Citation: Svoreˇn, J.; Našˇcák, L’.;
Barcík, Š.; Koleda, P.; Stehlík, Š.
Influence of Circular Saw Blade
Design on Reducing Energy
Consumption of a Circular Saw in the
Cutting Process. Appl. Sci. 2022, 12,
1276. https://doi.org/10.3390/
app12031276
Academic Editor:
Amjad Anvari-Moghaddam
Received: 21 December 2021
Accepted: 21 January 2022
Published: 25 January 2022
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Article
Influence of Circular Saw Blade Design on Reducing Energy
Consumption of a Circular Saw in the Cutting Process
Ján Svoreˇn, L’ubomír Našˇcák, Štefan Barcík, Peter Koleda * and Štefan Stehlík
Department of Manufacturing and Automation Technology, Faculty of Technology, Technical University
in Zvolen, 960 01 Zvolen, Slovakia; svoren@tuzvo.sk (J.S.); nascak@tuzvo.sk (L’.N.); barcik@tuzvo.sk (Š.B.);
xstehlik@is.tuzvo.sk (Š.S.)
* Correspondence: peter.koleda@tuzvo.sk
Abstract: Optimal cutting conditions, which lead to a high quality of the machined surface and low
energy consumption, are crucial for wood processing. This paper describes the effect of feed speed,
cutting speed and mean chip thickness on energy consumption and saw blade surface temperature
during the spruce (Picea excelsa) cutting process. In the experiment, the energy consumption and the
surface temperature of the saw blades were measured to find the optimal cutting conditions for the
energy-efficient cutting process. The surface temperature of the circular saw blade was monitored
online using a non-contact infrared sensor connected directly to a PC via a USB connector. The
results show that the cutting power and the surface temperature of the circular saw blade increased
with increasing feed speed. The lowest values of cutting power were shown by the saw blade
CSB3. Compared to the classic CSB1 circular saw blade, the values were lower by 8%. The surface
temperature of the circular saw blade is highest at the outer edge (area of the heel of the teeth),
and decreases towards the center of the circular saw blade. For an identical mean chip thickness,
energy-efficient cutting was achieved at a feed speed of 21 m/min. There must be a trade-off between
machine productivity and energy consumption. Monitoring the cutting process of circular saws using
intelligent sensors is the way to adaptive control systems that ensure higher quality of the machined
surface and cost-effective machining.
Keywords: circular saw band design; energy consumption; cutting; temperature
1. Introduction
Circular saws are the most used machines in the primary and secondary industries of
processing wood and wood materials. They are intended for transverse cutting (cutting
in the direction perpendicular to the fibers) and slitting (cutting in the direction of the
wood fibers). They occur mainly in sawmills, resawings, or in workshops to produce wood
products as secondary equipment that cut and treat wood. They are mostly edging saws,
ripcut circular saws, multi-blade ripsaws, multi-blade cross-cut circular saws, parallel
pendulum saws, sliding table saws, and CNC panel saws [
1
]. Transverse cutting operations
are divided into two types: transverse cutting to the preliminary dimension and transverse
cutting to the final dimension [
2
]. When using forest wood resources, cross-cutting to a pre-
liminary dimension is often used, such as cutting a tree for logs and production of various
wood products. Research on reducing energy consumption in wood processing machines is
carried out by introducing innovations in cutting mechanisms [
3
–
5
], drives
[6–8]
, or control
system. The authors of [
9
] reported that lower values of cutting power were measured in
transverse cutting of balks of coniferous (Spruce) than in deciduous wood (Beech). The
rake angle (
−
5
◦
; 0
◦
; 20
◦
) has a great influence on the cutting power. The lowest values of
cutting power were achieved at different feed rates for the rake angle of 20
◦
. The authors
of [
10
] also reported the different influence of coniferous (Spruce) and deciduous wood
(Beech and Oak) on the cutting power in cross-cutting of boards.
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 1276. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031276 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci
