Plants Get Smart With Dryer Infeed

Sweed’s recently patented “Smart Pause” technology allows dryer infeed operators additional time to address misfeeds or other veneer feeding issues, while permitting the continued operation of the veneer dryer, thus maximizing dryer fill rates. Several plants with current and pending projects will be realizing the benefits of Smart Pause.

Georgia-Pacific in Taylorsville, Mississippi recently commissioned a new 4-deck dryer equipped with Sweed’s Smart Pause infeed. Soon to come for G-P are two new installations in early 2020: a 4-deck and a 6-deck dryer, both equipped with Smart Pause infeed. Also joining the Smart Pause trend is Weyerhaeuser in Emerson, Arkansas, which has a pending dryer installation slated for spring 2020.

Sweed’s Smart Pause dryer infeed functions independently of the veneer dryer. Utilizing additional hardware and innovative software and controls designed by Sweed, each deck of the infeed roll case is operated individually with timing and variable speed controls, providing a platform for the program to manage veneer under normal and abnormal conditions, without affecting the performance of the dryer itself. The Smart Pause program is initiated upon the detection of missing sheets, and/or by the operator who has identified an issue. In either case, the operator has a period of up to 20 seconds (depending on feed speeds) to fix the misfeed and speed the infeed, allowing veneer to “catch-up” and be lapped prior to dryer entry.