Technological features at middle and large-ranking saw mills, according to current Russian labour market, make usage of automated timber sorting lines relevant and economical viable. They split up, according to their functionality, into green sorting line and dry sorting line. The line includes feeding device – backfall, device of feeding individual boards, levelling conveyor, measuring transporter with section of grade estimation and ordering, crosscut saw and trimmer, sorting transporter with kickers and accumulating pockets for boards, discharge conveyor, batching machine.
All actuators of sorting line are controlled by automated control systems. Specialists of OOO “AVTOMATIKA-VEKTOR” are well-experienced in developing and implementation of automated control systems for timber sorting lines, both for the new lines (for example, Kit-Sell, Hekotek), and modernization and adaptation (Russian language support) of control systems of existed lines or being installed reclaimed lines, removed abroad. Often the existed sorting line can’t provide certain performance and meet the changed requirements of quality precisely because of obsolete control system. In such case installation of new control system improves the performance. According to such scheme within the long period of time we modernized control systems at lines produced by VALMET, PLAN-SELL, SATEKA, OODEN etc., which are located at different sawmills.
Great attention on sawmills is payed to the more effective wood processing, the goal is to get the maximum value from each piece of wood material. The great part of work is doing by operator, he must visually, during long period of time, measure boards going through with the speed up to 60 pcs per minute according to several criteria: size of wane edge, flaws, knots, sided and end shakes, worms etc. Usually, operator, because of fear to be wrong, generate the order for cross-cut for more than enough, saw more that it needed. Line operational efficiency (and the whole sawmill) depends on professional competencies of operator, his iredness and speed of his work. Elimination of these factors by means of quality and wane automatic identification system allows increase the cost of production for 3.4% made from the same amount of wood material. But such systems are rather expensive and repaid within a reasonable period of time installed on high-speed lines with annual capacity from 100 000 m³ of timber. The automatic optimizer of wane cutting is more useful at middle-ranking saw mills. Sorting Program includes initial data of required boards’ parameters, allowable wane and production cost. The cross-section of board is being scanned with highly precision in set of points through the length of board, is being defined the whole geometrical shape of board by the VECTOR LMS system, after that program generate order for the cross-cut of each board taking into account the highest cost. As useful and important addition – control over all geometrical tolerance on timber. Operator accounts only the quality of board that is not a heavy workload. Impact of implementation of such system is valuable.
