Researchers patent system to detect wood flaws

A system recently patented at Mississippi State will help assure the quality of processed wood.

Philip H. Steele of the Forest Products Lab and Michael Hittmeier, formerly of the lab, have developed a system using infrared light to detect flaws such as knots and voids.

The process may be particularly useful with species in which knots are hard to differentiate from clear wood, including such favorite furniture woods as red and white oak, cherry, and walnut.

In the new process, wood is heated by any of several means and then passed beneath an infrared camera. Defects show up as white in a computer-controlled video because they have a different temperature than the surrounding wood.

Information is fed to another computer which determines processing alternatives. Steele said the process can save time and money. He plans to seek commercial development.