Operational Techniques for Tracking Bulk Grain through Handling Systems and Supply Chains

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Operational Techniques for Tracking Bulk Grain
through Handling Systems and Supply Chains

• Maitri Thakur
• Graduate Research Assistant
• Agricultural Biosystems Engineering
• Iowa State University, Ames, IA
• August 27, 2007

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Traceability in Bulk Grain Handling

• Commingling of grain lots
• Lot identity not maintained

Source A
Source B
Source C
Common Storage Silo
Manufacturing Plant
Cookies
Source Food and Drug Administration
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Research Objectives

• Simulation modeling of grain flow patterns
• FIFO First In, First Out (Mass Flow)
• LIFO Last In, First Out (Funnel Flow)
• NIFO Next In, First Out (Simultaneous Bin
  emptying and filling with Funnel Flow)
• Grain Inventory Management
• Electronic record-keeping of bulk material in a
  grain elevator

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LIFO Grain Flow Model

• Grain and Bin Specifications
• Shape Cylindrical, Flat-bottom, Bottom-draw
• Diameter (D) 15 feet (4.6 m)
• Opening diameter (d) 30 cm (0.3 m)
• Grain Soybeans
• Angle of Repose (T) 35
• Coefficient of friction (c) 0.3
• Bulk Density (?) 770 Kg/m3
• Mass Flow Rate 170 bu/min
• ( ASABE D274.1
• Flow of Grain and Seeds Through Orifices)

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Grain Forces
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Differential Equations

• Forces acting on m1
• m1g ?gAh Fc - Fcm1d2x/dt2 . (1)
• dm1/dt ?Adx/dt . (2)
• dm2/dt dm1/dt 2dm1s/dt . (3)
• c1 m1/(m1m2) . (4)
• c2 m2/(m1m2) . (5)
• where,
• c1 Proportion of mass m1 in outbound load
• c2 Proportion of mass m2 in outbound load

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Simulink Model
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Simulation Results
m1 2000 bu m2 2000 bu
m1 2000 bu m2 1000 bu
m1 2000 bu m2 500 bu
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Simulation model Results

• Proportions of loads m1 and m2 in the outbound
  load can be determined at any given time
• Proportion of m1 decreases and m2 increases with
  increasing time
• As m2 empties out, proportion of m1 starts
  increasing exponentially till it reaches an
  equilibrium value
• Model needs to be tested for real elevator bin
  data

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FC Bin Tracker
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FC Bin Tracker
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FC Bin Tracker
No ID for trucks recorded !!
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FC Bin Tracker
?
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Available vs. Required Information

• Available
• Inbound Grain ID
• Inbound Bin ID
• Inbound quality parameters
• Outbound grain quantity
• Partial records for
• in-house grain movement
• daily grain log
• grain movement for different FC locations

• Required
• Complete in- house grain movement log
• Accurate bin-to-bin log (precise air-space
  measurements)
• Inbound bin-to-truck log in case of truck
  overloads
• FC location-to-location grain log (inbound and
  outbound)
• All bushels should be accounted for

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Possible Solutions

• Divide the bin in horizontal layers
• Date time to establish grain position within
  bin
• Assign a unique ID to each layer
• Follow Grain Flow simulation to determine amount
  of inbound loads in a given outbound load
• Assign ID to the piles
• Record all grain movement (piles, drying,
  overloaded trucks, etc)

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Solution

• Relational Database Management System

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Elevator Grain Traceability Scenario

• Entities
• Activity date and time
• Scale Ticket (Grain ID)
• Grain (corn or soybeans)
• Bin ID
• Inbound
• Outbound
• Transferred Bushels
• Grain Origin
• Grain Destination

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Elevator Grain Traceability Scenario

• Relationships for different entities
• A bin can contain grain from different sources
  i.e. a bin can contain different scale tickets
• A scale ticket corresponds to an activity date
  and time
• Bushels can be transferred from one bin to others
  
• Transferred bushels (out) can have one
  destination
• Transferred bushels (in) can have one origin

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Elevator Grain Traceability Scenario

• Database questions
• What bin contains grain corresponding to a
  particular scale ticket?
• What are all the locations for the outbound grain
  from a given scale-ticket/ grain ID?
• What bin contains the grain transferred from a
  particular overloaded truck?
• . ?

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Elevator Grain Traceability Scenario

• Microsoft Access can be used
• Primary Key Scale ticket (Date and time stamp)

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Grain Traceability Relationships
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Conclusions (Further Steps)

• Develop a database for record keeping
• Update grain tracking model for
• multiple grain layers in the bin
• different bin specifications
• different grains
• Combine the database and tracking simulation
  model to create a Bulk Grain Traceability Model
• Expand the database and simulation model to
  include the supply chain network