New research has quantified the productivity and fuel consumption of various machines operating in Pinus radiata.
The cut-to-length logging system analysed included a tracked feller buncher, processor, forwarder and grapple loader. The system was producing pine pulp logs from 30 year old Pinus radiata trees. Stocking was 204 trees per hectare and the average tree size was 2.58 m3. The terrain was relatively flat. The large trees size resulted in good productivity levels, with the feller buncher achieving 122.2 m3 per hour, the processor 84.3 m3 per hour and the loader 100.8 m3 per hour. The logging residues remaining infield after harvesting was determined to be 237 tonnes per hectare. Stem wood constituted the largest component of the residues, and this was mainly due to a large thin-end diameter of 10 cm. Fuel consumption for the feller buncher was 41.4 l/hr (10.9 gal/hr), the processor was 39 l/hr (10.3 gal/hr), the forwarder 24.9 l/hr (6.6 gal/hr), and the loader 36.6 l/hr (9.7 gal/hr).
The title of the research was “Machine productivity and residual harvesting residues associated with a cut-to-length harvesting system in southern Tasmania”. The research was published in Southern Forests: A Journal of Forest Science, 2012, 74(4): 229 to 235. The authors were M Ghaffariyan, J Sessions and M Brown. For a more complete account of the research please access the journal at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/20702620.2012.741770 .
The cut-to-length logging system analysed included a tracked feller buncher, processor, forwarder and grapple loader. The system was producing pine pulp logs from 30 year old Pinus radiata trees. Stocking was 204 trees per hectare and the average tree size was 2.58 m3. The terrain was relatively flat. The large trees size resulted in good productivity levels, with the feller buncher achieving 122.2 m3 per hour, the processor 84.3 m3 per hour and the loader 100.8 m3 per hour. The logging residues remaining infield after harvesting was determined to be 237 tonnes per hectare. Stem wood constituted the largest component of the residues, and this was mainly due to a large thin-end diameter of 10 cm. Fuel consumption for the feller buncher was 41.4 l/hr (10.9 gal/hr), the processor was 39 l/hr (10.3 gal/hr), the forwarder 24.9 l/hr (6.6 gal/hr), and the loader 36.6 l/hr (9.7 gal/hr).
The title of the research was “Machine productivity and residual harvesting residues associated with a cut-to-length harvesting system in southern Tasmania”. The research was published in Southern Forests: A Journal of Forest Science, 2012, 74(4): 229 to 235. The authors were M Ghaffariyan, J Sessions and M Brown. For a more complete account of the research please access the journal at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/20702620.2012.741770 .