The study was conducted to design, fabricate, and evaluate the performance of the automated laboratory-scale flatbed rice dryer in terms of mean drying capacity, moisture reduction per hour, drying efficiency, dried seeds' viability, or ability to germinate. Aside from the performance evaluation, a simple cost analysis was also conducted. The main structure of the automated laboratory-scale flatbed dryer has a length of 1,000 mm, width of 500 mm, and a height of 700 mm. It has five (5) basic components: drying bin, 1.1 kW electric heater, 10" centrifugal type blower, 1.5 hp electric motor, and an automatic power shut-off system. At an average drying temperature of 44.28°C±0.56°C of the flatbed dryer, the results showed that the mean drying capacity of the automated laboratory-scale flatbed dryer was about 19 kg/h, the mean moisture reduction per hour was about 4.03 kg/h, the mean drying efficiency of approximately 66%, and mean germination rate of the dried grains of approximately 89%, which was above the acceptable Philippine National Standard of at least 85%. The average power consumption of the flatbed dryer is about 2.2 kWh. Furthermore, the simple cost analysis showed that the dryer has a breakeven of about 10, 145 kg of dried rice grains annually, a return on investment of approximately 75% and an estimated payback period of about 16 operating months.

Thesis (Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering - AB Process Engineering)

Includes bibliographical references and appendices