Generally, the control of thin-layer grain drying is done based on weighing the samples, periodically removing the sample from the dryer and taking it to a precision scale in order to determine, by the difference in weight, the amount of water removed from the product during the process. This operation is the main source of error in determining drying rates, due to the interruption of the drying process or the sample losses during the weighing stage. In this work, the automation of thin-layer grain drying control is proposed through the use of a system based on a load cell and on addressable electronic devices. The results are recorded in a file and compared with the final pre-defined values for the drying process. The process is terminated when there is no significant difference between the measured values and the pre-defined ones. The proposed system was tested and validated, resulting in reliable data, with high accuracy and excellent performance.
drying; automation; addressable electronic devices