GRAIN STORAGE METHOD AND APPARATUS Russian patent published in 2004 - IPC

FIELD: agriculture, in particular, drying of grain by active ventilation with the use of outer or heated air. SUBSTANCE: method involves active ventilation with layer-by-layer charging of grain as each previous layer is slightly heated; charging grain previously heated in lowered layer having thickness Δ of 0.25-0.35 m, with lower values of Δ being set at continuous movement mode and higher value being set at periodic movement mode; periodically recirculating and ventilating grain during storage; in case of grain self-heating by more than 2 C above temperature background, cooling grain. For slight drying, fresh as well as used drying agent is used until conditional moisture content is reached, followed by single or multiple grain charging. Activating or inhibiting gaseous components are used for drying and storage. Grain drying and storage apparatus has annular working chamber with inner and outer perforated walls. Working chamber is equipped with annular air-permeable wall dividing its cavity into outer slight drying chamber provided with grain passage gap and inner finish drying chamber having outer wall radius , where Q is feed rate of fan 3, cu.m/hour; H is height of working chamber, m; q_min is minimal specific feed rate dependent upon thickness of blown-through grain layer and grain moisture content; γ is filled grain weight, t/cu.m. Slight drying chamber and finish drying chamber are connected with charging and discharge devices and equipped with valves for individual filling and emptying of said chambers. Outer perforated wall is enclosed in housing. EFFECT: reduced power consumption and provision for uniform grain drying. 8 cl, 1 dwg