Desenvolvimento de um protótipo de secador infravermelho e de uma ferramenta computacional para auxiliar as empresas de beneficiamento de grãos na obtenção de curvas de secagem

Abstract

Technological innovation is a means of making businesses more competitive, because improvements in process at the plant, the design of products and processes can reduce costs and / or make products more attractive to consumers .Currently, there are advances in the development of new drying techniques, such as using solar energy, ultrasound, microwaves and infrared waves. The grain processing industries using convective dryers, which use air heated by burning some fuel, the removal of seed moisture. Accordingly, we developed a prototype dryer using infrared waves described step by step as well as the costs of installation and application in the drying malt maize. The drying occurred between 41 and 69 ° C. A program in Java to simulate drying grain, wherein the drying models Brooker, Lewis and Thompson & Singh are inserted Wang 's another innovation developed in this work. The results showed that the total cost to produce the dryer was R $ 442.24 per unit, being 3-36 times cheaper and 2.5 times faster in removing moisture than ordinary dryers (convective) commercialized in Brazil . The simulator proved to be able to be used to obtain the drying curves of any grain , and for the data tested , the model of Thompson et al. (1968) was the most adjusted. Thus, it is believed that contributed to the grain processing businesses, the generation of two innovative products that can assist them in their seeds drying process.