Design And Manufacture Of Miscanthus Floridulus Sheath Removal Facility

Miscanthus floridulus is widely distributed in China. It can grow and spread very quickly incommon mountainous and hilly areas if not effective controlled, since it has very tenacious vitality anddeveloped root system and its seeds can be spread with wind. The existence of Miscanthus floriduluswill impose great threats on surrounding plants and economic crops, especially for its tremendous firepotential danger. If Miscanthus floridulus is not utilized, it will have no other economic values butconservation of water and soil. In order to increase economic benefits and improve the added value ofMiscanthus floridulus and remit the supply pressure of wooden resources at present, Miscanthusfloridulus can be utilized to prepare the recombined panels so as to satisfy the demand in construction,furniture and decoration areas.However, Miscanthus floridulus stalk has sheaths and there is a smooth wax layer existing on itssurface, it is difficult to use common adhesive to glue and form it. The utilization rate of Miscanthusfloridulus and the gluing strength of the Miscanthus floridulus molded panels can be greatly improved ifthe sheaths and wave layer mentioned above can be eliminated by using a certain method. Therefore,through the study of the physiological features of Miscanthus floridulus and under the condition ofimprovement of the utilization efficiency of Miscanthus floridulus and reduction of processing cost, wehave efficiently removed the sheaths and epidermis outside Miscanthus floridulus stalk. Based on theanalysis of current situation of epidermis and sheath removal facility, the feasibility of the developmentof Miscanthus floridulus sheath removal facility has been studied in this research in order to find ahigh-efficiency and low-cost sheath and epidermis removal method. Furthermore, this method will beapplied to develop a model machine that can be applied in the industry, so as to seek for a new approachfor replacement of wood with other materials.The main study contents and accomplishments of this paper could be described as follows:1. The distribution of Miscanthus floridulus and the research condition of Miscanthus floridulus athome and abroad were analyzed. The basic researches on the growth characters and habits ofMiscanthus floridulus were carried out in China. The utilization of Miscanthus floridulus was very rareexcept the research on fungus planting; the utilization of Miscanthus floridulus abroad was mainlyutilized in the energy plant. It was also very rare that Miscanthus floridulus was used to produceartificial boards.2. The usages, types and performance characteristics of epidermis and sheath removal facilitycurrently used were analyzed, and the problems to be urgently solved and possible development trendsof such facility were put forward. A relatively suitable processing method had been selected accordingto the feature of thin stalk of Miscanthus floridulus. To be more specific, use wire brush roll forhigh-speed rotation to cut the stalk.3. The research object, main research content and design tasks and requirements of sheath andepidermis removal facility have been established, the design and economic index features of this facilityhave been analyzed. Meanwhile, the overall design scheme, facility composition, working principle and required features of this facility have been determined. This facility was mainly composed of cuttingsystem, transmission system, feeding system, compressing device, rack and auxiliary device. Thisfacility boasted favorable flexibility, expandability, compatibility, and serial and parallel connectionavailability; after stream line operation, all procedures could be completed by feeding and dischargingonce; this facility was simple in structure, convenient in operation, low in manufacturing cost, etc..4. Designed and manufactured of Miscanthus floridulus sheath removal facility: the brush roll withthe diameter of the steel wire of0.2mm-0.4mm and the length of30mm-60mm was designed andmanufactured first for the processing of Miscanthus floridulus. Then, sheath removal facility used fortest was designed and manufactured according to the result of prepared epidermis removal experimentand the shape and specification of Miscanthus floridulus material. A group of wire brush rolls were usedin this facility to rotate at a high speed and cut the stalk under the driving force of a motor (model:Y90L-2; power:2.2KW; speed:2,840r/min). Meanwhile, the feeding of stalks was realized through thetransmission of upper and lower feeding rollers. The slab transmission was mainly realized through thedriving of the lower roller by the feed motor (model: Y90s-6; power:0.75KW; speed:910r/min) viachain transmission.5. Started up test of Miscanthus floridulus sheath removal facility: Miscanthus floridulus stalkswith the length of approximately100cm, diameter of approximately1cm and weight of49g-72g wereselected as experimental materials.6groups were divided. Each group contains3stalks. The stalks wererelatively straight and the epidermis and the core were free from deterioration; used four groups ofdifferent wire brush rollers (dimensions of steel wires: diameter0.4mm and length60mm; diameter0.3mm and length50mm; diameter0.2mm and length40mm; diameter0.2mm and length30mm) tocarry out cutting test. After the cutting test, the separation of sheaths and epidermis from the stalks wasrealized. Also, we discovered coarse wire brush roll had a better sheath cutting effect. However, thoughtwire brush roll had a relatively favorable epidermis effect. After three times of processing, the weightloss rate of the stalks reached20%to30%.6. Debugging and improvement of Miscanthus floridulus sheath removal facility: the mainproblems found during startup-debugging and the improving measures were listed as follows:(1) thediameter of the roller (100mm) was too small, and thus the assembly and disassembly of the lowermounted bearing of the feeding system were inconvenient. Improvement, we designed the diameter ofthe roller as120mm;(2) there were too many column footings in the facility. As a result, the facilitycould not be stably placed and the vibration was significant. Improvement: we removed several columnfootings in the middle or fasten the base of the rack on a flat ground;(3) there was relatively abundantdust. Improvement: added a dust cover on the cutting device.The testing and analysis results indicated that the Miscanthus floridulus sheath removal facilitydeveloped had a favorable sheath and epidermis effect. If proper groups of cutting modules wereserially connected, they could be applied in the industrialized utilization of glued laminated timber ofMiscanthus floridulus.