Productivity of the Supply System Based on Whole-Tree Bundling (original) (raw)
Related papers
Truck transportation and chipping productivity of whole trees and delimbed energy wood in Finland
Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering
The present study aims to evaluate the competitiveness of various supply systems of smalldiameter wood harvested from young stands for fuel. Trees were harvested for the cost comparison either as (i) multi-stem delimbed shortwood or (ii) as whole trees or (iii) the harvesting was based on bundle-harvesting using the Fixteri II bundle harvester. The cutting of whole trees and multi-stem delimbed shortwood was carried out using a conventional harvester head equipped with multi-tree-handling accessories. Forwarding was carried out using a standard medium-sized forwarder. The comparison of procurement costs was done at stand level as a function of breast height diameter (5-13 cm) and on-road transportation distance (5-160 km). The harvested wood was chipped either at a roadside landing or at a terminal using a trailermounted drum chipper. The comparison of the supply systems was done using recently published productivity parameters and data obtained from complementary field studies repo...
Operational Analysis of Forestry Transportation Using Self-loading Trucks in a Mountainous Region
Floresta e Ambiente, 2018
This research was conducted in wood harvesting and transportation areas in the mountainous region of Espírito Santo, Brazil, aiming to analyze the road transportation of forestry wood operations with self-loading trucks. The study identified and evaluated the times, average speed, mechanical availability, level of use and operating efficiency of three different designs of self-loading trucks. According to the results, there was no statistical difference between the vehicles regarding average speed. The highest mechanical availability was found in truck A (93.2%), followed by B (84.3%) and C (79.8%). The greater degree of utilization was found in truck B (91.8%), with little variation between vehicles C (90.0%) and A (89.9%). The highest operating efficiency was observed in truck A (83.9%), followed by B (77.4%) and C (71.8%). We concluded that self-loading truck A was the most efficient.
Journal of Forest Science, 2013
Increasing productivity and reducing cost in long-distance transportation have become increasingly important in the logistics of forest harvesting operations. This paper presents the research results of the performance of loading with Volvo 4500 BM and timber trucking using two types of common trucks in the Nav watershed in Iran. Both trucks can carry logs shorter than 7.8 m in length. The study used a time study based on empirical data for loads collected from one procurement district in the Nav watershed. The models included the following explanatory factors: driving distance, number of logs, and load volume. The time consumption and productivity of loading and timber trucking depends on several variables such as volume and number of logs per cycle. To evaluate the current transportation system in the Nav watershed, the empirical time study was conducted. Since transportation includes several phases and since many factors affect the work performance, significant variation in the t...
Transport of Technical Roundwood by Forwarder and Tractor Assembly from Poplar Plantations
This article presents the results of a research dealing with operating efficiency of articulated and tractor assemblies in the plots of poplar plantations in which different means of work were used for felling and cross-cutting. The aim was to study the effects of the arrangement of wood assortments on the driving speed of the vehicle, the time needed to load and manipulate the vehicle and the overall working efficiency of forwarders. The research was carried out in Vojvodina, in the area of PE »Vojvodina šume«. Altogether 170 transport cycles were recorded and 2166.73 m3 transported. The research results show that the forwarder moved faster on the felling site where the felling and cross-cutting operations were carried out by a harvester. The speed was 10% higher and it took 5% less time to load the forwarder. The differences were considerably greater concerning the manipulation time (maneuvering and positioning the vehicle during the loading). The driving speed decreased with an increase in the load volume. Fuel consumption was lower in the felling site where a harvester was used for felling. Under the same working conditions, the tractor assembly achieved better productivity because it drove at considerably higher speeds. The differences in the average load volume were not so great, which significantly affected the productivity of the tractor assembly. The initial hypothesis that a forwarder achieves better working efficiency in the felling site, where a harvester has been used in the operations of felling and cross-cutting, was confirmed.
2021
Transport of wood biomass is one of the key operations in forestry and in the wood industry. An important part is the transport of shredded wood, where the most common forms are chips and sawdust. The aim of the research was to present the variability of the total weight of trucks (gross vehicle weight, GVW), the weight of the empty trucks (tare), and loads of chips and sawdust in different periods of the year. Changes in specific parameters were analyzed: GVW; tare weight; trailer capacity; use of the trailer load capacity; bulk volume and bulk density of wood biomass loads; solid cubic meter (m3) and weight of 1m3 of the load; and load weight depending on the season, with simultaneous measurements of wood chips and sawdust moisture. More than 250 transports from four seasons of the year were analyzed in the research. It was found that the total weight of trucks (GVW) was at a comparable level, on average from 39.42 to 39.64 Mg with slight differences (with SD 0.29 and 0.39). The w...
Fully mechanized timber harvesting systems are generally characterized by a high operational performance being widespread and used across many regions. Such systems are adaptable to different levels of operational integration, enabling also the recovery of energy wood, but given integration configurations affect their performance. A production study was carried out in a Norway spruce clear-cut aiming to investigate the performance of a mid-sized harvester-forwarder system in general, and the effect that fuelwood recovery from tree tops may have on its performance. Data was collected in the field during 11 days of observation using state-of-art equipment and software. Harvester's operations were monitored using a digital camera. Data refined from 27.5 filmed hours that accounted for 1045 felled and fully processed trees was used to model and compute its performance indicators. In addition, fuel consumption data was sampled in the field. The results indicated that a delay-free cycle time consumption was affected by variables characterizing the tree size. The net production rate was estimated to about 26.5 m 3 • h-1 , being substantially affected by supplementary treetop processing. Forwarding operations were monitored using a handheld computer and a Global Positioning System unit. The delay free cycle time consumption was affected by forwarding distance and the amount of loaded wood, resulting in a net production rate of about 19.2 m 3 • h-1. Under these circumstances, the forwarding performance matched the harvester's outputs for an extraction distance of about 100 m, indicating that the supplementary processing of the treetops had no effect on the system's productive performance in the studied conditions. Most likely , it affected the harvester's fuel consumption given its proportion of 9% in the delay-free harvester's cycle time. The results also indicated a mean fuel consumption of about 1.7 l • m-3 for the studied harvesting system.
A New Slash Bundling Concept for Use in a Southern US Logging System
Forest Products Journal
John Deere's biomass bundler unit is an effective machine for harvesting forest residues, which can be used as a source of fuelwood and/or a feedstock for biofuel production. This project explored an avenue that could supply a promising source of readily available energy in southeastern forested lands. Typical southern harvesting operations consist of whole-tree harvesting in which trees are felled and then skidded to a landing. Limbs and tops are usually either deposited over the landscape or piled in windrows. The biomass bundler captures the otherwise nonmerchantable material and maximizes the marketability of the entire tree. In order to reduce costs, maximize efficiency, and implement the bundler in a tree-length harvesting operation, this project tested a prototype harvesting system. This venture (1) adapted the John Deere B380 bundler unit to a motorized trailer, (2) designed an optimum landing configuration, and (3) conducted a productivity study of the bundler unit. The unit produced 13.2 tonnes per productive machine hour (PMH; 14.6 tons/PMH) of 250-cm bundles and 14.9 tonnes/PMH (16.4 tons/PMH
Problems of Sustainable Transport of Large-Sized Roundwood
Sustainability, 2020
When considering the economic and environmental aspects of forestry, especially the issues related to timber harvesting, emphasis should be placed on the importance of the availability of raw material resources for the sustainable flow of goods. It would also be difficult to disregard certain issues related to transport, which play a key role in the efficient flow of wooden raw materials. It has to be noticed that timber transport options are limited by a number of factors, including the considerable fragmentation of wood resources and the lack of adequately developed railway transport facilities. This paper focuses on issues related to the road transport of timber carried out by transport companies. Observations to date of large-sized roundwood (thicker than 14 cm and longer than 3 m) transport in Poland indicate a relatively frequent occurrence of overloaded vehicles, exceeding the permissible total weight limit. Empirical evidence also suggests that in many cases, it is an effect...
Potentials of possible machine systems for directly loading logs in cut-to-length harvesting
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2012
In conventional mechanized cut-to-length systems a harvester fells and cuts trees into logs that are stored on the ground until a forwarder picks them up and carries them to landing sites. A proposed improvement is to place logs directly into the load spaces of transporting machines as they are cut. Such integrated loading could result in cost reductions, shorter lead times from stump to landing, and lower fuel consumption. However, it might also create waiting times for the machines involved, whereas multifunctional machines are likely to be expensive. Thus, it is important to analyze whether or not the advantages of any changes outweigh the disadvantages. The conventional system was compared with four potential systems, including two with autonomous forwarders, using discrete-event simulation with stochastic elements in which harvests of more than 1000 nal felling stands (containing in total 1.6 million m 3 ) were simulated 35 times per system. The results indicate that harwarders have substantial potential (less expensive on ≥80% of the volume and fuel consumption decreased by ≥18%) and may become competitive if key innovations are developed. Systems with cooperating machines have considerably less potential, limited to very specic stand conditions. The results conform with expected diculties in integrating processing and transporting machines' work in variable environments.
Competitiveness of Whole-Tree Bundling in Early Thinnings
2008
In 2007, the first prototype of the Fixteri bundle harvester capable of incorporating whole-tree compaction into the cutting phase was launched by Biotukki Oy. The bundles are hauled by a standard forwarder to the roadside storage, from where pulpwood bundles are transported by a standard timber truck to the end-use facility. At the puplmill, bundle batches are fed into a wood flow consisting of conventional delimbed pulpwood. Separation of the pulp and energy fractions does not take place until the wood reaches the debarking drum. Energy wood bundles are crushed and used for energy generation. In the pre-feasibility study carried out by Metsäteho Oy and the Finnish Forest Research Institute, the required performance level of bundle harvesting (i.e. cutting and bundling) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominated stands was determined by comparing the total supply chain costs with most common pulpwood and energy wood supply chains. The system analysis showed that whole-tree bundl...