Apparatus and method for separating fibers in wood logs

An apparatus for pre-processing a debarked wood log having an inner region and an outer jacket arranged around the inner region, the outer jacket having a higher fiber density than the inner region, the debarked wood log to be used in forming a fibrous mat of crushed log fibers, the apparatus comprising:

• a. fiber separating means including one or more projections configured for separating adjacent fibers in the outer jacket of the debarked wood log apart from one another without appreciably cutting through a width of or compressing the fibers and to a degree such that the engaged portions of the outer jacket have a substantially similar fiber density as the inner region of the debarked wood log;
• b. diameter determination means for determining a diameter of the debarked wood log being processed and for providing an appropriate amount of pressure to force the one or more projections into the outer jacket of the debarked wood log based on the determined diameter;
• and,
• c. feeding means for moving the debarked wood log along a log flow path along the fiber separating means.

A method of pre-processing a wood log having an inner region, an outer jacket arranged around the inner region, and a bark layer arranged around the outer jacket, the outer jacket having a higher fiber density than the inner region, the debarked wood log to be used in forming a fibrous mat, the method comprising:

• a. removing the bark layer from the wood log to form a debarked wood log having the outer jacket and inner region;
• b. determining a diameter of the debarked wood log;
• c. inserting the debarked wood log longitudinally into a fiber separator, the fiber separator comprising one or more rollers annularly positioned with respect to an axis of a log flow path through the fiber separator, the one or more rollers each including an outer circumference with one or more outwardly extending projections;
• d. applying pressure to the one or more rollers against the debarked log such that the outwardly extending projections extend into the outer jacket of the debarked wood log to separate adjacent fibers in the outer jacket of the debarked wood log apart from one another without appreciably cutting through the width of or compressing the fibers and to a degree such that the engaged portions of the outer jacket have a substantially similar fiber density as the inner region of the debarked wood log, the pressure being pre-determined based on the determined diameter of the debarked wood log;
• and
• e. rolling the rollers in order to separate the fibers in the outer jacket of the debarked wood log with the outwardly extending projections along a length of the debarked wood log by movement of the debarked wood log with respect to the rollers along the axis of the log flow path.