Compared with purpose-built units, excavator-based harvesters offer many advantages, but they consume more fuel. Fuel efficiency can be increased by a better interface between the excavator and the harvester head.
Spinelli et al from CNR just published testing results of a new adaptation kit in Forests 2019 (10(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010043). The kit is specifically designed to improve the communication between these two components. After installing the adaptation kit, productivity increased 6%, while fuel consumption per hour decreased 3.5%. Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per product unit decreased 10%, as an average.
Read the abstract or download the full pdf!
Figure 1: One of the excavator-based harvesters at work (left); the adaptation kit (right).
TECH4EFFECT final event highlights research impacts, provides informed dialogue on forest operations19. July 2021 - 12:25
Towards Zero Pollution: TECH4EFFECT presented at the RTDS Green Week Partner Event on 8 June: 10:10 – 12:30.10. May 2021 - 16:18
TECH4EFFECT Co-ordinator, Rasmus Astrup, presented at EUBCE event19. April 2021 - 15:17
TECH4EFFECT presents drone mapping, T-winch at Norwegian Ministerial event14. October 2020 - 9:15
27 – 31 May 2019, LIGNA 2019, Hannover, Germany
For the third time the Wood Industry Summit will be at LIGNA 2019. Taking place from 27 to 31 May in Hannover, Germany (hall 26), the summit focuses on “Access to Resources and Technology”. It is a well-established showcase for the forestry and wood industries organized by our partner KWF (German Forestry Council) together with Deutsche Messe.
Meet Bruce Talbot from NIBIO giving ‘An overview of technologies for monitoring the impact of forest machines on the soil ‘
in Hall 26, Stand H28 on 31 May. 2019, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Have a look at the event website for more details: LIGNA 2019
23 – 24 May 2019, Österreichische Forsttagung, Seckau, Austria
Austrian Foresters are meeting this year in ‘Stift Seckau’ close to Knittelfeld to discuss forests and climate change. Gernot Erber from BOKU has been selected to present our TECH4EFFECT project poster. Registration is open until 3. May!
Check out the event page for more details!
17 – 19 May 2019, Forlener, Erba, Italy
Our partner CONAIBO is going to attend the italian trade fair FORLENER from 17 to 19 May. Vitit the “Lario Fiere” exhibition centre in Erba (Lombardy Region, around 50km from Milan) to meet with them and pick up some TECH4EFFECT flyers!
As the main Italian fair focusing on the forest-wood energy chain, FORLENER (Forest-Wood-Energy) is covering the whole value chain of its products and services
Visit the FORLENER website for more details.
Field trip: Ponsse machines in action!
Publication: Decreasing Fuel Consumption of Excavator-Based Harvesters with Machine Control System
Compared with purpose-built units, excavator-based harvesters offer many advantages, but they consume more fuel. Fuel efficiency can be increased by a better interface between the excavator and the harvester head.
Spinelli et al from CNR just published testing results of a new adaptation kit in Forests 2019 (10(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10010043). The kit is specifically designed to improve the communication between these two components. After installing the adaptation kit, productivity increased 6%, while fuel consumption per hour decreased 3.5%. Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per product unit decreased 10%, as an average.
Read the abstract or download the full pdf!
Figure 1: One of the excavator-based harvesters at work (left); the adaptation kit (right).
Consortium meeting in Finland
We are currently in Joensuu, Finland for our TECH4EFFECT consoritum meeting. Thanks to LUKE for the warm welcome in their beautiful wooden office building! Sign up to our newsletter to receive major updates from TECH4EFFECT:
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20 November 2018, FTP conference 2018, Vienna, Austria
‘Vision 2040: The future role of the forest bioeconomy in Europe’ is the focus of this conference on the 20th of November 2018 in Vienna. Don’t miss this chance discuss the future of forests and their role in the bioeconomy and meet Gernot Erber from BOKU and Daniela Fichtenbauer from RTDS. Participation is free of charge but the number of seats is limited!
Check the full program!
Register here!
The FTP conference 2018 is an event of the Austrian EU presidency, organised by the Forest-based Sector Technology Platform.
SGGW field trip for silviculture case study
Partners from SGGW visited case study areas for the silvicultural work package (WP2) in the Polanów Forest District to identify most productive silvicultural systems, techniques and technologies and assess them.
This State Forest District is located in the northern part of Poland, with about 91,000 m3 of wood harvested annually, mainly pine, beech, spruce and birch. The field meeting was a great opportunity to interact with the local state foresters and owners of private forest companies. Possibilities of improvements in the efficiency of forest operations with regards to socio-economic changes occurring in Poland were discussed. One of the phenomena that need to be faced is a lack of labour force. Details like comparison of manual thinning (chainsaw and tractor/skidder) and thinning with machinery (forwarder and harvester) from an economic point of view and efficiency in different site conditions were also discussed.
Read the full report at the Polanów State Forest district web page (in Polish):
http://www.polanow.szczecinek.lasy.gov.pl
First public deliverable: Identifying and extending key silvicultural systems
The silviculture work package (WP2) focuses on the optimization of the access to wood resources. This goal involves two main aspects:
Appropriate silvicultural measures are principally intended to increase wood production, maintain the biodiversity and resilience but also to enable and facilitate the use of efficient silvicultural and harvesting operations. The development of methods for increasing the wood production and optimizing the interface between harvesting technology and silvicultural procedures is the research emphasis of this work package.
Look at the abstract or read the full deliverable!
TECH4EFFECT at FORMEC 2018
The 51 International Symposium on Forestry Mechanization from 25-27 September 2018 in Madrid has an impressive list of talks from TECH4EFFECT partners, on a wide range of topics. Most of our project is covered in those talks: advances in forestry mechanization, our efficiency portal, fuel efficiency in harvesting, an app for motor-manual bucking and much more. Have a look at the list of TECH4EFFECT-related presentations on our events page!