Online control of wood peeling process: acoustical and vibratory measurements of lathe checks frequency

Abstract

In the course of most wood machining processes, operators are usually able to detect various problems simply by hearing the sound emitted by the process. This is especially true for wood peeling. Lathe checks formation has been identified as one of the typical situations that an experimented peeler can detect. Poplar and beech veneer samples have been produced on a laboratory microlathe, using working conditions deliberately favourable to checking. Forces, sound, and vibration levels were measured during the tests. The lathe check frequencies have been determined on both sound and vibration signals using a local Root Mean Square (RMS) averaging and a peak detection algorithm. This makes possible the evaluation of lathe checks distribution along the veneer length. The technique was validated by measuring the real veneer profile using a specific apparatus developed by IVALSA-CNR in Trento (Italy).