Background and Purpose: The article is devoted to the reduction of energy consumption necessary for delimbing. Materials and Methods: Branch delimbing method includes feeding the tree trunk through the ring formed by the delimbing knives and simultaneous reciprocator movement of the delimbing knives along the axis of the processed trunk. The distinctive feature of the construction is the presence of the beater unit comprising a pusher and a piston mounted inside a sealed housing. Results: As a result of the suggested construction the force of the beater impact of the delimbing knife is increased. Using this method, the branches are removed not only due to the force generated when the knives come in contact with branches pushed by feed rolls moving the trunk, but also due to extra beater stress affecting the delimbing knife. The use of the aforesaid method and the construction of the mechanism allows to reduce energy consumption necessary for the delimbing process. Conclusions: The design of harvesting and processing head proposed in this article can be used in the design and manufacture of logging machines and mechanisms. The technical solution may be an interesting advance of the delimbing process when processing trees, especially when cutting big branches or when cutting forces are temporarily higher than average force values.

Cost justification of fuel and lubricants is high on the agenda of planning and practical use of forwarders in Russia and abroad. The problem solution is becoming increasingly important due to rising prices for fuel and energy resources. The share of costs for fuel resources ranges from 46 to 70 % in different natural and industrial conditions. This is due to the presence of cutting areas with different characteristics of the species composition. Currently, there are consumption rates for fuel and lubricants for mechanized work performed in forestry. However, they lack regulatory guidelines for calculating the fuel of modern logging machines used in skidding. There are basic standards for consumption of fuel, oil, and lubricants for different brands of domestic and foreign cars, trucks, and buses, but they also have no information on forestry equipment. The research purpose was to show the fuel consumption for the forwarder Amkodor-2682 when harvesting assortments in the climatic conditions of the Mari El Republic. The purpose was achieved through experiment using the volumetric method of refilling the machine fuel tank at the end of the operation cycle. The studies were provided with fixing the diameters and volumes of the felled trees. The forwarder fuel tank was filled to the top of the tank filler. Processing of the swath site was carried out with skidding of one pack of logs. The machine was stopped and the fuel tank was filled in after each operation of logging (idling, bundle assembling, hauling, bundle unloading). The amount of fuel in the tank was accurately fixed each time. Processing the data allowed us to obtain a regression model. This model characterizes the average fuel consumption for the forwarder Amkodor-2682 at different diameters of felled trees. Using the obtained results in forestry will make it easier to plan and calculate the operating costs of skidding equipment.

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The principles of increasing the use of modern multifunctional forest machines (harvesters and processors) for felling and delimbing in Russia and abroad are currently becoming more widespread and deserve increased attention from esearchers. The results of the studies performed made it possible to identify a wide range of constructive solutions of technological equipment interesting in the opinion of the authors of the publication and to develop a new technical solution. The idea of creating an additional shock load by the working body of multifunctional forest machines for delimbing during the processing of a tree trunk is one of the most effective options for the development of additional cutting force, allowing to facilitate the operation of the device. The proposed method involves delimbing the trunk by pulling rollers and is a combination of the operation of standard delimbing knives together with the gripping arms and a reciprocating delimbing knife that complements the design. The use of compressed air energy provides the reciprocating motion of the knife, creating a new principle of the cutting mechanism for this design. The article describes in detail the design of the device, its operation, as well as options for the interaction of individual technological elements. The implementation of the proposed idea will make it possible to introduce harvester and processor heads into the forestry sector, facilitating the operation of individual assemblies of forest machines with large average volume of the tree-length log. For citation: Rukomojnikov K.P., Kuptcova V.O. Design Improvement of the Mechanism of Delimbing by Multi-Operational Forest Machines. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 117–124. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-117-124

There is an annual increase in the number of modern forestry machines at logging enterprises both in Russia and in foreign countries. At the same time, the fleet of forestry machines is becoming more diverse and multifunctional, and their manufacturers, competing for market outlets, find themselves interested in constant upgrading of existing and development of new design and technological solutions. The research is aimed at finding a new engineering solution that will allow along with harvesting high-quality logs to perform their partial debarking without a significant reduction in the processing speed. The effective result is achieved by the fact that the proposed new method of processing tree trunks provides the possibility of timber barking in strips, i.e. removing the bark from a fallen tree along its entire length, as well as bast removal (partially or completely). The method involves, as in the traditional model of harvesting (processing) head functioning, crosscutting of the trunk by the sawing mechanism and delimbing by delimbing knives. This leads to accelerated natural drying of wood during its storage in the warehouses and significantly increases the floatability of thin coniferous logs during their further timber floating. The implementation of the proposed option of harvesting debarked timber at the logging site and the working body of harvesters (processors) to carry out such harvesting will increase the share of logging waste at the logging site. The design of the new harvesting (processing) head does not require significant financial expenses for its upgrading. The design of the new harvester head allows the logs to be barked in strips along the entire length. Additional drive of working mechanisms is not required. This will enable the implementation of rough debarking with minimal financial costs already at the stage of logging operations and increase the efficiency of logging and timber processing enterprises.