Integrated Chipper and Bale Former for Continuous Wood Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wood chipping and disposal methods result in inefficiencies, including loss of productivity and environmental concerns due to the need for frequent truck unloading and disposal of valuable wood chips in landfills, which are not environmentally friendly and waste valuable biomass.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that integrates a chipper assembly with a bale forming assembly, allowing for the reduction of trimmed branches to wood chips and forming bales from these chips, enabling efficient collection, storage, and transport of wood chips, eliminating the need for continuous truck presence and promoting sustainable use of resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If wood chips are discharged into a transport truck for collection, then wood chips can be transported away from the work site, but the transport truck must leave the work site to be unloaded frequently, resulting in loss of productivity and delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the wood chipper and bale former into a single integrated apparatus. The chipper assembly processes branches into wood chips, which are then directly fed into the bale forming assembly to be compressed into bales. This merging eliminates the need for separate transport trucks and intermediate transfer, allowing continuous operation without productivity losses from truck unloading cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The bale forming assembly acts as an intermediary device between the chipper and final storage/transport. Instead of directly discharging chips into trucks, the system introduces a bale former that consolidates chips into compact bales, which can then be stored or transported more efficiently without interrupting the chipping operation.
2Ease of manufacture
If wood chips are taken to a landfill and discarded, then disposal is simplified, but valuable biomass is wasted and environmental harm is caused
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of discarding wood chips as waste material to be landfilled, the patent recovers them by forming them into usable bales. The bale forming process transforms what would be discarded material into a recoverable product that can be transported and utilized, thereby preventing biomass waste and avoiding landfill disposal.
3Quantity of substance
If a transport truck is used to collect wood chips, then chips can be removed from the work site, but the operation cannot proceed without the truck's presence and requires frequent interruptions for unloading
Solution Approach 1:
The bale forming assembly performs preliminary consolidation of wood chips into compact bales at the point of generation. This preliminary action creates storage-ready units that can be stacked and stored on-site without requiring immediate truck removal, enabling continuous chipping operations and eliminating interruptions for truck unloading.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates continuous operation of wood chippers, reduces waste, and allows wood chips to be reused as fuel or filler, enhancing resource utilization and reducing landfill space inefficiencies.
Implementation Method 1
a baling mechanism operable to form a bale from the wood chips produced by the chipper assembly
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates generally to wood chippers and baling machines and methods of operation therefor, and more specifically, to an apparatus and a method for chipping tree branches and the like and baling wood chips formed from such chipping activities. The apparatus includes a chipper assembly having a chipping mechanism operable to reduce the trimmed branches to wood chips. Also provided is a bale forming assembly operatively connected to the chipper assembly. The bale forming assembly has a housing and a baling mechanism contained within an interior space of the housing. The housing has an opening defined therein for receiving wood chips from the chipper assembly. The opening provides access to the interior space of the housing. The baling mechanism is operable to form a bale from the wood chips produced by the chipper assembly.