Patent ID: 7856737

Claim:
An apparatus for reducing a moisture content of an agricultural product, the apparatus comprising: a dryer passing the agricultural product through a drying chamber, the drying chamber having an inlet and an outlet; a flow regulator varying a flow of the agricultural product through the drying chamber; a first moisture sensor exposed to the agricultural product flowing through the inlet and obtaining an inlet moisture content; a first temperature sensor exposed to the agricultural product flowing through the inlet and obtaining an inlet temperature; a second moisture sensor exposed to the agricultural product flowing through the outlet and obtaining an outlet moisture content; a second temperature sensor exposed to the agricultural product flowing through the outlet and obtaining an outlet temperature; an energy regulator in combination with the dryer, the energy regulator varying an output of an energy source; and a controller operatively connected with the flow regulator, the first moisture sensor, the first temperature sensor, the second moisture sensor, the second temperature sensor and the energy regulator, the controller determining a product flowrate as a function of the inlet moisture content, the inlet temperature, the outlet moisture content, the outlet temperature and an energy input, and the controller determining the energy input as a function of the inlet moisture content, the inlet temperature, the outlet moisture content, the outlet temperature and the product flowrate.