Flow control meters for gravity flow particle dryers

An improved metering discharge device for particulate material, particularly grain, is described. The device comprises a plurality of tubes extending downwardly from a lower region of a vessel, particularly in uniformly spaced relationship across the bottom of a gravity flow grain drying chamber. Each tube has an upper end flow connected to the drying chamber and a closed lower end and also has a pair of opposed openings in the side walls. A rotatable auger extends laterally through the tube via the side wall openings. The tubes preferably arranged in straight rows with a single auger extending through each row. This combination of tubes and augers provides a simpler design as well as a more precise flow metering than prior metering rolls. Also included are a plurality of laterally spaced, inverted channel members with open bottoms extending across the drying tower immediately above the discharge floor structure, these channel members being adapted to distribute cooling air into the grain in the tower.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an improved metering discharge device for 
particulate material, such as grain, and is a continuation-in-part of 
application Ser. No. 729,730 filed Oct. 5, 1976 (now abandoned). 
2. Summary of the Prior Art 
Damp grain, such as corn, rice, wheat, beans, etc. is frequently dried by 
means of heated air in a drying column or tower. Such a drying column or 
tower normally includes a grain reservoir having a grain inlet at the top 
and a grain outlet at the bottom and being adapted to have the grain pass 
through in a confined mass. It also includes spaced orifices communicating 
with the interior of the reservoir and each adapted to either serve as an 
air inlet or outlet with means for circulating air between the orifices 
and through the mass of grain. 
A popular type of dryer is the concurrent-counter-current flow grain dryer 
in which hot drying air travels downwardly in the same direction as the 
flowing grain and a counter-current flow of cooling air travels in an 
opposite direction to the direction of grain travel. With this system, air 
exhaust means are provided intermediate the hot air inlet and cooling air 
inlet. 
With drying systems of the above type, the movement of the mass of grain 
down the drying column must be very carefully controlled and in the past 
this has been done by means of metering rolls in a bottom portion of the 
dryer, such as those illustrated in Rathbun, U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,449 
issued Jan. 16, 1973. The rolls shown in this patent are typical of those 
used in the grain drying industry and are in the form of a shaft with a 
series of radially extending paddles or blades which pass the grain 
through gaps in the floor of the dryer. These metering rolls must be 
particularly designed for the purpose and are expensive to construct. 
Moreover, because of the long support span of each roll, it is difficult 
to prevent some sagging which results in unequal rates of grain flow in 
different metering rolls and in different portions of each metering roll. 
This is, of course, highly undesirable in terms of obtaining a smooth, 
uniform travel of the mass of grain down through the dryer, whereby 
uniform drying is achieved. 
It is, therefore, the purpose of the present invention to provide an 
improved design of metering means for grain dryers which will overcome the 
construction difficulties as well as the operating difficulties 
encountered with the previous metering rolls. 
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a device for the 
metered discharge of grain at a controlled rate from a drying tower 
containing this grain. The discharge device comprises a discharge floor 
structure for a grain drying tower, said floor structure comprising a 
horizontal floor member having a plurality of substantially uniformly 
spaced apertures of substantially uniform transverse dimensions, said 
apertures being arranged in a plurality of straight rows having a 
plurality of apertures in each row, a tube member extending downwardly 
beneath each said aperture, each said tube member having a bottom end 
closure and a pair of opposed circular openings in the side walls thereof 
with the side wall openings in all tubes in each row being in axial 
alignment, a cylindrical sleeve mounted in each said circular opening and 
a rotatable auger extending axially through each row of sleeves. Also 
extending across the drying tower immediately above said discharge floor 
structure for operative co-operation therewith are a plurality of 
laterally spaced, inverted channel members with open bottoms for 
distributing cooling air into the grain in the tower. The channel members 
in this position prevent any problems of substantial quantites of dust and 
chaff from the grain tending to collect in the tube members and augers. 
Since there can be quite close tolerances between the flight of the auger 
and the periphery of the openings, it will be seen that flow of grain out 
of the vessel can be stopped and started with great accuracy and the rate 
of flow can also be controlled with great accuracy. Moreover, since the 
auger is supported by each tube, it will be seen that if all augers in a 
dryer are rotated at a uniform speed, the particulate material will emerge 
at an absolutely uniform rate from all tubes. Furthermore, with the augers 
simply resting within the tube side wall openings, no cumbersome support 
hangers, etc. are required. 
For a large commercial dryer, the tubes are normally arranged in parallel 
rows with a single auger extending laterally through all tubes in each 
row. In this way the tubes can be substantially uniformly spaced across 
the entire bottom of the dryer. 
The location and design of the cooling air delivery channels are also 
important features of this invention. Thus, the dryer can be used for the 
direct drying of grain as harvested without any precleaning, with the 
result that considerable amounts of chaff, dust, etc. are contained in the 
grain. It has been found in certain designs of dryers that considerable 
amounts of this dust and chaff tends to accumulate within the discharge 
floor tubes and thereby interfer with the uniform discharge of grain 
through the augers. Of course, in order to have a uniform drying of the 
grain in the tower, the columnar mass of grain must move down through the 
tower in a uniform manner and this means that all of the augers of the 
discharge floor must discharge the grain at a uniform rate. 
Thus, according to one of the features of this invention, by using cooling 
air delivery channels in the form of inverted members with open bottoms 
extending across the drying tower immediately above the discharge floor 
structure, the problem of dust and chaff tending to collect in the tubes 
and augers was avoided. It appears that with this particular 
configuration, the air emerges from the bottoms of the channel members in 
a generally downward direction and then loops upwardly towards the 
discharge floor. However, because of the initial downward movement of the 
cooling air from beneath the channels, some of this downwardly moving air 
is directed into the tubes and this air movement has the effect of 
carrying downwardly any light chaff, dust, etc. which might have a 
tendency to collect in those locations. It has been found that this slight 
entrainment of air is sufficient to eliminate the problem of chaff and 
dust accumulation.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, a commercial dryer includes a tower 10 
constructed in a series of sections including frame members 11, sheet 
metal panels 12, a top 13 and a bottom hopper 14. 
Proceeding from the top of the tower there is provided a wet grain holding 
bin 16 with low and high level indicators 17 for maintaining a proper 
level within the bin. A floor assembly 15 forms the bottom of bin 16 and 
beneath this floor assembly is the drying chamber 18. The bottom of this 
chamber is formed by a floor assembly 19 with down tubes 19a and flow 
metering augers 20, according to the present invention. At a location 
intermediate the floor assembly 15 and the floor assembly 19 is a further 
floor assembly 21 through which exhaust air passes to the outside. 
The bottom portion of the tower 10 is in the form of a dry grain receiving 
hopper 14 at the bottom of which is a grain screw 22 for removing grain 
from the hopper. To maintain an air lock, the grain screw is choke loaded 
and is controlled so as to maintain a depth of grain in the hopper 14 of 
about 90 to 120 cm. 
Cooling air is supplied by way of duct 26 to the bottom of the drying 
chamber from blower unit 24 which is driven by an electric motor 25. 
Hot air is supplied to the upper end of the drying chamber by means of 
blower 27 and electric motor 28. This blower forces ambient air up the 
duct 29 and through burner unit 30 which is connected to a gas supply 31. 
Here the air is heated and the hot air is passed into the drying chamber 
by way of duct 31. The hot air supply system can conveniently be supported 
on a frame structure which can also form a portion of the structure of a 
control room 34. 
The contact of the wet grain with the hot drying air is carried out by 
means of the floor assembly 15, details of which are described in U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,086,708. From FIGS. 3-5, it will be seen that the floor 
assembly includes a bottom plate member 35 with a series of equally spaced 
square openings 36. Extending upwardly and outwardly from the four edges 
of these holes are inclined panel members 37 with the upper edges of the 
panel members of adjacent pairs of holes forming a ridge 38. In this 
fashion the entire floor area is formed of inclined faces having an angle 
greater than the angle of repose of the wet grain. The floor is thereby 
entirely self-cleaning so that there is no necessity to remove any grain 
from the floor manually at the end of a run through the unit. Also, this 
combination of welded, inclined panels act as a reinforcing assembly 
producing a rigid, self-supporting and light-weight floor assembly. 
Connected to the bottom of plate 35 beneath each hole is a square or 
cylindrical delivery tube 39. 
With this system the hot air entering through duct 32 is distributed in the 
spaces between the tubes 39 and comes into direct contact with thin layers 
of cool damp grain being cyclically distributed across the drying chamber 
from the tubes 39. 
A similar floor assembly is used for the air exhaust including a horizontal 
floor plate 40 with a series of equally spaced square holes 41. Connected 
to the bottom of plate 40 beneath each hole 41 is a cylindrical delivery 
tube 42 made of perforated metal. The exhaust air passes through the 
perforations in these tubes and exhausts to the outside through outlets 43 
in the wall of the column. 
The metering floor is described in greater detail in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. The 
basic structure of the floor is similar to that of floor assembly 15 and, 
as will be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7, it includes a bottom plate 45 with a 
series of equally spaced square openings 47. Extending upwardly and 
outwardly from the four edges of these holes are inclined panel members 
46, the upper edges thereof forming ridges 48 to produce a self-cleaning 
floor. Connected to the bottom of plate 45 beneath each hole 47 is a 
cylindrical delivery tube 19a. Across the bottom of each tube 19a is a 
closure plate 49. Each tube 19a includes a pair of laterally opposed holes 
50 and fixed within each hole 50 is a short cylindrical sleeve 50a. The 
auger 20 extends through these sleeves 50 in the manner shown in FIGS. 7 
and 8. These tubes and augers are arranged in parallel rows as will be 
evident from FIG. 1 and are connected to operate at uniform speeds by 
means of a chain drive 52 and sprockets 51 driven by a variable speed 
drive 53. 
The cooling air distribution system is an important feature of this 
invention and includes a series of inverted channels 54 with open bottoms 
extending across the drying chambers a short distance above the discharge 
floor assembly 19. The cooling air is carried across the drying chamber in 
the pockets beneath the channels 54 and the air moves from these pockets 
into the grain bed as shown in FIG. 6. 
According to a preferred embodiment the inverted channels are V-shaped and 
can include short vertical leg portions 56 extending from the lower ends 
of the inverted V-shaped parts for additional strength. The cooling air 
inlut duct 26 connects to a manifold 57 of known type which delivers the 
cooling air into the channels 54 through holes in the wall of the tower 
adjaent the ends of the channels. 
The arrangement and positioning of the channels 54 was found to be an 
important consideration in the proper operation of the discharge auger. 
Thus, the dryer is used for the direct drying of grain as harvested 
without any precleaning, with the result that considerable amounts of 
chaff, dust, etc. are contained in the grain. Initially, cooling air was 
introduced through perforations in the inclined panel members 46 or 
through perforations in the tubes 19a. However, in operation, problems 
were being encountered in that chaff and dust were accumulating within the 
tubes 19a and interfering with the uniform discharge of grain through the 
augers. It is, of course, most important for the grain discharge rate to 
be substantially uniform across all of the tubes 19a so that the columnar 
mass of grain will move down through the dring tower in a uniform manner. 
The solution to the problem of accumulating chaff and dust was found to be 
the arrangement of cooling air channels 54 as shown in FIG. 7. By 
arranging the channel members in the inverted position with the open 
bottoms, the air emerges in a generally downward direction and then loops 
upwardly towards the discharge floor 21. However, because of the initial 
downward movement of the cooling air from beneath the channels 54, some of 
this downwardly moving air is directed into the tubes 19a, having the 
effect of carrying downwardly any chaff, dust, etc. so that it is 
uniformly discharged with the grain. It is believed that when the air was 
introduced through either the panels 46 or the tubes 19a, the upward 
movement of cooling air within the tubes 19a had the effect of holding the 
light chaff and dust so that it accumulated in quantities within the tubes 
19a. The arrangement of channels 54 was found to be a complete solution to 
this problem. 
In terms of maximum efficiency, it is particularly desirable to arrange the 
inverted channels 54 directly over ridges 48 so as to provide a direct 
flow path for the grain into the tubes 19a.