Goldeneye 700: Double Pack of scanners

Cordes plans to process up to 600,000 m³ of lumber yearly at its production site in Bremerhaven in northern Germany. Whether the lumber is cupped, curved, twisted or too wet – no wood defect escapes the scanners installed by MiCROTEC of Bressanone/IT.

MiCROTEC delivered a comprehensive, complete package for both Cordes’s planing mill and new glulam production. Both scanner lines have almost identical designs and differ only slightly from each other. “The main difference is the speed of the two systems. In the planing mill, maximum speeds of up to 350 meters per minute are possible. In the glulam plant, the speed is a little lower,” MiCROTEC Key Account Manager Axel Creuzberger explains.

According to Creuzberger, the scanners themselves are essentially the same. They are also equipped with identical built-in hardware components. The higher speeds are mainly achieved thanks to the software working in the background and, as a result, to the computing power of the scanner systems.

After the infeed and singulation of the lumber, each board is first scanned by the Endscan Cup Scanner. Through the orientation of the annual rings, the scanner recognizes the board cup on the front sides, thereby making that the lumber is positioned correctly in the next step. Then, as the lumber passes through transversely, data from the Warpscan are used to sort out bent, crooked or twisted boards, even in this very small space.

At this point in the process, the moisture of the wood is also measured with the M3 Scan moisture meter in narrow grid intervals.

The two Goldeneye scanners, which are used in both the glulam plant and the planing mill, are the heart of MiCROTEC’s scope of delivery. “With the upstream Viscan, the two Goldeneye scanners at Cordes are built to have the maximum configuration,” Creuzberger explains. This way, all available channels are used to detect any wood defects and grade the wood’s strength reliably and accurately. On its inside, the Goldeneye scanner is equipped with color cameras, 3D cameras for determining board dimensions, and laser scatter cameras with run-through point lasers for the precise detection of knots and grain deviations.

An X-ray module complements the full equipment. In combination with the resonance frequency data obtained by the Viscan, this module ensures the highest possible yield. After the boards have received the corresponding cross-cut markings, they then exit the Goldeneye and are conveyed to the downstream cross-cutting machine.

One of the special features MiCROTEC offers is the possibility to carry out tests and run simulations offline. “You can use production data to run full simulations offline at your desk. They allow users to easily test different settings and parameters without actually having to make any changes to the scanner system. This way, companies can efficiently identify the optimal setting without interrupting or influencing production,” Creuzberger explains.