KEEPING THE GRAIN DRY

In February 2013 it will be thirty years since the installation of the first Svegma drier in the UK. This was the first of over 650 that have now been sold nationally. One of the first driers sold in 1983 was to Mr Goodall in Derby - and it is still operating today. The attached photo shows three Svegma driers at Weald Granary in Kent, where the first was installed in 1987 and the third in 2011. Svegma driers are distributed in the UK by BDC Systems. The principle of operation of the Svegma driers, pulse roller or shutter discharge, is still used as this provides a positive movement of grain in the drying column when discharging. The size, shape and position of the laterals in the main column, with only a slightly modified and improved system of fixing them in the grain column, is the same as it was 30 years ago. This proves that it was the correct design from day one. With no fixings inside the drying column, it is particularly suitable for seed crops and malting barley. With improved fan performance, moving from 1000mm diameter to 1250mm diameter fans in most cases, and more efficient two or three stage and fully modulating oil and gas burners, Svegma driers remain the leading one mixed flow drier on the UK market. The only real change has been the improvement of the drier control panel. With the development of new technology, three years ago BDC Systems introduced a new touch screen control panel, giving the end user a superior management tool. Data, such as drying times, dates, temperatures settings (both actual and set points), fuel and electric consumption where the appropriate meter is also fitted, capacities per hour and alarms are automatically recorded. They can be downloaded in Excel format, for ACCS records. Remote viewing and operation of the drier panel has also been achieved with a simple App for a mobile phone or tablet. Temperature and discharge rates can be altered remotely, as well as providing the facility to put the drier into shutdown mode. With driers ranging from two to eight metres wide and with capacities from five to over one hundred tonnes per hour, there is a Svegma drier that fits every situation.

For more information on KEEPING THE GRAIN DRY talk to BDC Systems Ltd