages four locations around the town of Afton with a combined storage
capacity of about 1 million bushels. On a good day, he says, the old dryer could remove five points of moisture per hour at a rate of 2,500 bph, but there hadn’t been any days that good in a long time.
Prior to selecting a new dryer, Smith dis-cussed the matter with Tim Hunter, president of T&S Industries Inc., a local millwright firm in Afton. Hunter suggested that instead
of looking at a tower dryer, which many nearby facilities had done, that the cooperative instead take a look at a dryer model from Delux Mfg. Co., Kearney, NE (800-658-3240).
In August 2013, FC Coop installed a Delux DPX16GT Series dryer rated at 3,200 to 3,500 bph at five points of moisture removal depending on the com- modity being dried and fueled by natural gas.
“It fit our needs better than a tower dryer,” Smith comments. “For one thing, it fit our space and could be built right on the foundation of the old dryer. Also, we could continue to use our existing leg, while with a tower dryer, we would have had to put in a new leg.”
The coop did, however, have new motors and buckets installed on the existing leg to boost its capacity to 5,000 bph.
Dryer Features
The new DPX16GT dryer stands approximately 41 feet tall, with a thickness of 11 feet 10 inches including the catwalks. Among its features:
- A standard grain turner section above the heating chamber that promotes increased drying capacity for the size of the unit, preservation of grain quality, and reduced drying costs.
- A Delux SelfKleen design to keep the heating and cooling chambers clean. Fines are forced to the hopper-type cooling floor and back into the discharged grain virtually eliminating manual cleaning and reducing fire risks.
- An energy-efficient Nova burner provides minimal fuel consumption through a proper air-to-gas ratio.
- A two-catwalk system provides easy access to the upper sections of the dryer.
- Large variable-pitched fans are located inside the dryer for improved fuel efficiency and less noise.
- A large preheat garner chamber helps boost capacity.
- Grain columns are compartmentalized every 15 inches for maximum heat retention.
- The plenum chamber can be accessed for cleaning and maintenance through a larg 24-inch-x-40-inch walk-in door.
At the end of October, Smith noted that the facility had dried approximately 500,000 bushels of corn so far during harvest, which had been brought in at moisture levels ranging from 16% to 25%. He says the new dryer has worked up to full capacity.
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