Wood processing equipment in tandem operating mode

The paper subject is the modernization of two mobile wood processing equipment, a debarking and a chipping machine, working at the forest border and used to obtain wood chips for the pulp and paper industry, in order to work in tandem operating mode. Control hardware has been added and original software has been elaborated but with the wireless communications between the two machines established, the main goal of the work and the principal novelty is achieved, controlled tandem operation mode. The specific equipment hardware challenges and software implementation are presented. The control system design and online measurements allows optimization using simulations. The practical tests and experimental results are presented. The production efficiency has been improved by 25%. Having the experimental results, a correlation study of the debarking and chipping processes in tandem operating mode has shown a minimum fuel rate versus the processes time lag and a software module to watch it online has been added on, being a second novelty of the work.