Introducing Wagner rubber wheeled chip dozers: a comparative analysis of wood chip damage utilising a Wagner rubber wheeled chip dozer versus a tracked machine : a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters [i.e. Master] of Professional Studies at Lincoln University

Abstract

The research undertaken met the expectations of the author by demonstrating that use of tracked machines increased the damage of wood chip quality distribution specification. It was clearly evident through field trials with both the Wagner CHD 24S and the CAT D8R that the rubber wheeled machine (Wagner) has less impact on wood chip damage than a tracked dozer. The key findings are as follows: The average difference between a wheel dozer and tracked machine was a 1.75% increase in defects using a tracked machine There is less than a 1% chance of being no difference between wheeled and tracked machines. The data concluded that it was therefore highly likely to be some machine damage from tracked machines The over thick wood chips decreased with the wheeled machine, this is an unexpected outcome, but shows the effect of rubber wheels on large chip that breaks the chip and increasing the "accepts" Compaction versus "fluffing" were very notable during the field trials, one would suspect that more compaction would improve not only the storage utilization of a wood chip pile but also easy chip management when pushing and carrying with machine Formation of a commercial view, per actual cost benefit of rubber wheeled versus tracked machine, has not been achieved. The reason is that the author has not been able to obtain accurate information on the cost or impact of wood chip quality on the pulping process. Pins and fines are either used for fuel or taken off site, or in the Kraft pulp production process, they will increase the amount of chemicals used to compensate. There is scope to advance this current research to expand it over an entire wood chip pile as the expectation is that the damage by tracked dozers is actually understated. This statement is made based on the visual observations of the field trials conducted within this research paper.

The key point is that there is an increase in wood chip distribution specifications outside minimum and maximum parameters (damage) using tracked machines on wood chip piles.