Modeling of technology for cleaning up forest debris of wood natural mortality using the multi-operation machine

Abstract

The technology of cleaning forests by collecting dead wood and fallen wood and their processing for firewood and woodchips is proposed and investigated. To mechanize this work, it is proposed to use a universal tractor processor patented by the author. The proposed machine is equipped with a splitter head instead of cutting accumulating head to process the trunk part of the tree for firewood. The article presents a conceptual model of such a multi-operation machine and an assessment of its efficiency. The studies were carried out on a mathematical model of the machine by simulation modeling methods. The variant of machine operation with an “infinite” stack of trees was considered. In the model, the time cycles of machine operations were taken as random numbers distributed according to the exponential law. Tree diameters were taken as random numbers obeying the beta-distribution law. Varied were the average cycle time of the splitter head to obtain firewood for one stroke (5-15-25 s) and the average tree diameter (14, 18, 22, 26, and 30 cm). The output value was the hourly capacity of the machine. The modeling showed that with independent operation of the splitter head and chipper, the capacity of the multi-operator machine increases when the cycle time of the splitter head decreases and the diameter of the tree increases. This dependence is nonlinear and is well described by a power function.