Patent ID: 7987776

Claim:
A process for improving a woody biomass baler, the woody biomass baler comprising a baling chamber adapted to receive woody biomass material and a compression system adapted to compact the material into a parallelepiped bale in the chamber, wherein the baling chamber comprises a front wall consisting essentially of a reciprocating compression platen corresponding in dimensions to the width W and height H of the bale, opposing upper and lower walls corresponding in dimensions to the length L and either of the W and H of the bale, and opposing sidewalls corresponding in dimensions to the L and the other of the W and H of the bale, the improvement comprising configuring the baler such that each chamber wall selected from among the upper wall, the lower wall, and each of the sidewalls can withstand a distributed force perpendicular to the selected wall of between (Fmin) pounds and (Fmax) pounds, a value of the (Fmin) is calculated by using a formula (0.11×Pp psi×Aw) and a value of the (Fmax) is calculated by using a formula (0.5×Pp psi×Aw×SF), wherein 0.11 and 0.5 are Poisson's ratio values, Pp is the maximum pressure that the compression system can apply to the material, Aw is the area of the selected wall expressed in square inches, and SF is a safety factor calculated by dividing a design failure load of the compression platen by Pp.