Apparatus and method for manufacturing panels from wood pieces

摘要

An apparatus having several stations that receive, apply adhesive to, crowd, press and cure the wood pieces into a continuous wood panel. A singulation station engages an individual one of the wood pieces oriented in a cross-machine direction from an infeed station, presents the wood piece to an adhesive station for adhesive application and releases the wood piece for crowding at a crowding station into a batch of the wood pieces. A press station downwardly presses the batch with an upper platen and presses the batch in a downstream direction onto the continuous wood panel with a clamping device. A radio frequency device applies radio waves to cure the adhesive between the wood pieces of the batch so as to adhere the wood pieces together and so as to adhere the batch to the continuous wood panel. A cutting station cuts individual wood panels from the continuous wood panel.