Non-Waste Technology for Utilization of Tree Branches

The trees (e.g., fruit or decorative) growing on the homestead plots of private households provide opportunities for sustainable biomass obtained from pruned branches every year. Profitable production of fuel material requires high-performance equipment and methods by which wood chips can be produced at low cost. The practice of chopping tree branches shows that not all chopping machines are suitable for use on homestead plots. This research gives the five-year test results of a developed and patented tree branch chopping machine under special operating conditions. The machine was tested under the conditions of the homestead plot of a private household in the Poltava region, and the engineering parameters to set up the chopper were determined. It is recommended to set a 0.3404 radian (19 degrees 50 min) angle on the chopper to cut tree branches as well as to set the size of the cutting knives’ protrusion above the disc plane within 0.0120 m. As a result of the correct settings, the power consumption of the chopper motor will be W = 1.3549 kW, which is an optimal value for the studied chopper. The research results made it possible to provide instructions for the tree branch chopper’s operation and to adapt it to the conditions of homestead plots.