Drying bin floor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG.
1 illustrates a partial perspective view of a grain bin 2 having a concrete base floor 4 and a circular wall 6, typically formed of corrugated sheet metal, with the supported grain bin floor system 7 also typically formed of sheet metal and which is the subject of this invention.
The supported floor system 7 includes two designs of panels 8 each having perforations 9 (punch-perforated or slit-perforated) to provide for the passage of conditioning air, e.
g.
, drying and/or cooling air.
This air is conveyed into the bin by a fan 30, which may include a heater 32 located outside the bin, and enters the bin through a port-hole 28.
The air passes into the plenum 10 below the panels 8 and up through the perforations into and through grain (not shown) stored in the bin on the supported floor system 7.
A gripping notch or opening 5 is formed near the end of each panel 8 for engagement by a gripping tool or means (not shown) to align or lift a desired panel 8.
Such openings are either small enough to prevent leakage of grain therethrough, or may be provided with readily removable covers.
FIG.
2 shows an exploded sectional front view of the supported floor system 7 taken along line 2--2 of FIG.
1.
In this illustration the two designs of panels 8 are shown, that is, the C-shaped panel 11 with a central panel plank portion 12 and uniform inwardly turned channels or flanges 14 running longitudinally along the opposite sides of the plank portion 12, and the hat-shaped panel 16 with a central panel plank portion 18 and uniform outwardly turned channels or flanges 20 running longitudinally along the opposite sides of the plank portion 18.
A partial perspective view of a hat-shaped panel 16 is shown in FIG.
3 and a partial perspective view of a C-shaped panel 11 is shown in FIG.
4.
The inwardly turned flanges 14 of the C-shaped panel 11 are designed to be fit into the outwardly turned channels 20 of the hat-shaped panels 16.
To accomplish this, the outside width WI of each inwardly turned channel 14 is somewhat less than the outside width WO of each outwardly turned channel 20, i