Objective IMPROVEMENT OF DRYING PROCESS: MINIMIZING OF DEGRADE DUE TO STRESS INDUCED FAILURES, REDUCTION OF DRYING TIME AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION. DEVELOPMENT OF A STRESS ACTUATED CONTROL SYSTEM (FEEDBACK SYSTEM). DEMONSTRATION OF FEASIBILITY AND UTILITY. EVEN TODAY ARTIFICIAL DRYING OF THE ANISOTROPIC, INHOMOGENOUS, POROUS WOOD IS INFLECTED BY PROBLEMS DUE TO THE LARGE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT WOOD PROPERTIES. THEIR INTERPEDENT RELATIONS AND THE PROCESS PARAMETERS DURING THE DRYING RUN. STRESS INDUCED FAILURES (CAUSED BY STEP MOISTURE-GRADIENTS), LONG DRYING TIMES AND HIGH ENERGY CONSUMPTION ARE REASONS FOR UNSATISFYING ECONOMICAL RESULTS. A CONTINUOUS, NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHOD OF INDIRECT DETERMINATION OF THE INTERNAL STRESS FORMATION IS BASED ON THE PERMANENT MEASUREMENT OF MOISTURE-GRADIENTS (ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE IN DIFFERENT DEPTHS OF SAMPLES TO BE DRIED). THE CALCULATIONS OF INTERNAL STRESSES - THE MOST IMPROTANT PART OF THE CONTROL SYSTEM TO BE DEVELOPED DURING THIS PROJECT - REQUIRES RELIABLE KNOWLEDGE OF RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF WOOD - COMPRESSION AND TENSION LOAD PERPENDICULAR TO THE GRAIN - AND THEIR DEPENDENCIES ESPECIALLY ON TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE CONTENT. THESE DATA SETS WILL BE EXPERIMENTALLY DETERMINED FOR IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL SPECIES, E G SPRUCE AND BEECH. THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS METHOD WILL BE PROVED EMPIRICALLY BY MODIFIED PRONG-TESTS (STANDARDIZED METHOD FOR ALL PARTNERS) AND SLICING (M C OVEN DRY METHOD) DURING GRYING RUNS ON A SEMI AND FULL-INDUSTRIAL SCALE. A FLEXIBLE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM, BASED ON A SMALL METER-LOGGER WILL BE CREATED FOR INDEPENDENT MONITORING OF KILN RUNS. THE EVALUATION OF THE TRANSFERRED DATA WILL BE DONE ON A PC. THE RESTORING EFFECT OF CONDITIONING TREATMENTS ON DRIED TIMBER CONTAINING STRESS AND MOISTURE-GRADIENTS WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN INDUSTRIAL KILNS AND SPECIAL CONDITIONING CHAMBERS IN THE LABORATORY AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY LEVELS DURING VARIOUS PERIODS OF TIME. Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systemsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestry Programme(s) FP1-RAWMAT 3C - Research programme (EEC) on materials (raw materials and advanced materials), 1986-1989 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator TRADA TECHNOLOGY LIMITED Address Stocking lane hughenden valley HP14 4ND High wycombe United Kingdom See on map EU contribution € 0,00
