Determining the effect of piece size and tree part on chipper productivity

A drum chipper was fed with stems and tops to determine machine performance.

A Pezzolato PTH 700/660 chipper was used. The drum had a diameter of 660 mm (23.6 in) and width of 700 mm (27.6 in). The chipper had two full length blades and was fed by a conveyor belt. It was powered by a Case MX 270 agricultural tractor with a nominal power of 231 kW (314 hp) and a weight of 10.7 tonnes. The average piece size was 0.64 m3 for the stems and 0.25 m3 for the tops. Tops were classified as having a thick-end diameter of less than 200 mm (7.9 in).

Poplar stems and tops were fed into the chipper using an excavator. The results showed that chipping stems required most of the power available from the tractor, while the tops required half of the power of the stems. But stem chipping productivity was double that of tops (71.8 m3 per hour versus 29.9 m3 per hour). Tractor fuel consumption was 15% lower per m3 with stems compared to tops.

This article, titled “Effect of piece size and tree part on chipper performance”, was published in the Biomass and Bioenergy Journal, Vol. 55 (2013). The authors were A Assirelli, V Civitarese, R Fanigliulo, L Pari, D Pochi, E Santangelo and R Spinelli. Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953413001669