Patent Application
20190248038
The present invention relates generally to a chipping machine for converting a log into chips and to a system for controlling the size of the chips produced.
The processing of logs into wood chips requires an apparatus to remove the bark and limbs from the logs and an apparatus to reduce the partially processed logs into chips. Bark is considered to be a contaminant in the chips, so it is desirable to completely remove all bark prior to the chipping process. Debarking assemblies frequently comprise two or more rotating shafts to which are attached multiple flail chains, and it is common for a debarking assembly to be combined with a wood chipping machine. In a common debarking configuration, logs are introduced into the space between the shafts of the debarking assembly in a direction normal to the axes of rotation of the shafts. Typically, the shafts are arranged so that at least one comprises an upper shaft flail assembly and another a lower shaft flail assembly, although they may be laterally offset from each other so that a log encounters a first flail assembly before it encounters a second. In such a device, the feed line along which the logs are passed through the machine is located between an upper shaft flail assembly and a lower shaft flail assembly. In order to remove the bark and limbs from the log, at least some of the flail chains on the upper shaft must reach down along the sides of the log to at least the mid-point. Similarly, at least some of the flail chains on the lower shaft must reach upwardly along the sides of the log to the mid-point. The length of the flail chains on each shaft is dictated by the size of the smallest log that is expected to be debarked.
The partially processed logs may be processed into chips by a wood chipping machine. The use of such a machine, either in combination with or separately from a debarking apparatus, avoids the environmental and other problems associated with burning trees and brush or with depositing them in a landfill. Furthermore, by reducing wood to chips of a useful size, a wood chipping machine may be employed to produce a valuable chip product.
Wood chips can be used as mulch or fuel. They can also be used as raw material for creating a pelletized fuel product or as raw material in a chemical pulp process. Wood chips that are intended for use as fuel or in a pelletizing process may first need to be dried. It is desirable that such chips have a uniform chip thickness and a high surface area to volume ratio. It is also desirable that chips which are intended for use in a pulp process be of a uniform size. Ideal pulp chips fall into a narrow thickness range so that they can be heated to delignify in a uniform manner. Long and narrow chips and very small chips are undesirable because they can plug the pulp process screens and overheat, thereby damaging the wood fibers and reducing the strength of the pulp.
Most wood chipping machines are either drum chippers or disc chippers. Drum chippers include knives mounted around the circumferential wall of a cylindrical drum that cut across the wood feed stock in a path that varies with respect to the orientation of the grain of the feed stock to the drum. Disc chippers include knives mounted on a rotating disc that cut across the grain of the wood stem generally perpendicular to the direction of the grain. Such machines also include a log advance system that typically comprises an upper feed assembly including at least one upper feed roller located to engage the top of the log to be processed and a plurality of lower feed assemblies including lower feed rollers that engage the bottom and/or sides of the log to be processed. Rotation of the upper and lower feed rollers causes the log to advance into the disc chipper. Disc chippers can create chips of a generally uniform size, but only if certain parameters of the chipping operation are properly controlled.
Best results are achieved by operating a disc-type wood chipping machine in a controlled manner that coordinates the knife extension, the number of knives and the rotational speed of the chipper disc with the speed of the upper feed roller and the feed angle of the tree stem. The speed of the upper feed roller and the lower feed rollers are set so that the tree stem advances at a rate that permits each knife in the rotating disc to pass across the tree stem at a depth predetermined to cut a properly sized chip. If the log feed speed (determined by the rotational rate of the feed rollers) is too slow, the chip size will be too small. If the log feed speed is too fast, the end of the tree stem will prematurely rub against the chipper disc, causing friction and wear. Sometimes when the tree stem is engaged with the chipper disc, the knives will pull the tree stem toward the chipper disc as the knives cut material from the end of the log, thereby misaligning the log with respect to the chipper disc.
In a disc-type wood chipping machine, the chipper disc is positioned so that its cutting face is at an angle to the processing direction of the log as the log is carried into the chipper disc with its log axis parallel to the long axis of the machine. This angle is referred to as the spout angle. The typical spout angle that establishes a desirable chip cutting action is in the range of 30°-40°. At larger spout angles the chip length to thickness ratio decreases and undesirable chip “pins” and “fines” are produced. If the spout angle is too small, the chips are cut nearly parallel to the grain of the log, thereby creating long oversized chips.
Most conventional horizontally fed disc chippers have upper feed rollers that can move upwardly and downwardly to accommodate various diameters of logs to be chipped. Upward movement of the feed roller will occurs when a bigger diameter log arrives at the upper feed roller. Such upward movement of the feed roller will occur only once for each log in order to allow the larger log being accommodated to be carried into the rotating chipper disc.
Because of the need to accommodate large diameter logs, the chipper disc feed opening is large. As a log is cut by the rotating chipper disc knives, the cutting forces tend to pull the end of the log toward the perimeter of the chipper disc and against an anvil wear plate located on the chipper disc perimeter side of the feed opening. Sometimes when a shortened log is advancing through the large feed opening in a position opposite the anvil wear plate, the chipper disc cutting forces can cause the shortened log to pivot toward the anvil side instead of maintaining its log axis in a parallel orientation with the long axis of the machine, because the free end of the shortened log is restrained by the grip of the upper feed roller against the lower feed rollers. The pivoted position of the shortened log results in a shallow spout angle. This is an especially pronounced phenomenon with the last short section of the log.
It would be desirable if a method of operation of a disc-type chipping machine could be developed that would allow a log to maintain a desired spout angle as it is cut by the disc chipper.
Among the advantages of a preferred embodiment of the invention is that it provides a method of operation of a disc-type log chipping machine that controls the feed of each log into the chipper disc in a way that maintains proper processing alignment of the log, maintains appropriate log feed velocity, and significantly reduces the production of oversize chips resulting from chipping at spout angles that are too small.
Other advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from an examination of the drawings and the ensuing description.
The use of the terms “a”, “an”, “the” and similar terms in the context of describing the invention are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising”, “having”, “including” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The terms “substantially”, “generally” and other words of degree are relative modifiers intended to indicate permissible variation from the characteristic so modified. The use of such terms in describing a physical or functional characteristic of the invention is not intended to limit such characteristic to the absolute value which the term modifies, but rather to provide an approximation of the value of such physical or functional characteristic. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise specified herein or clearly indicated by context.
Terms concerning attachments, coupling and the like, such as “connected” and “interconnected”, refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both moveable and rigid attachments or relationships, unless otherwise specified herein or clearly indicated as having a different relationship by context. The term “operatively connected” is such an attachment, coupling or connection that allows the pertinent structures to operate as intended by virtue of that relationship.
The use of any and all examples or exemplary language (e.g., “such as” and “preferably”) herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and the preferred embodiments thereof, and not to place a limitation on the scope of the invention. Nothing in the specification should be construed as indicating any element as essential to the practice of the invention unless so stated with specificity. Several terms are specifically defined herein. These terms are to be given their broadest reasonable construction consistent with such definitions, as follows:
The terms “above”, “upwardly” and similar terms, when used in reference to a relative direction on or with respect to a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, refer to a relative direction that is farther away from the surface on which the machine is placed in order to process logs.
The term “processing direction” refers to the direction of travel of a log for processing through a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine. The processing direction is substantially parallel to the long axis of the frame of a disc-type log chipping machine.
The term “front end” and similar terms refer to the end of a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, which is nearest the point at which a log to be processed is introduced into the machine.
The terms “forward”, “in front of”, and similar terms, as used herein to describe a relative position or direction on or in connection with a log chipping machine, or a combination debarking and chipping machine, or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction towards the front end of the machine.
The terms “back end”, “rear end” and similar terms refer to the end of a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine, or a component or portion of such a machine, which is opposite the front end of the machine, component or portion thereof.
The terms “rearward”, “behind”, and similar terms, as used herein to describe a relative position or direction on or in connection with a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine or a component of such a machine, refer to a relative position or direction towards the rear end of the machine.
The term “actuator” refers to an electric, hydraulic, electro-hydraulic or mechanical device that is adapted to apply a force to a component of a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine with respect to the housing, frame or another component of the machine.
The term “linear actuator” refers to an actuator that generates force which is directed in a straight line. Common examples of linear actuators include double-acting hydraulic or pneumatic actuators which include a cylinder, a piston within the cylinder, and a rod attached to the piston. By increasing the pressure within the cylinder on one side of the piston (over that on the opposite side of the piston), the rod will extend from the cylinder or retract into the cylinder.
The term “log axis” refers to the long axis of a log that is being processed by a log chipping machine or a combination debarking and chipping machine.
The term “orient”, as used in connection with the method of operation to define the relationship between the log axis and the long axis of the frame of the log chipping machine, means to maintain or re-orient the log axis in a substantially parallel relationship with the long axis of the frame as the log is being reduced.
The invention comprises a method for operating a disc-type log chipping machine by controlling the feed of a log into the chipping mechanism in a way that maintains the desired angular orientation of the log, maintains appropriate log feed speed into the chipping mechanism, and significantly reduces the production of oversize chips resulting from chipping at spout angles that are too small.
The disc-type log chipping machine includes a frame having a long axis and a rotating chipping mechanism having an axis of rotation that is oblique to the long axis of the frame. The log chipping machine also includes a log advance system that is adapted to advance a log to the chipping mechanism, in a processing direction that is substantially parallel to the long axis of the frame. This log advance system includes an upper feed assembly. A lifting assembly is adapted to move the upper feed assembly with respect to the frame between an engagement position in which the upper feed assembly contacts the log to advance it towards the chipping mechanism and a raised position in which the upper feed assembly is above and out of contact with the log. A control assembly is operatively connected to the lifting assembly and adapted to cause the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the engagement position to the raised position intermittently as the log is being reduced by the chipping mechanism in order to orient or to maintain the orientation of the log axis in a generally parallel relationship with the long axis of the frame as the log is being reduced.
Preferably, the control assembly includes a controller and a timer, so that the lifting assembly may lift the upper feed assembly at predetermined intervals during operation of the log advance system to advance a log towards the chipping mechanism. The controller causes the lifting assembly to lift the upper feed assembly out of contact with the log and to maintain the upper feed assembly in a lifted position for a predetermined time. Then, the controller will automatically lower the upper feed assembly into engagement with the log. The preferred control assembly includes a controller interface that is operatively attached to the controller and adapted to allow an operator to set a first interval within a first predetermined range of intervals to define the time period between each actuation of the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly to the raised position, and a second interval within a second predetermined range of intervals to define the time period that the upper feed assembly will be maintained in the raised position. The timer insures that the steps of the operating method are carried out in the selected time intervals. Preferably, the first predetermined range of intervals is 1.0-10.0 seconds, and the first interval may be selected in increments of 0.1 second within this first range. It is also preferred that the default interval within the first predetermined range is 3.0 seconds. Furthermore, it is preferred that the second predetermined range of intervals is 1.0-3.0 seconds, and the second interval may be selected in increments of 0.1 second within this second range. The preferred default interval within the second predetermined range is 1.0 second.
The inventors have determined that lifting the upper feed roller at an appropriate time and for an appropriate period of time after it has engaged a log will permit the restrained end of a pivoted shortened log to realign to the desired spout angle and will not adversely affect the chipping operation if the log is properly aligned. Maintaining the correct spout angle significantly reduces the creation of undesirable long oversize chips. The invention comprises a method for automatically controlling the operation of the chipping machine by lifting the upper feed roller periodically after it has engaged a log to allow for re-alignment and re-orientation of a misaligned log, without operator interaction. The method is carried out by a control assembly that will automatically lift the upper feed roller and hold it in an upper position for a predetermined period of time after the upper feed roller has engaged a log. Then, the system will automatically lower the upper feed roller to engage the log again, thus allowing a shortened log to shift over to the correct alignment. It has been found that this brief period during which the upper feed roller is lifted out of contact with the log does not significantly reduce the log feed speed toward the chipper disc.
The invention lies not merely in the ability to lift the upper feed roller but in the recognition that by lifting the upper feed roller at times other than when the log arrives at the feed roller, the stem of the log can be aligned or realigned to the desired spout angle to improve the consistency of chip length. Conventional methods of operation of a log chipping machine maintain contact of the upper feed roller on a log after the upper feed roller first contacts the log through the entire chipping process for that log. In such methods of operation, the upper feed roller can inadvertently cause improper alignment of the log while it is being processed. The invention provides a method of operation by which the upper feed roller is intentionally lifted off a log, regardless of log diameter, at predetermined intervals as the log is being processed, so as to allow for proper alignment of the stem to the “spout angle” to be achieved throughout the chipping process for the log to improve the consistency of chip length. Depending on the length of the log/stem, the feed rate and the time setting of the lifting intervals can permit the lifting/relieving function to occur multiple times as a log is being processed by the chipping mechanism.
In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the preferred embodiments of the invention, as well as the best mode known by the inventors for carrying out the invention, are illustrated in the drawings, and a detailed description thereof follows. It is not intended, however, that the invention be limited to the particular embodiments described or to use in connection with the apparatus illustrated herein. Therefore, the scope of the invention contemplated by the inventors includes all equivalents of the subject matter described herein, as well as various modifications and alternative embodiments such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as seem to them appropriate, including the practice of the invention otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described herein. In addition, any combination of the elements and components of the invention described herein in any possible variation is encompassed by the invention, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly excluded by context.
The presently preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts throughout, and wherein:
This description of the preferred embodiment of the invention is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description of this invention. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, and certain features of the invention may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form in the interest of clarity and conciseness.
As shown in
The lifting assembly comprises a pair of linear actuators 45 and 46 that are attached between frame components of the log chipping machine. Thus, linear actuator 46 is attached between frame component 48 and top bar 44 of upper feed assembly 36. Linear actuator 45 is located on the opposite side of upper feed assembly 36 from actuator 46 and is also disposed between a frame component of the log chipping machine (not shown, but substantially similar to frame component 48) and top bar 44 in the same angular configuration as that of actuator 46 (best shown in
A control assembly, such as control assembly 52 shown in
Preferably, the control assembly is adapted to cause the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the engagement position to the raised position for a first predetermined time interval and to maintain the upper feed assembly at the raised position for a second predetermined time interval, at the end of which second predetermined time interval the controller will cause the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the raised position to the engagement position. After the lifting assembly has moved the upper feed assembly from the raised position to the engagement position and thereafter a predetermined engagement period of time has elapsed, the control assembly will preferably cause the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the engagement position to the raised position. Preferably, this sequence of movement is repeated during the entire chipping operation.
It is also preferred that the control assembly comprise a programmable controller which is operatively connected to a controller interface that an operator may use to set a first interval within a first predetermined range of intervals to define the time period between each actuation of the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly to the raised position and a second interval within a second predetermined range of intervals to define the time period that the upper feed assembly will be maintained in the raised position, and a timer for measuring the first interval and the second interval. Furthermore, it is preferred that the first predetermined range of intervals is 1.0-10.0 seconds, and that the first interval may be selected in increments of 0.1 second within this first range. It is also preferred that the second predetermined range of intervals is 1.0-3.0 seconds, and that the second interval may be selected in increments of 0.1 second within this second range. The inventors have found that very good results can be obtained when the controller will cause the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the engagement position to the raised position every 3.0 seconds and will hold the upper feed assembly at the raised position for 1.0 seconds, after which the controller will move the upper feed assembly from the raised position to the engagement position.
The invention comprises a method for operating a disc-type log chipping machine having a lifting assembly and a rotating chipping mechanism as described herein, to reduce a log having a log axis. The method comprises operating the rotating chipping mechanism, advancing the log to the chipping mechanism and causing the lifting assembly to move the upper feed assembly from the engagement position to the raised position intermittently as the log is being reduced by the chipping mechanism. Preferably, the method includes causing the log advance system to stop advancing the log to the chipping mechanism while the upper feed assembly is in the raised position. It is also preferred that the upper feed assembly be moved from the engagement position to the raised position every 3.0 seconds and that the upper feed assembly be held at the raised position for 1.0 seconds, after which time, the upper feed assembly is moved from the raised position to the engagement position.
The inventors have found that lifting the upper feed assembly at an appropriate time and for an appropriate period of time will permit the restrained end of a pivoted shortened log to realign to the desired spout angle and will not adversely affect the chipping operation if the log is properly aligned. The automatic control system of a preferred embodiment of the invention will lift the upper feed assembly periodically to allow for re-alignment of a misaligned log, and will hold the upper feed assembly in a raised position for a short period of time. Then, the system will automatically lower the upper feed assembly so that its feed roller will engage the log, thus allowing a shortened log to shift over to the correct alignment. It has been found that this brief period during which the upper feed assembly is lifted out of engagement with the log does not significantly reduce the log feed speed toward the chipping mechanism.
Although this description contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of the presently preferred embodiments thereof, as well as the best mode contemplated by the inventors of carrying out the invention. The invention, as described and claimed herein, is susceptible to various modifications and adaptations, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention relates.
This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/241,787, which was filed on Aug. 19, 2016 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/213,479 which was filed on Sep. 2, 2015.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62213479 | Sep 2015 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15241787 | Aug 2016 | US |
| Child | 16394760 | US |
