Inline crack detection
Internal Crack Detector
Better profitability by seeing inside.
The ICD detects internal cracks, voids and separations inside wood — defects that leave no mark on any surface — using air-coupled ultrasound, at line speeds up to 300 metres per minute and without a gram of ionizing radiation.
An internal crack is the most expensive defect in wood processing, because it is found last. It forms during growth, during drying, or during thermal modification, survives every inspection the board passes through, and then opens at planing, at resawing, or in the customer's finished product. By that point the piece has absorbed drying energy, handling, machining and often coating — the material that fails is the material with the most value invested in it.
It survives inspection for a straightforward reason. Camera systems examine surfaces and never look inside; X-ray systems look inside but measure density, and a thin separation displaces almost no material. The ICD is built for exactly the gap between them.
The ICD detects internal cracks, voids and separations inside wood — defects that leave no mark on any surface — using air-coupled ultrasound, at line speeds up to 300 metres per minute and without a gram of ionizing radiation.
An internal crack is the most expensive defect in wood processing, because it is found last. It forms during growth, during drying, or during thermal modification, survives every inspection the board passes through, and then opens at planing, at resawing, or in the customer's finished product. By that point the piece has absorbed drying energy, handling, machining and often coating — the material that fails is the material with the most value invested in it.
It survives inspection for a straightforward reason. Camera systems examine surfaces and never look inside; X-ray systems look inside but measure density, and a thin separation displaces almost no material. The ICD is built for exactly the gap between them.
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How it works
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What it finds
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Where it belongs in the process
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System models
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Specifications
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Data, and the second use of it
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Combining with moisture measurement
The ICD detects internal cracks, voids and separations inside wood — defects that leave no mark on any surface — using air-coupled ultrasound, at line speeds up to 300 metres per minute and without a gram of ionizing radiation.
An internal crack is the most expensive defect in wood processing, because it is found last. It forms during growth, during drying, or during thermal modification, survives every inspection the board passes through, and then opens at planing, at resawing, or in the customer's finished product. By that point the piece has absorbed drying energy, handling, machining and often coating — the material that fails is the material with the most value invested in it.
It survives inspection for a straightforward reason. Camera systems examine surfaces and never look inside; X-ray systems look inside but measure density, and a thin separation displaces almost no material. The ICD is built for exactly the gap between them.
+
How it works
+
What it finds
+
Where it belongs in the process
+
System models
+
Specifications
+
Data, and the second use of it
+
Combining with moisture measurement
Test before you invest
The value of crack detection depends entirely on what is inside your own material, and that is not something either of us can establish from a specification sheet. We therefore run paid evaluation programs in two forms, so the investment decision rests on measurements of your timber rather than on a claim about our equipment.
Option A — evaluation at our test laboratory in Finland
Ten sound samples and ten samples with known defects, supplied by you
Measured at our Finland test laboratory
Full report within two weeks
The fastest route to a first answer: does the ICD see what you need it to see, in your species and your dimensions.
Option B — extended evaluation at our headquarters in Almelo
Everything included in Option A
A further 100 boards from your own production
A substantially broader statistical base, showing not only whether defects are detected but how often they occur in your material and at what severity
Option B is the choice where the question is not only technical feasibility but expected return — how much of your production is affected, and therefore what detection is worth to you.
Both programs are quoted at a fixed price, agreed in advance, and are set against the scale of the investment they inform. Each concludes with a written report and a review of what the findings mean for your process. Tell us what you produce and we will confirm the program, the price, and the sample requirements before anything is shipped.
For measurement of moisture content on every board in the same line, see the FMI inline moisture meter. For strength grading, see mtgESCAN and mtgBATCH.
Background reading on why internal checking escapes conventional inspection is set out in our article Ten Reasons Internal Cracks Deserve More Attention Than They Get.
Test before you invest
The value of crack detection depends entirely on what is inside your own material, and that is not something either of us can establish from a specification sheet. We therefore run paid evaluation programs in two forms, so the investment decision rests on measurements of your timber rather than on a claim about our equipment.
Option A — evaluation at our test laboratory in Finland
Ten sound samples and ten samples with known defects, supplied by you
Measured at our Finland test laboratory
Full report within two weeks
The fastest route to a first answer: does the ICD see what you need it to see, in your species and your dimensions.
Option B — extended evaluation at our headquarters in Almelo
Everything included in Option A
A further 100 boards from your own production
A substantially broader statistical base, showing not only whether defects are detected but how often they occur in your material and at what severity
Option B is the choice where the question is not only technical feasibility but expected return — how much of your production is affected, and therefore what detection is worth to you.
Both programs are quoted at a fixed price, agreed in advance, and are set against the scale of the investment they inform. Each concludes with a written report and a review of what the findings mean for your process. Tell us what you produce and we will confirm the program, the price, and the sample requirements before anything is shipped.
For measurement of moisture content on every board in the same line, see the FMI inline moisture meter. For strength grading, see mtgESCAN and mtgBATCH.
Background reading on why internal checking escapes conventional inspection is set out in our article Ten Reasons Internal Cracks Deserve More Attention Than They Get.
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