Small-Scale Dryer Design
1982
Navratil, R. J. | Burris, J. S.
High ear corn (Zea mays L.) drying temperatures are known to affect subsequent seed quality. In addition, genotypes have been known to differ in their tolerance to higher drying temperatures. Therefore, in order to experimentally test some of the most widely grown public inbred lines for tolerance to dryer induced injury at 35, 40, 45, and 50 C, four small-scale, single-pass movable dryers were constructed. Each unit consists of a cap and stackable trays on top of a base, which houses the thermostat, fan, and a resistance heat source. Units were operated during the 1979 and 1980 harvest seasons. Measured mean temperatures both years were within 0.3 C of the desired temperatures. The dryers are quite flexible. They are capable of drying shell corn or bulk soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] as well as earn corn. By connecting the exhaust ports of two adjacent stacks, these units can be used to recycle exhaust air in a two-pass arrangement through the second stack. Convenient unstacking of the trays facilitates rapid addition or removal of samples and transfer of samples from one drying environment to another. These units can not only be used to screen germplasm for tolerance to high drying temperatues, but can also serve to supply seed that have been dried under defined conditions for physiological studies.
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