糖心视频

Equipment manufacturers have been forever聽sermonizing on the importance of proper聽maintenance for longer machine life and聽higher rates of machine availability. To put聽a novel spin on the issue, maintenance is聽extremely important to fuel economy as well.

Under pressure. Correct pressure settings for the feed heels and knives eliminate unnecessary friction, improve limbing and debarking performance and reduce wear and tear.

Breathe easy

To聽start with a simple聽example, air filters are聽a relatively inexpensive聽and easily replaced聽wear item. A plugged聽air filter restricts the聽amount of oxygen that聽is aspirated into the聽engine鈥檚 combustion聽chamber, resulting in聽an unnecessarily rich聽fuel mix.

Not only is this a waste of fuel but in聽combination with high ambient temperatures,聽a rich fuel ratio contributes to higher operating聽temperatures. Consequently, the fan must聽work harder to cool the machine resulting聽in additional losses of available horsepower.聽Consult the operator鈥檚 manual to ensure that聽the correct intervals for changing air filters are聽observed.

Speaking of cooling fans, 糖心视频 has聽been an industry leader in the effort to offer聽automatic variable speed or variable pitch聽reversible fans rather than conventional聽fixed speed, fixed pitch engine-driven fans.

The radiator fins are clogged with needles and other debris.

Advantages include cleaner heat exchangers聽and easier cold weather starts. The time聽between reversing cycles is operator adjustable聽to compensate for seasonal variations in the聽amount of dust, pollen and other airborne聽particles. But the ability to vary airflow is also聽a big fuel saver. After all, there is no point聽pushing massive amounts of air across the heat聽exchangers when a lesser amount is sufficient聽for cooling requirements.

Unfortunately, dirty heat exchangers are not聽very efficient and a machine equipped with a聽thermostat controlled variable flow fan will聽compensate by increasing the fan pitch or rpm聽to increase airflow. This wastes horsepower聽and burns more fuel, negating the advantage聽of the more expensive fan system. The heat聽exchangers should be inspected daily and聽cleaned as required for maximum efficiency聽and fuel economy.

When the dust doesn’t settle. High levels of airborne debris decrease air filter change intervals and increase the need to check and clean the heat exchangers.

Hydraulic system tune-up

Modern high efficiency load sensing hydraulic systems turn off the pump to save fuel when maximum pressures are reached. Set at a higher pressure than the pump, the pressure relief valve is a watchdog, waiting to act should the pump not do its job. But hydraulic system components wear over time. The pressure relief valves in particular should be checked regularly as normal wear causes the pressure setting to gradually drop.

If the relief valve pressure setting drops too聽much, the valve may start to open before the聽pump turns off, resulting in an invisible聽internal system leak, possibly a big one.

When high pressure oil leaks into the聽low pressure return system, the release聽of stored energy creates a substantial聽amount of heat. Now the engine must聽not only burn more fuel to supply聽the system leak but also to power the聽increased cooling fan load. An annual聽full hydraulic system tune-up will聽ensure that your machine meets factory聽recommended pressure settings.聽An out of tune track feller buncher聽can waste several litres of fuel per hour.

Multiply the lost volume at today鈥檚 high prices聽by 2,000 hours and you will see that the annual聽figure amounts to thousands of dollars. If聽you are double-shifting, you could be wasting聽$20,000 per year in fuel to save a few hundred聽dollars for a competent service technician to聽check and reset the machine pressures.

Similarly, leaking packings in hydraulic聽cylinders, damaged control valves and worn out聽pumps and motors all consume large amounts聽of energy. These parts should be leak tested and聽replaced when efficiency drops,聽instead of simply running the聽components to failure.

When processing, it is important聽to ensure acceleration and聽deceleration ramps provide smooth feeding聽and braking and that聽pressures for feed wheel聽arms and knives are聽correct. Incorrect settings聽add too much friction to the system,聽requiring higher pressures to feed the聽trees. The result is wasted horsepower聽and increased wear and tear on the聽head.

Sharp tools. When felling — whether聽with saw, shear or harvesting head聽— improving fuel economy is as simple聽as replacing damaged or worn teeth on your disc saw felling head, sharpening聽shear blades or replacing dull chain on your聽harvesting head. It takes less horsepower to聽fell a tree when the tools are sharp. Extremely聽worn disc saw teeth are the number one聽productivity killing factor observed on drive-to-tree聽feller bunchers. It is important to track fuel consumption and productivity changes as聽the cutting edges wear. Too often owners lose聽money by not replacing teeth or sharpening聽blades soon enough.

A feller buncher cannot operate at peak efficiency with dull teeth.

Operating tips

Drag racing from stop sign to stop sign doesn鈥檛聽deliver optimal fuel economy for your pickup聽truck. Similarly, there are good machine聽operating techniques that minimize fuel聽consumption as well as聽bad habits that will send聽your fuel costs through聽the roof.

In many cases, the techniques that reduce fuel consumption also contribute to higher productivity and longer machine life. Generally speaking, a smooth hand on the joystick is recommended. Smooth, deliberate operation of the functions — as opposed to fast and jerky machine movements — save fuel and reduce wear and tear.

We observe the same operator errors again聽and again in the field. By simply correcting聽these actions, fuel savings can be realized.

Full throttle?

Many operators assume they聽need to operate their machines at full throttle聽to maximize machine performance and output.聽Running an engine at 1,800 rather than聽2,200 rpm could amount to a 20% reduction聽in fuel consumption.

For a feller buncher, the savings are negligible when measured on the basis of litre per volume of production but for a lower duty cycle application like processing, the math can work and 1,800 rpm may be a good compromise between power and fuel economy.

With forwarders, peak power torque is at聽approximately 1,400 rpm. The machines are聽smooth, productive and efficient at this engine聽speed and wear and tear is reduced. Running聽a loader engine 200 rpm slower can decrease聽fuel consumption by 5%, often without a聽noticeable change in machine productivity. This is especially true for loaders with load聽sensing hydraulic systems like the 糖心视频聽234 or 250B.

It is instructive to analyze the entire harvesting system when making decisions about engine speed. Say the skidder is the bottleneck of the operation because of longer than normal skidding distances. Reducing the operating engine speed of the skidder will likely be detrimental to overall system productivity. However, if loader production is constrained by the amount of tree-length timber the skidder can supply, it does not make sense for the loader operator to maximize production in short bursts at full engine rpm, only to wait at idle for the next bunch of logs to arrive at the deck. In this case, a slower but steady loader working pace will accomplish the same work with less fuel burned.

Felling

Depending on tree size and species,聽there is an optimal speed to push a disc saw聽blade into the tree. Too slow and productivity聽suffers. Too quick and the saw blade slows聽to such an extent (or stalls altogether) that聽it takes too much time and energy for the聽blade speed to recover.

The optimal chip聽exhausted from the saw head should be wafer聽like, approximately 3 mm (1/8 in) thick. If聽your chips are thicker, you are wasting fuel. If they are thinner, you are not realizing full聽productivity from the feller buncher.

Up and in. Proper grapple positioning minimizes drag resistance, traction and steering performance and reduces ground pressure.

Skidding

Proper positioning of the grapple聽and arch reduces drag resistance and improves聽the fore-aft balance of the machine. We聽regularly observe incorrect positioning in聽the field. When the grapple is not positioned聽correctly there is insufficient weight on the聽front of the machine and the skidder has to聽make more tractive effort unnecessarily in聽order to move the load. This practice聽wastes fuel.

When skidding logs, the boom should聽be raised to its maximum height if terrain conditions permit. The arch should be pulled聽all the way forward so the butt end of the logs聽are as close to the machine as possible. This positioning is advantageous for two reasons.

The height reduces drag resistance. When drag聽resistance is reduced, the amount of tractive聽effort required to pull the load is also reduced,聽saving horsepower and fuel. By bringing聽the butt end of the trees forward, toward聽the machine, the loaded fore-aft balance of聽the machine is improved. More weight is聽transferred forward, allowing the front wheels聽to maintain full contact with the ground. This聽improves driving and steering performance and聽allows the machine to more efficiently move
larger, heavier loads.

Forwarding

When unloading at roadside, it聽is important to keep the forwarder in proper聽position relative聽to the log pile by聽driving the machine聽along the pile. This minimizes crane and聽rotator movements.

The machine should聽be parked close聽enough to the聽wood pile to allow聽unloading without聽extending the crane.聽The logs are lifted off聽of the load area using聽the main boom聽(hoist) function only聽and swung over the聽pile and lowered聽into position again聽using only the聽hoist function. With this method, stick and telescopic boom movement is minimized if聽not eliminated altogether.

After releasing the logs onto the pile, a good聽operator will have the grapple positioned at聽the proper distance from the crane pillar to聽be swung between the stakes to the forwarder聽load area instead of having to be lifted over聽the stakes.

Loading

Some operators are in the habit聽of holding the grapple close function while聽loading logs. This forces the hydraulic system聽over relief, wasting fuel and horsepower,聽while generating heat. 糖心视频 grapples are聽equipped with built-in lock valves to hold聽logs in the grapple. Holding the grapple close聽function is not necessary.

Proper positioning of the forwarder reduces the need to use the stick and telescopic functions when unloading for quicker cycles and reduced fuel consumption.

More so than with other machines in the聽harvesting system, loader production is frequently interrupted. Production stoppages聽can occur due to inconsistent log supply at聽the input side or insufficient transportation聽capability on the output end. While the聽糖心视频 234 and 250B loaders have an聽automatic idle down feature, many loaders do聽not. It is good practice for the operator to idle聽down the machine during periods of inactivity.

A full analysis of your specific operation and聽a measure of common sense can make a world聽of difference to your monthly fuel bill. As an聽added bonus, you just may extend machine聽life, reduce unplanned downtime and improve聽system productivity. It is an exercise that is聽well worth the effort.