Systems and methods for treating wood products are provided. The methods comprise preconditioning the wood product by irradiating one or more surfaces of the wood product with infrared (IR) and/or ultraviolet (UV) radiation and subsequently treating the wood product. The systems comprise one or more fixtures positioned to irradiate one or more surfaces of the wood product with IR and/or UV radiation, wherein each fixture comprises a reflector and a radiation source.

In a method for drying boards, which are guided in decks through a drying device, wherein the boards (8) in the drying device are brought into contact with drying air by means of an impinging jet ventilation and wherein the impinging jet ventilation is ensured by means of transversely ventilated nozzle boxes (7), the drying air is supplied by means of at least two fans (4a, 4b) arranged next to one another in an airflow of the drying air produced by a burner (1), which guides the drying air to the fans (4a, 4b).

Drying device for drying hygroscopic material, for example wood, has a drying chamber for accommodating material to be dried, and air conditioning for setting a drying climate in drying chamber during drying process. Air conditioning sets drying climate, at least in part, as a function of moisture of material to be dried. There are bar-like support devices for storing material to be dried in drying chamber during drying process. At least one bar-like support device has scale for measuring weight of material to be dried that is stored on support device. Scale is in signal transmission connection with a control apparatus designed and programmed so that moisture of material to be dried is determined from weight measured by scale. Control apparatus is designed and programmed for controlling air conditioning so drying climate is set as a function of moisture of the respective material to be dried, as determined from the weight measured.

Embodiments provide a veneer dryer system and methods of constructing, relocating, and replacing veneer dryers and other constructs such as lumber kilns, machinery, and processing lines or parts thereof. Embodiments of a veneer dryer system may include a track and a veneer dryer movably coupled with the track. The track may extend between the desired location of the veneer dryer and a construction location. Movers may be coupled with the track at the construction location. The veneer dryer may be partially or fully constructed on the movers and moved to the desired location for use. A pre-existing veneer dryer at the desired location may remain operational during the construction and removed before the new veneer dryer is moved into place, substantially reducing downtime and costs as compared to prior methods of replacing veneer dryers.

Disclosed is a jet box for guiding an incoming air flow in drying of a veneer sheet. The jet box includes at least one jet nozzle. The jet nozzle includes a guide surface forming a three dimensional opening structure, which is limited at its first end to an inner opening and at its second end to an outer opening. The guide surface includes a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion substantially on a side of the incoming air flow is convexly curved outwards from the jet box and the second portion substantially on the opposite side of the opening structure in relation to the incoming air flow is concavely curved outwards from the jet box. Also disclosed is a dryer including at least one jet box.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, is used to accurately identify moisture content and the specific locations of the moisture on an entire surface of a veneer sheet or other wood product. Based on the identified moisture content for a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product to ensure the wood product is put the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, and machine learning methods and systems, including one or more Machine Learning (ML) based moisture level detection models, are used to accurately identify moisture content and the specific locations of the moisture on an entire surface of a veneer sheet or other wood product and provide moisture level prediction data for the veneer sheet or other wood product. Based on the moisture level prediction data for a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, and one or more visual cameras are used to generate superimposed image data representing a visual/NIR composite image of wood product and correlating moisture levels with physical features of the surfaces of the wood product. By analyzing the visual/NIR composite image represented by superimposed image data, moisture pockets near an open physical feature that, absent the presence open physical feature would be a problem, can be identified and ignored. Based on the identified moisture levels at various locations in a given wood product, and the proximity of physical features to the identified moisture locations, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

A method for reducing moisture of a material includes applying microwave radiation combined with RF to the material to heat and evacuate moisture from the material during a heating cycle and optionally alternating heating cycles with drying/cooling cycles. In particular, a method is disclosed to reduce a moisture content level of a material that comprises irradiating a portion of the material with microwave to heat and vaporize moisture within the material during a heating cycle; combining or alternating the microwave with RF heating for a time interval during the heating cycle to reduce the moisture content level of the material; and alternating the heating cycle with a cooling cycle. In certain aspects or embodiments, the system comprises at least an enclosure, a microwave delivery device, a radio-frequency emitter and power supply.

A layered-up veneer board is formed by layering veneers up to a predetermined height such that the fiber directions of the respective veneers are alternately perpendicular to one another, and the layered-up veneer board is compressed by a compression device, to remove moisture contained in the veneers. Wood is a material in which the tensile strength in the fiber direction of the wood is higher than the tensile strength in the direction perpendicular to the fiber direction. With this layering scheme, even when stress is applied to the veneers and causes elongational deformation of these veneers as a result of compressing the layered-up veneer boards in the layering direction, elongational deformation of the veneers in the directions perpendicular to the fiber directions thereof can be reduced.