Power Requirements for Producing Wood Chips with a Parallel Knife Chipper

This study investigated the relationships between chipping energy with an 18-inch Soderhamn HP parallel knife chipper of the twin disk type and log volume for five hardwood species. The chips produced were 1-1/4 inches long by 1/4 inch thick. Hard maple, spruce, soft maple, aspen, and hemlock were tested at the Niagara, Wisconsin, mill of the Kimberly-Clark Corp. Straight, sound, green, 100-inch pulp sticks ranging from 4 to 12 inches in diameter were used. Tests were made on both frozen and unfrozen wood. Hard maple, the densest of the species, required the greatest specific energy and spruce, the lightest, required the least energy. Statistical comparison of the results indicates that there was little significant difference in energy requirements for chipping frozen or unfrozen wood. The parallel-type chipper requires significantly less specific energy when producing 1-1/4-inch long chips than does a disk type chipper. The 18-inch, twin-disk, parallel-type chipper was V-belt driven at 200 rpm by a 75 hp, 1170 rpm, 3-phase induction motor. The chipper motor was instrumented to permit calculation of the specific energy consumed during operation.

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