Automation of Control of Technological Process of Storage in a Granary with Horizontal Silos

Grain storage and processing is the most important component of the grain market infrastructure. The task of grain storage is to ensure complete safety of quantity and quality with minimal labor and money costs. In the laboratory of the M. Kozybayev North Kazakhstan University, a prototype of an innovative type of grain storage was developed using horizontal silos, designed to reduce the cost of construction and reconstruction of elevators while improving quality, increasing storage times and reducing current storage costs. The design feature makes it possible to automate most of the operations of the technological process of grain storage. This article proposes a method for the automated formation of control actions on grain storage equipment as a result of data analysis from temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide level sensors and 3D measurements of the grain surface. A project of an automated system for monitoring and controlling grain storage facilities with horizontal silos has been developed. A distinctive feature of the proposed automated system is the most complete set of conditions for the correct storage of grain in comparison with other control systems for the technological process of a granary. Automation of work is achieved through the developed method for generating control signals, as well as such computational algorithms as forecasting the completion time of loading based on the conditional filling rate of the grain storage section, forecasting the completion time of unloading based on the conditional grain release rate, calculating the grain volume in the section using 3D measurements. The logic of the functioning of the basic algorithms for an automated monitoring and control system for a granary with horizontal silos is based on the analysis of the parameters of temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide level and 3D measurements of the grain surface in the sections of the granary. In the presented project of an automated system, scientific knowledge and achievements in the field of grain storage and the theory of identification measurements were taken into account, which makes it possible to use the described algorithms in information systems for monitoring grain storage facilities of other types.