Utilization of Electrical Impedance Tomography to Detect Internal Anomalies in Southern Pine Logs

摘要

A large body of research has shown that knowledge of internal defect location in logs prior to sawing has the potential to significantly increase lumber value yield. This paper describes a relatively low-capital log scanning technique based on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) to image anomalies interior to sawlogs. Static testing results showed that knots, juvenile and compression wood internal to logs can be detected. Although resolution is lower than that of CT and NMR technologies, the low cost of this EIT application should render it competitive.