DESIGN MANUFACTURE A GRAIN DRYING MACHINE BASED ON PLTA

Abstract

Particularly in the Village of Pool, Percut Sei Tuan District, rice is one of the agricultural products, where the current season is uncertain which results in problems in drying rice/grain, although currently there are grain dryers with the help of heating from the combustion process which can cause air pollution. , and even then the tool is still rarely owned by the farmers. Therefore researchers want to design a grain dryer that can be used at any time, with the drying process using the conversion of electrical energy into heat as a producer of hot air and a more automatic tool using a hydroelectric power source as a source of electricity. This PLTA-based grain dryer is controlled using a microcontroller with a diameter of 50 cm as a drying tube, and an air heater as a hot air generator. The grain in the drying tube will be stirred during the drying process with a vane-shaped stirrer, so that the grain can be evenly distributed during drying. The capacity of the tool is 1 – 3 kg, the drying time and also the drying temperature can be adjusted as needed. If the drying time setting has been met, the grain output door will open automatically with the help of a sliding door driven by a dc motor. In the tool tests that have been carried out, the tool is able to reduce the average grain moisture content by up to 3.5% per hour, at a heating temperature setting of 40˚C - 50˚C and a capacity of 1 – 3 Kg. For the use of electric power in drying at this temperature is ± 0.25 KWh every 1 hour.