Wane scanner. Edger Optimizer
The traditional scheme of sideboards processing on most sawmills is wane cutting for standard width according to a standard table of cutting, without regard to the individual characteristics of the board. Such a scheme is quite simple and is justified for small-scale production.
A much more effective is the scheme of sideboards processing, calculated on the basis of real wane, it is possible to trim to standard length, taking into account the cost of timber of various lengths and cross-sections. Modern video electronics and advanced software tools allow you to create such a system at an acceptable price level.
The figure shows a block diagram of the scanner.
Hardware and software complexes were developed by AVTOMATIKA-VEKTOR. Actually, the scanner is a line of sensors, located for every 10 or 30 cm and are connected to a special computer with specialized software and optimize the function of the clean sawn face / or the value of the timber. The typical solution for sorting and trimming raw timber includes 28 triangulation sensors, located from the length of 2.4 meters and every 30 cm. The sensors are mounted above and below the board. The system reliably detects the geometric board parameters and wane regardless of the spatial orientation of the board and wane position on the board. All sensors are strictly synchronized with each other, the geometric model of the board is built into the computer’s memory quite easy. Based on these data, the software calculates the various geometrical departures from the model parameters and do the analysis for decision making. Information from the sensors is transmitted to a computer in digital form – this allowed to obtain long term repeatability and accuracy of measurements, and moreover ensures a high anti-interference ability of the data channel.
The scanner is mounted on a special measuring station of sorting line, and the output signals from the computer control the operation of the trimmer. After scanning the geometry of each board and proceeding with this information into the computer, the software processes the information, analyze possible variants of board trimming and chooses the best option. Applications of such a complex allow to raise the profitability of the sawmill by 2 … 3% as compared to the manual operation mode.
Processing of information received from the video module and sensors is done by a program BoardsScanner. The figure shows the main window of the program Boards Scanner.
When a board is going through the scanner, a video module that is connected to a computer via Gigabit Ethernet sends the data about each section of the board. Having received the full board profile, the program analyzes it and decides what size to cut.
Then the program transmits that information to a process controller, which controls the trimmer saws, or to another program running on the same or a remote computer. The data is transferred via the Ethernet- interface by UDP. The criterion for the decision is either the volume or the price the board received. Therefore, before you begin, you need to specify a list of possible cross-sections, as well as to create technical requirements for cutting and specify the cost of given timber per cubic meter (see pictures below).
Board sorting using the scanner offers high performance of the line.
Board profile can be saved to a file for debugging purposes. It may be viewed later using a special tool.
