Research has been carried out on a prototype truck mounted logging residue bundler.
The research is titled “Productivity of a Prototype Truck-Mounted Logging Residue Bundler and a Road-side Bundling System” and can be found in Silva Fennica 44(3), from page 547 to 559. When preparing logging residue for transport, the aim is to increase the bulk density of the material to make optimal use of the trucks potential load carrying capabilities. One method used to do this is through bundling.
Currently most bundling takes place where the trees were felled. An alternative is to transport loose residue to roadside and bundle it there, or make use of the residue on roadside that has resulted from the use of full tree harvesting systems. This research found that a prototype machine (Rogbico GTK 4800 mounted onto a Scania 580 truck) specifically developed for roadside bundling was able to produce larger and heavier bundles than infield bundlers. The bundler had a top-feed compression chamber. The mean bundle size produced was 4.7 m long, 0.8 m diameter and 285 kg/m3 with 299 to 445 kg of oven dry matter per bundle. This bundler was also at least 30% more productive than infield bundling with 14 to 19 bundles being produce per productive machine hour. These bundles could use 67 to 86% of a logging trucks load capacity. The research article includes a picture of the roadside bundler used.
The authors of the publication are Ola Lindroos, Magnus Matisons, Petter Johansson and Tomas Nordfjell. Please access the publication for a detailed and more complete account of the research.
Source: www.metla.fi/silvafennica/full/sf44/sf443547.pdf