Wood scanners, equipped with top modern technology, are the most effective means for checking, evaluating and optimising wood products. They are being applicated in the production of windows, doors, furniture, flooring, parquet, laminated, solid wood and profiled wood.

Technical basis

Handicraft work

For a long period of time the human eye and individual experience have been the only way of perceiving, proofing, evaluating and classifying the quality of wood such as working material.

Fully automated production

Modern measuring and analytical technology determines various data during the throughfeed and transfers the data into the software system. Within fractions of a second the data are compared with production and quality input. The results being transferred to the control, the corresponding production steps are made.

Scanners play a key role in hightec production lines. In most cases they are configured to a specific application, including several measuring systems combined according to wood and required product. There are among others:

• Monitoring sensor technology (black/ white resp. colours)
• Laser technology
• X-rays
• Length and weight measuring

Criteria/ Measurements

• Scanning of up to 6 sides of the workpiece
• Defining biological and geometrical differences
• Measuring errors, mechanical damages (crackings), cracks, splits, wane edges
• Soft rot and blue stain, resin pockets, medullary tubes
• Recording of type, size and postion of the color shades of knots
• Colour shades, wood structures, position and growth ring parameters
• Defining hard- and softwood
• Wood measurements (length, width, height, weight)
• Bends and twists
• Profile measuring (knots, edges, ..)
• Strength values
• Humidity rate
• Deformations
• Imperfections within the wood
• Metal detection

Applications

Depending on the application, the scanners have individually adjusted properties for various areas, such as:

• Marking stations, crosscut-cut optimisation
• Ripping systems, ripping scanners, longitudinal section-multiblade saw
• Finger jointing connections
• Parquet and flooring production
• Surface coating, lacquering plants
• Sorting devices
• Panel sorting, e.g. taking into account bends, humidity, also position and growth ring distance (in laminated wood lines, window scantling and panel production...)

Influences on the measuring results

Scanners can be equipped for analysing both wet and dry wood, as well as raw material with roughly sawn or milled surface. There is one basic rule, yet:

• The marking and sorting accuracy increases with the visualisation of the individual characteristics of the raw workpiece, meaning: the better the wood surface, the preciser the measuring results.
• Dirt (adhesive residues, dust, oil, fat, ..) deteriorate the measuring results.