Hello
from the 'Chief' HITMAN
Peter
Carter
Much has happened since we circulated the last 'User Forum' and our mission remains to bring you real technology solutions that add significant value to your business. For nearly ten years the HITMAN range of products has been expanded across different parts of the green wood supply chain and we are excited to announce the arrival of the HITMAN PH330 Processor Head Sonic Tool to our offering. After 5 years of development the HITMAN PH330 was successfully trialed in Scotland in February this year and is now being installed as a beta unit into harvest operations. This brings both forest owners and mill operations the benefit of segregating their wood supply at source, based on a real wood quality measure, and most importantly cutting the log to the right length for trucking to the right process. This HITMAN PH330 product is retrofitable into a variety of processor head types with minimal operational downtime or cost. We look forward to working with a number of your to bring the benefit of this revolutionary technology to your operations.
At the stump, log and stem segregation
from Nigel Sharplin, Fibre-gen
The best time to measure log quality is before log making. Optimiser systems applied to many late model processor heads measure taper and diameter automating many of the dimensional based decision making processes that would otherwise be left up to the operator. Now for the first time ever the new HITMAN PH330 processor head sonic tool provides harvest operations with the ability to measure the stiffness properties of each log prior to cutting it to length.
Fiber-gen's Hitman ST300 hand tool has shown strong correlations with structural grade out turn from selected stands and enables the average stiffness of logs supplied to structural mills to be increased by up to 30%. This same technology when applied to the processor head enables 'real time' segregation of logs from both within the stand and within the length of each stem. One application of the PH330 is to segregate stems upon felling to enable stiffness-based motor manual log making without needing to take a HM200 measure on the skid site.
Fibre-gen has been working on this new development for 5 years now in collaboration with US and UK based wood research groups,has run a successful trial in Scotland, and is introducing beta-prototypes to New Zealand and Australian lead users.
For further information please contact
us.
Published research from Wisconsin: 'Assessing wood quality of borer-infested red oak logs with a resonance acoustic technique'
from Xiping Wang, Henry E. Stelzer, Jan Wiedenbeck, Patricia K. Lebow, and Robert J. Ross
Large numbers of black oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) and scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea Muenchh.) trees are declining and dying in the Missouri Ozark forest as a result of oak decline. Red oak borer-infested trees produce low-grade logs that become extremely difficult to merchandize as the level of insect attack increases. The objective of this study was to investigate the use of a resonance-based acoustic technique to evaluate the wood quality of infested red oak logs before processing as measured by grade, type and location of defects, and mechanical properties of the resulting boards. Principal component and canonical correlation analyses revealed that relationships do exist between log acoustic measurement and board grade yield, and between a linear combination of log acoustic velocity and diameter at breast height and a linear combination of board defect measurements. Although the acoustic technique was found capable of assessing wood quality at a stand level, the major advantage of the technique lies in segregating logs within the stand.
You can read the full article in Wood and Fiber Science 41(2), 2009, pp.180-193, or contact
us for a copy.
HITMAN
in use around the world
Measuring moisture content in woodfuel logs using acoustic tools
from Peter Carter, Fibre-gen
Fuelwood is becoming an increasingly valuable resource from forest harvesting operations as more and more biofuel is used to meet bio-energy demands. A critical aspect of the use of roundwood for bio-energy is the measurement of moisture content prior to hogging. Roundwood is often stored in the forest until moisture content drops enough to be suitable for burning, but how can the moisture content be easily measured.
Standard capacitance instruments do not work effectively above fibre saturation point, but measures of acoustic speed can be used to derive moisture content. Precise measures of change in moisture content can be derived by comparing acoustic speed on sample logs at successive times, and useful indicative measures can be derived from single sample times.
For more information about assessing moisture content of logs for fuelwood using acoustic tools, contact us and we will get some more detail to you.
Value chain optimisation conference
from Nigel Sharplin
Recent Wood Supply Chain Optimisation Conferences were held in Rotorua, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia and attended by around 100 participants at each location. The program highlighted many innovations and spotlighted developments to enhance efficiency and profitability.
Several presentations showed increasing payloads and innovating with clever designs for log truck configurations are contributing to savings, but despite this in some situations the cost of log trucking can still get up to almost half the delivered log cost.
High stiffness logs are often trucked long distances, passing other mills on the way, while equivalent quality logs can now be identified and extracted from within stands much closer to the mill. Savings of $10 - $20/m3 can be captured by supplying best quality Hitman identified logs to the nearest mill, and eliminating these costly long hauls.
For more information please contact us.
HITMAN LG640 improvements
Hitman LG640 delivers 6% more MSG8 and more. With the current price of logs and a growing demand for structural sawn timber, sawmills are expressing interest log quality measures. Mills like Waimea Sawmill in Nelson, who have been operating the HITMAN LG640 for over three years now to measure the stiffness of logs on the infeed to their mill, have achieved an average of 6% higher yield of MSG8. This is worth almost $24,000 per month for this 50,000 m3 round-wood saw mill. By providing the head rig operator with the sonic velocity of each log, they are able to adjust the saw cut pattern to box out more or less of the core wood and make accurate decisions about whether to cut wides.
Understanding the importance of automating log processing decisions, Fibre-gen is now working to integrate the HITMAN LG640 log sonic velocity into a number of form scanner optimisers to enable saw cut pattern to be adjusted automatically, log by log, based on its sonic value.
The HITMAN LG640 can also provide scanning in the log yard to enable logs to be automatically sorted based on wood quality for subsequent batch sawing. This strategy is being applied successfully in a large New Zealand operation where log supplies are verified to meet the quality specification in supply contracts. Typically the variation in sonic speed in any stand varies by 0.8km/s, which means that the stiffest logs are likely to be twice as stiff as the weakest. Mill operators now have the ability to control and manage stiffness in their log supply in real time.
These benefits are available now, so if you are considering a log grader contact us and we will be happy to provide you with more detail.
Feedback
- from Oregon
Dr Keith Jayawickrama, Director of the Northwest Tree Improvement Cooperative based at Oregon State University said "I spent a good part of yesterday thumping logs in a Douglas-fir field trial with the HM200. I like the tool.. A good piece of Kiwi engineering. Does it matter which end of a log one hits, as long as the taper is moderate? eg if the log is 10 inches at one end and 8 inches at the other. Seems to me it should make no difference."
See "Tips for users; HM200" above for the answer.
We are still looking for more stories about what you are achieving with your HITMAN tools, and any questions. And send us some pictures to share! If we all share how we are using the tools everyone will benefit. We look forward to hearing from you and welcome your feedback...
