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CARBOTECH International has designed an automated system to prepare tiers of boards for stackers (patent pending) where packages contains boards of different widths or lengths like for pine and hardwood mills. Until now, an operator had to do this by switching boards, replacing, turning or pushing some so that the package would be as full and square as possible. You probably know the limitations of running like this: our system eliminates them by automating all these steps. Here how it works:
• Boards are individually placed on a lugged transfer ;
• Each is measured for length and width ;
• A PLC then decides on which tray to send each board ;
• The PLC compiles, for each tray, the accumulated width and then looks for the required board to maximise the width of the created tier without going over the preset maximum width;
• It is possible to set the system so that the first tier prepared for a new package is composed of the longest boards ;
• You can also demand that the first and last board on each tier is of the longest possible length ;
• Once the tier is completed, it is sent to the stacker.
With this system, you will automatically obtain a more stable package with fewer holes in it: for the same quantity of lumber produced, you will have fewer packages to manipulate. In the kiln, your load will be spread more evenly which will raise the quality of the dried product. You will also be able to accelerate your production rate because the stacker won’t be a bottleneck anymore.
Amongst possible options, we can add a camera system that will determine if the heart of the board in on top or on the bottom. A selective board turner would then turn the appropriate board so that they all lay with their heart on the bottom. We can also add rolls to automatically send some of the short boards to the far end if you do box piling.
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