JP2003080504A - Method and apparatus for drying lumber - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for drying lumber which can control a surface crack of a material to be dried, can control darkening of a material color and can markedly inhibit an internal crack of the material to be dried. SOLUTION: In a method for drying lumber of drying the lumber 10 stored in a drying room 1 under control of a temperature and a humidity in the drying room 1, a temperature and a moisture content inside the lumber in drying are continuously or intermittently measured, and the temperature and the humidity in the drying room 1 are controlled based on information of the temperature and the moisture content inside the lumber to be obtained by measurement. The apparatus for drying lumber is equipped with a temperature measuring means 6 capable of measuring the temperature inside the lumber in drying and a moisture content measuring means 7 capable of measuring the moisture content inside the lumber in drying.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drying method and a drying apparatus for wood, and more particularly to a drying method and a drying apparatus for wood suitable for drying core lumber of coniferous trees used for pillars of houses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When wood is used as a building material such as a pillar, it is dried so that its water content is below a predetermined value in order to prevent deformation and cracking due to shrinkage. Need to let. In particular, in recent years, pre-cutting of building materials has progressed, and dry wood having higher dimensional stability and less material cracks is required. As a method for drying the wood, the wood is heat-softened at high temperature by initial steaming at 95 ° C. for 8 hours, and then the wood is dried at a dry-bulb temperature of 120.
A method of drying for 72 hours under the condition of ℃ and wet-bulb temperature of 90 ℃ has been proposed as a method for drying in a short time with less surface cracking (Abstracts of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Wood Science Society of Japan).

However, when the Japanese cedar core-supporting timber (11.5 mm × 11.5 mm × 3000 mm) was dried by this proposed method, internal cracking occurred in all 70 test materials and the material color Darkening (burn color peculiar to high temperature drying)
Was recognized. That is, a drying method and apparatus have not yet been developed that satisfy the three conditions at the same time that the material to be dried does not cause surface cracking, the darkening of the material color can be suppressed, and that the material to be dried does not cause internal cracking. Therefore, there has been a demand for the development of a drying method and an apparatus that simultaneously satisfy these three conditions.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a drying method and a drying apparatus for wood which can suppress the surface cracking of the material to be dried, suppress the darkening of the material color, and suppress the internal cracking of the material to be dried. To do.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for drying wood containing wood contained in the drying chamber under the control of temperature and humidity in the drying chamber. To provide a method for drying wood, which is characterized by controlling the temperature and humidity in the drying chamber based on the information on the temperature and moisture content inside the wood obtained by measuring continuously or intermittently. Thus, the above-mentioned object is achieved.

The present invention further includes a drying chamber capable of controlling temperature and humidity, and a temperature measuring means capable of measuring the temperature inside the wooden body during drying in a drying apparatus for drying the wooden body in the drying chamber. The above object is achieved by providing a drying apparatus for wood, comprising a water content measuring means capable of measuring the water content inside the wood during drying.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail based on preferred embodiments. To carry out the method for drying wood according to the present invention, a drying device provided with a drying chamber capable of controlling temperature and humidity is used.

First, an example of a wood drying apparatus preferably used for carrying out the method of the present invention (one embodiment of the wood drying apparatus of the present invention) will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 1
The wood drying apparatus shown in 1 is a device that includes a drying chamber 1 capable of controlling temperature and humidity, and can dry the wood 10 housed in the drying chamber 1 under control of temperature and humidity in the drying chamber. .

More specifically, the wood drying apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a drying chamber 1 for containing a wood 10 to be dried.
The vaporizing mechanism 2 for injecting steam into the drying chamber 1, the heating mechanism 3 for heating the air in the drying chamber 1, the air supply mechanism 4 for introducing the outside air into the drying chamber 1, and the air in the drying chamber 1 for the outside And an exhaust mechanism 5 for exhausting air.

The vaporizing mechanism 2 is configured to introduce the steam generated in the steam generator (boiler or the like) 21 into the drying chamber 1 through the steam introducing pipe 22 connected to the drying chamber 1. Therefore, it is possible to control the vaporization into the drying chamber by opening and closing the control valve 23 such as an electromagnetic valve and an electric valve provided in the steam introducing pipe 22.

The heating mechanism 3 is configured to heat the air in the drying chamber 1 by circulating the heating medium (steam) in the heating pipe 31 arranged inside the drying chamber 1. The heating can be controlled by controlling the distribution, flow rate, temperature and the like.

The air supply mechanism 4 and the exhaust mechanism 5 are respectively
It is mainly composed of ducts 41 and 51 that communicate the inside and outside of the drying chamber 1 and a fan (not shown) that generates an air flow in the duct, and the rotation of the fan and the damper 42 provided in the duct, respectively. By controlling the opening / closing of 52, the intake / exhaust of the drying chamber 1 can be controlled.

Then, vaporization by the vaporization mechanism 2, heating by the heating mechanism 3, air supply by the air supply mechanism 4, and exhaust mechanism 5
The temperature and humidity inside the drying chamber 1 can be controlled to a desired temperature and humidity by appropriately controlling the exhaust of air.

The wood drying apparatus of the present invention comprises a temperature measuring means 6 capable of measuring the temperature inside the wood during drying and a water content measuring means 7 capable of measuring the water content inside the wood during drying. . The temperature measuring means 6 and the water content measuring means 7 respectively measure the temperature or the water content inside the wood.
It is possible to measure at two or more locations with different depths from the wood surface.

The apparatus of this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
As temperature measuring means capable of measuring the temperature inside the wood, a plurality of temperature sensors 6a and 6b including thermocouples are provided. Each of the temperature sensors 6a and 6b is used by being inserted into and fixed to an insertion hole formed in the wood so that the temperature inside the wood can be measured. More specifically, an insertion hole having a diameter that just fits the thermocouple wire that constitutes the temperature sensor and having a depth that reaches the temperature measurement point is formed in the monitor material with a drill or the like. Wire the tip (hot junction)
After inserting and arranging in the insertion hole so as to reach the measurement point,
The periphery of the insertion port is sealed with a heat insulating material (for example, non-asbestos “Neoseal” (trade name) manufactured by Nippon Kasei Co., Ltd.) and used.

Further, the apparatus of the present embodiment is a water content measuring means 7 capable of measuring the water content inside the wood, and the water content sensor 7 measures the resistance between the pair of rod-shaped parts to obtain the water content.
It has a plurality of a and 7b. Each moisture content sensor 7a, 7
b includes a pair of rod-shaped portions, and is used by vertically driving and fixing the pair of rod-shaped portions toward the central portion of the wood so that a predetermined gap is formed between the rod-shaped portions.
The rod-shaped portions are connected to lead wires via clips, respectively, and the change in resistance between the rod-shaped portions is input to the control calculation unit 8 described later via the lead wires. From the viewpoint of preventing oxidation and rust, the pair of rod-shaped portions are preferably made of stainless steel, for example, they can be formed of stainless steel nails or the like. The temperature sensor 6a and the other temperature sensor 6b can be arranged at different depths (from the wood surface), and the one water content sensor 7a and the other water content sensor 7b can be used. The placement depth (depth from the wood surface) can be made different.

Each of the temperature sensors 6a and 6b and each of the water content sensors 7a and 7b are electrically connected to a control arithmetic unit 8 mainly composed of a personal computer, and the control arithmetic unit 8 performs a predetermined arithmetic operation. The temperature and water content inside the wood are calculated. In the device of the present embodiment, the calculated temperature and water content inside the wood are continuously output to the display unit 9 and / or the printer 11, and the displayed temperature inside the wood is displayed. The temperature and humidity in the drying chamber 1 can be appropriately changed to desired values by inputting a predetermined command from the input means 12 while observing the water content information (change information).

Next, a preferred embodiment of a method for drying wood using the above-structured wood drying apparatus, that is, a method for drying wood according to the present invention will be described. First, the wood 10 to be dried is stored in the drying chamber 1. Usually, several to several hundreds of wood are stored, and a predetermined gap is provided between the woods.

Then, the temperature sensors 6a, 6a,
6b and water content sensors 7a and 7b are attached. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the temperature and the water content inside the wood are two points at different depths from the wood surface, that is, the depth from the wood surface is approximately 1 of the thickness of the wood. /
4 and the depth from the material surface is approximately 1 of the material thickness
It is measured at the center part which is / 2. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of a temperature sensor 6a and a moisture content sensor 7a are provided so that the tip of each of the temperature sensors 6a and the moisture content sensor 7a can measure the temperature and moisture content in the middle portion of the wood. It is arranged so as to be located in the intermediate portion between the surface and the central portion. Further, another pair of temperature sensor 6b and moisture content sensor 7b are arranged so that the tips of the sensors reach the center of the wood so that the temperature and moisture content in the center of the wood can be measured by these sensors. To do.

After such preparation is completed, the vaporizing mechanism 2
The steam is further introduced into the drying chamber 1, and the wood in the drying chamber 1 is initially steamed. This initial steaming step is a step of softening the wood to be dried and improving the drying efficiency in the subsequent high temperature drying, and is preferably carried out at a set temperature of 95 ° C. for about 6 to 10 hours.

After the initial steaming step, the temperature inside the drying chamber is suddenly increased to 1 while the inside of the wood is softened by the initial steaming.
Start drying by heating above 10 ° C. The method according to the present embodiment is a first method in which the drying is performed at a dry-bulb temperature of 110 ° C. or higher.
A drying step and a second drying step of performing drying under conditions of a dry-bulb temperature lower than that of the first drying step are provided.

The first drying step is a drying step which is carried out after the initial steaming step. The drying conditions in the first drying step are as follows: the dry-bulb temperature in the drying chamber is 115 to 125 ° C., especially about 1
20 ° C. is preferable, and the wet bulb temperature in the drying chamber is 8
It is preferably 0 to 95 ° C., particularly about 90 ° C.

During the first drying step, the temperature and moisture content inside the wood during drying are measured continuously or intermittently at least in the middle part of the wood. And
Initially, only the temperature in the middle part of the wood is monitored, and when the temperature in the middle part of the wood exceeds 100 ° C., monitoring of the water content in the middle part is started. Then, the water content in the middle portion is continuously monitored, and the water content is set to a predetermined value (preferably about 35% which is the fiber saturation point of wood).
As a standard, the dry-bulb temperature in the drying chamber 1, or the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature are lowered. That is, the change from the first drying step to the second drying step is performed with reference to the change in the water content in the middle portion of the wood.

As described above, by switching the first drying step to the second drying step by measuring the temperature and water content in the wood and based on the information on the temperature and water content obtained by the measurement, It is possible to effectively suppress internal cracks that occur inside the wood. In particular, switching to the second drying step with a low dry-bulb temperature at the time when the water content in the middle portion reaches or immediately before the fiber saturation point of wood, which is approximately 35%, is particularly effective in preventing internal cracking. It is effective. When the condition of the first drying process is continued without switching to the second drying process, the pressure inside the closed wood becomes high due to the heating of 110 ° C or higher, and the moisture inside the wood is spread to the surface of the material. Although it moves, the intermediate part approaches the fiber saturation point as the water content decreases and the surface is fixed by the set, so that internal cracking easily occurs due to shrinkage due to rapid drying.

Further, not only the water content inside the wood but also the temperature is measured, and it is judged that the water content is below a predetermined value based on both the data on the temperature inside the wood and the water content. It is possible to solve the problem of lack of accuracy of the sensor, and it becomes possible to switch at a more preferable timing as compared with the case where only the water content is monitored. Further, when the cored square bar is dried by a high temperature drying method, in order to shorten the drying time, it is preferable to keep the temperature inside the bar as high as possible in a state where the water content exceeds the fiber saturation point and keep it in a boiling state. However, it is preferable that the material temperature can be always grasped by continuously or intermittently measuring the material temperature.

Regarding the drying conditions in the second drying step, the dry-bulb temperature in the drying chamber is preferably 105 to 115 ° C., particularly about 110, and the wet-bulb temperature in the drying chamber is 75 to 85 ° C.
It is particularly preferably about 80 ° C. In addition, when measuring the temperature and water content inside wood "continuously or intermittently",
The temperature and water content can be known so that it can be known that the temperature inside the wood exceeds a predetermined value (for example, 100 ° C.) and thereafter the water content inside the wood falls below a predetermined value (for example, 35%). It is only necessary to obtain the data of.

The method of the present embodiment further includes a third drying step of performing drying under a dry-bulb temperature lower than that of the second drying step. During the second drying step, the temperature and moisture content inside the wood during drying are measured continuously or intermittently at least in the central part of the wood. Then, initially, only the temperature in the central portion of the wood is monitored, and when the temperature in the central portion of the wood exceeds 100 ° C., monitoring of the water content in the central portion is started. Then, the water content in the central portion is continuously monitored, and the water content in the central portion has a predetermined value (preferably about 3 which is the fiber saturation point of wood).
5%) is reached, the dry-bulb temperature in the drying chamber 1 and the conditions of the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature are changed.

As described above, by further lowering the dry-bulb temperature based on the fact that the water content of the central portion of the wood has reached the predetermined value, the internal cracking due to the drying and the darkening of the material color are further effective. Can be suppressed. Moreover, by switching the temperature and moisture content of the wood and performing it based on the information of the temperature and moisture content obtained by the measurement, from the viewpoint of shortening the drying time, preventing cracks, etc., the most effective Can be done at any point in time. It should be noted that, as compared with the case where only the water content is monitored, more preferable switching can be performed more accurately, as in the case of switching from the first drying step to the second drying step.

According to the wood drying method of this embodiment,
Can suppress surface cracking of the material to be dried, can suppress darkening of material color (burn color peculiar to high-temperature drying), can significantly suppress internal cracking of the material to be dried, can shorten drying time, and can reduce drying cost The advantages are that the schedule is simple, there is no failure in drying, and the quality of the dry finish is stable.

The drying chamber 1 in the method and apparatus of the present invention may have any structure as long as it can store the wood therein and can dry the wood under the control of the temperature and humidity inside the room. For example, as the vaporization mechanism 2, the heating mechanism 3, the air supply mechanism 4, and the exhaust mechanism 5, various conventionally known structures can be adopted instead of the above-described structures. Further, the means for measuring the temperature and the water content inside the wood are not limited to those in the above-mentioned embodiment, and the temperature measuring means of any configuration capable of measuring the temperature inside the wood, and the water content inside the wood can be measured. A water content measuring means having any configuration can be used. Further, the device of the present invention, based on the information of the temperature and moisture content inside the wood obtained by measuring by the measuring means, the temperature and humidity in the drying chamber,
For example, it is preferable to include a control calculation unit that can be automatically controlled so that the method of the above-described embodiment is automatically performed. Specifically, it suffices to input into the personal computer a program that causes the personal computer to function.

[0031]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be further described below with reference to examples and the like. [Example] Using a drying device having the configuration shown in FIG. 1, 50 pieces of 113 × 113 × 3000 mm cored square lumber (water content before drying; 77.9%) made from cedar was dried under the following conditions. went. -Initial steaming process; 95 ° C, 8 hours-First drying process; Dry-bulb temperature 120 ° C, wet-bulb temperature 90 ° C-Second drying process; Dry-bulb temperature 110 ° C, wet-bulb temperature 80 ° C-Third drying process In the first drying step, the temperature data in the middle part of the material to be dried is initially observed, and when the temperature exceeds 100 ° C., the water content of the middle part The observation of the above data was started. Then, at the time P1 when the water content data reached about 35% which is the fiber saturation point of the material to be dried, the conditions of the dry bulb temperature and the wet bulb temperature in the drying chamber were switched to the conditions of the second drying step. In the initial stage of the second drying step, the temperature data of the central portion of the material to be dried was observed, and when the temperature exceeded 100 ° C., the observation of the water content data of the central portion was started. Then, when the water content in the central portion of the material to be dried reaches 35% P
In step 2, the conditions of the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature in the drying chamber were switched to the conditions of the third drying step.

FIG. 3 is a drying history graph showing changes in material temperature and water content of the material to be dried and control of steps in the example. The times of the first to third drying steps in the examples are 22 hours, 60 hours, and 12 hours, respectively, and the total drying time from the initial steaming to the end of the third drying step is 102 hours. there were.

[Comparative Example] Using the same apparatus as in the example, 50 pieces of 111 × 111 × 3000 mm cored square lumber (water content before drying; 86.1%) made from cedar were dried under the following conditions. I went.・ Initial steaming process; 95 ° C, 8 hours ・ Drying process; Dry-bulb temperature 120 ° C, Wet-bulb temperature 90 ° C In addition, in the drying process, the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature are kept constant and the temperature and humidity are kept constant. No changes were made. That is,
No control based on information on temperature and moisture content inside wood was performed. The total drying time from the initial steaming to the end of the drying step in the comparative example was 81 hours.

[Evaluation] With respect to cored square bars (50 pieces each) dried by the methods of Examples and Comparative Examples, water content, material surface cracks and internal cracks were evaluated by the following methods, and the results are shown. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Water content) Water content after drying: The central portion of the column angle after drying was cut into a width of 30 mm to prepare a sample, and the weight W1 of the sample was measured. Then, the sample piece is set to JIS Z 2201.
Test method for wood According to the method for measuring the water content, the sample was left at 105 ° C. in a dryer, the weight W2 after the sample reached a constant weight was measured, and the water content after drying was determined by the following formula. Moisture content after drying (%) = (W1-W2) / W2 × 100 Moisture content before drying; before drying by calculating the total dry weight of the pillar angle with the water content calculated from the weight after drying of the pillar material It was converted by dividing the weight.

(Material surface cracking) Number of cracks; maximum width is 0.5 mm or more and length is 200 m
Count the number of pieces of wood that have cracks of m or more.
It was shown how many pieces of wood out of 0 pieces had such cracks. Crack area: For each pillar, count the number of cracks with a maximum width of 0.5 mm or more and a length of 200 mm or more, and multiply the number by the area of each crack (100 mm ² ) to determine the crack area for each timber. I asked. Table 1 shows the average value of 50 cracked areas.

(Internal cracking) The knurled surface of each pillar material (two surfaces for each pillar material, a total of 100 surfaces) is observed, and the degree of internal cracking of each knurled surface is judged in four steps, and each of the total number of knurled surfaces The ratio of the degree of grain surface was calculated. None; no cracks. Small: Cracked surface has a maximum width of 1 mm x length of 20 mm or less Medium: Small or larger, a cracked surface has a maximum width of 2 mm x length 50
mm mm large; Medium or higher

[0038]

[Table 1]

From the results shown in Table 1, it can be seen that the method of the present invention can significantly reduce internal cracking of the material to be dried as compared with the conventional method (comparative example). Moreover, when the color of the wood dried by the method of the comparative example and the color of the wood dried by the method of the example were compared, the degree of darkening of the material color was smaller in the example than in the comparative example. The method for drying wood according to the present invention is particularly effective for drying until the water content after drying reaches 30% or less, particularly 20% or less.

[0040]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a wood drying method and a drying apparatus capable of suppressing surface cracking of a material to be dried, suppressing darkening of the material color, and significantly suppressing internal cracking of the material to be dried. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a wood drying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing a state in which measuring means is attached to a material to be dried.

FIG. 3 is a drying history graph showing the drying conditions and the changes in the temperature and moisture content inside the wood in the drying method of the example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 drying room 2 evaporation mechanism 21 Steam generator (boiler, etc.) 22 Steam introduction pipe 23 Control valve 3 heating mechanism 31 heating tube 4 Air supply mechanism 41 duct 42 damper 5 exhaust system 51 duct 52 damper 6 Temperature measuring means 7 Moisture content measuring means

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for drying wood, which comprises drying wood contained in a drying chamber under the control of temperature and humidity inside the drying chamber, wherein the temperature and water content inside the wood during drying are measured continuously or intermittently. A method for drying wood, characterized in that the temperature and humidity in the drying chamber are controlled on the basis of information on the temperature and moisture content inside the wood obtained by measurement. 2. A first drying step of drying under a dry-bulb temperature of 110 ° C. or higher, and a second drying step of drying under a dry-bulb temperature lower than the first drying step. The method for drying wood according to claim 1, wherein the switching between the first drying step and the second drying step is performed based on information on the temperature and the water content inside the wood. 3. The method for drying wood according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature and the water content inside the wood are measured at two or more locations having different depths from the surface of the wood. 4. A wood drying apparatus comprising a drying chamber capable of controlling temperature and humidity, for drying wood in the drying chamber, wherein temperature measuring means capable of measuring the temperature inside the wood during drying and wood during drying. A wood drying apparatus, comprising a water content measuring means capable of measuring an internal water content. 5. The temperature measuring means and the water content measuring means are capable of measuring the temperature inside the wood or the water content at two or more locations having different depths from the surface of the wood. Wood drying equipment. 6. The temperature and humidity in the drying chamber are automatically controlled based on the information on the temperature and moisture content inside the wood obtained by the temperature measuring means and the moisture content measuring means. The drying apparatus for wood according to claim 4 or 5, which is made.