In the 1980’s, the determination of the inner characteristics of the log before sawing became increasingly important for the development of the sawmill industry. One of the most important log features is the number of the knots and their location within the tree.
X-ray technology was introduced to improve the value yield of the log by leaps and bounds.
The Wood-X system recognises, in addition to knots and raw material density also possible stones and pieces of metal. Identification utilises the abnormal density of foreign matter in relation to the wood material around
it. The picture shows screws, bolts, nails and stones.
© Finnos Oy
Bintec Oy, a co-operating partner of UPM, Stora Enso and Finnforest, started the development of a Wood-X X-ray system for the sawmilling industry in 1989 as a pioneer in tomographic imaging. The first pilot system was installed in 1995 and the system was tested with three sawmills until the turn of the millennium.
Four-way Wood-X-4D saw daylight in 2002 at Stora Enso Honkalahti sawmill. Wood-X systems have been installed in more than 10 sawmills in Finland and abroad. Since then, development work has also focused on less than four-directional system.
Bintec Oy has since sold its business to Finnos Oy, which continues to develop support measurement technology for X-ray, for laser and for sorting and value yield simulators.
