Weyerhaeuser Nr Company

Coe Newnes/mcgettee Inc.

Usnr/kockums Cancar Company

Ron Lahoda

Carl Flatman

Steve Woods

Jacek M Biernacki

A method of non-destructive testing of a wood piece using a multiplicity of sensors. The method may include the steps of sensing the wood piece; collecting information from the sensors; and integrating the information into a physical model providing for strength and stiffness prediction. The collected information relate to material characteristics of the wood piece and to fiber quality characteristics of the wood piece. The material characteristics may include one or more of the following material characteristics of the wood piece: growth ring thickness; grain angle deviation; clear wood density; knot location; knot density; knot type; knot size; location in the tree from which the wood piece was cut. The fiber quality characteristics may include one or more of the following fiber quality characteristics: microfibril angle, juvenile wood, biodeterioration; reaction wood species; and manufacturing or drying defects including one or more of the following defects: sawcuts, checks, shake; size of actual cross-section, and species.

Method of wood strength and stiffness prediction

A method of estimating the displaced size of a knot in a lumber piece includes the steps of: translating the lumber piece downstream along a flow path between a radiation source and sensor while simultaneously irradiating the lumber piece with radiation from the first radiation source whereby the radiation is attenuated by the lumber piece; collecting a set of radiation intensity data from the radiation sensor as the lumber piece is irradiated; processing the set of radiation intensity data to sum the radiation intensity data and to provide radiation intensity profiles transversely of the flow path direction and corresponding density profiles transversely of the flow path direction; mapping the density profiles to model a set of three dimensional density profiles of the lumber piece; processing the radiation intensity data to determine a clear wood density threshold value for the lumber piece and a maximum density value of the density profiles; and, computing a ratio of the summed density profile values to the summed maximum density values for the density profiles and multiplying the ratio with the transverse width of the lumber piece.

Growing community of inventors

Salmon Arm, Canada

Ron Lahoda