Dual-Tool Milling Head for Variable Log Side Board Profiling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sawmill technologies require multiple machines and complex adjustments to produce side boards with variable dimensions, leading to increased plant length, reduced throughput, and decreased wood yield due to fixed step spacings in milling heads.
Innovation Solution
A milling head with two rotating machining tools having adjustable axes of rotation and synchronized operation, allowing independent setting of machining faces to produce variable double steps for side boards, optimized based on log contour, with a compact and reliable design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If two side boards are produced on each side using traditional milling machines arranged in succession, then the required adjustments and flexibility are achieved, but the plant becomes longer and throughput is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two separate corner milling cutters into a single milling head that performs the function of both machines. The milling head includes a first and second rotating machining tool that can independently mill out first and second corner regions, effectively merging two successive machining operations into one simultaneous operation, thereby reducing plant length and increasing throughput while maintaining flexibility
Solution Approach 2:
The milling head is segmented into two independently controllable rotating machining tools, each capable of being adjusted to different positions and angles. This segmentation allows each tool to independently create different corner regions with variable dimensions, maintaining the adaptability needed for producing side boards with different thicknesses and widths
2Productivity
If stepped corner regions are milled out with fixed step spacings, then throughput is increased, but wood yield is reduced due to limited flexibility in cutting solutions
Solution Approach 1:
The milling head employs two rotating machining tools with independently adjustable positions, orientations, and depths of cut. This dynamic adjustability allows the system to adapt to different log curvatures and optimize the cutting solution for each log, maximizing wood yield while maintaining high throughput by processing both corner regions simultaneously
3Productivity
If milling heads are located farther away from the saw, then more side boards can be produced, but larger lateral deflections and adjustment travels are required
Solution Approach 1:
By merging both corner milling operations into a single milling head located at an optimal position, the patent eliminates the need for distant milling heads with large adjustment travels. The unified milling head structure reduces lateral deflections and simplifies the adjustment mechanisms while still enabling the production of multiple side boards with variable dimensions
Data Source
AI summary
A milling head for profiling logs has two rotating machining tools, the axes of rotation of which extend parallel to one another apart from possibly deviating inclination angles of the machining tools. The machining tools are designed to each create a circumferential and an end-side machining face and the position of the circumferential machining faces of the two machining tools is settable in relation to a log to be machined independently of the respective other machining tool. With such a settable milling head, a variable double step for the subsequent detachment of two side boards can be produced on each log side, which can be optimized independently of one another on account of the log contour.