Mechanical screening

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mechanical screening, often just called screening, is the practice of taking granulated ore
material and separating it into multiple grades by particle size.
This practice occurs in a variety of industries such as mining and mineral processing, agriculture,
pharmaceutical, food, plastics, and recycling.
Contents
[hide]

1 General categories

2 Applications

3 Process

4 Physical principles

5 Screening terminology

6 Types of mechanical screening

o

6.1 Tumbler screening technique

6.2 Circle-throw vibrating equipment

6.3 High frequency vibrating equipment

6.4 Gyratory equipment

6.5 Trommel Screens

7 Screen Media Attachment Systems

o

7.1 Tensioned screen media

7.2 Modular screen media

8 Types of Screen Media

o

8.1 Woven Wire Cloth (Mesh)

8.2 Perforated & Punch Plate

8.3 Synthetic screen media (typically rubber or polyurethane)

8.4 Self-Cleaning Screen Media

9 References

General categories[edit]
Screening fall under two general categories: dry screening and wet screening. From these
categories, screening separates a flow of material into grades, these grades are then either
further processed to an intermediary product or a finished product. Additionally the machines can
be categorised into moving screen and static screen machines, as well as by whether the
screens are horizontal or inclined.

Applications[edit]
The mining and mineral processing industry uses screening for a variety of processing
applications. For example, after mining the minerals, the material is transported to a primary
crusher. Before crushing large boulder are scalped on a shaker with 0.25 in (6.4 mm) thick
shielding screening. Further down stream after crushing the material can pass through screens
with openings or slots that continue to become smaller. Finally, screening is used to make a final
separation to produce saleable products based on a grade or a size range.

Process[edit]

Model of Screening Process

A screening machine consist of a drive that induces vibration, a screen media that causes
particle separation, and a deck which holds the screen media and the drive and is the mode of
transport for the vibration.
There are physical factors that makes screening practical. For example, vibration, g force, bed
density, and material shape all facilitate the rate or cut. Electrostatic forces can also hinder
screening efficiency in way of water attraction causing sticking or plugging, or very dry material
generate a charge that causes it to attract to the screen itself.
As with any industrial process there is a group of terms that identify and define what screening is.
Terms like blinding, contamination, frequency, amplitude, and others describe the basic
characteristics of screening, and those characteristics in turn shape the overall method of dry or
wet screening.
In addition, the way a deck is vibrated differentiates screens. Different types of motion have their
advantages and disadvantages. In addition media types also have their different properties that
lead to advantages and disadvantages.
Finally, there are issues and problems associated with screening. Screen tearing, contamination,
blinding, and dampening all affect screening efficiency.

Physical principles[edit]

Vibration - either sinusoidal vibration or gyratory vibration.

Sinusoidal Vibration occurs at an angled plane relative to the horizontal. The

vibration is in a wave pattern determined by frequency and amplitude.

Gyratory Vibration occurs at near level plane at low angles in a reciprocating side
to side motion.

Gravity - This physical interaction is after material is thrown from the screen causing it to
fall to a lower level. Gravity also pulls the particles through the screen media.

Density - The density of the material relates to material stratification.

Electrostatic Force - This force applies to screening when particles are extremely dry or
is wet.

Screening terminology[edit]
Like any mechanical and physical entity there are scientific, industrial, and layman terminology.
The following is a partial list of terms that are associated with mechanical screening.

Amplitude - This is a measurement of the screen cloth as it vertically peaks to its tallest
height and troughs to its lowest point. Measured in multiples of the acceleration
constant g (g-force).

Acceleration - Applied Acceleration to the screen mesh in order to overcome the van der
waal forces

Blinding - When material plugs into the open slots of the screen cloth and inhibits
overflowing material from falling through.[1]

Brushing - This procedure is performed by an operator who uses a brush to brush over
the screen cloth to dislodged blinded opening.

Contamination - This is unwanted material in a given grade. This occurs when there is
oversize or fine size material relative to the cut or grade. Another type of contamination is
foreign body contamination.

Oversize contamination occurs when there is a hole in the screen such that the
hole is larger than the mesh size of the screen. Other instances where oversize occurs is
material overflow falling into the grade from overhead, or there is the wrong mesh size
screen in place.

Fines contamination is when large sections of the screen cloth is blinded over,
and material flowing over the screen does not fall through. The fines are then retained in
the grade.

Foreign body contamination is unwanted material that differs from the virgin
material going over and through the screen. It can be anything ranging from tree twigs,
grass, metal slag to other mineral types and composition. This contamination occurs
when there is a hole in the scalping screen or a foreign material's mineralogy or
chemical composition differs from the virgin material.

Deck - a deck is frame or apparatus that holds the screen cloth in place. It also contains
the screening drive. It can contain multiple sections as the material travels from the feed end

to the discharge end. Multiple decks are screen decks placed in a configuration where there
are a series of decks attached vertically and lean at the same angle as it preceding and
exceeding decks. Multiple decks are often referred to as single deck, double deck, triple
deck, etc.

Frequency - Measured in hertz (Hz) or revolutions per minute (RPM). Frequency is the
number of times the screen cloth sinusoidally peaks and troughs within a second. As for a
gyratory screening motion it is the number of revolutions the screens or screen deck takes in
a time interval, such as revolution per minute (RPM).

Gradation, grading - Also called "cut" or "cutting." Given a feed material in an initial state,
the material can be defined to a have a particle size distribution. Grading is removing the
maximum size material and minimum size material by way of mesh selection. [2]

Screen Media (Screen cloth) - it is the material defined by mesh size, which can be made
of any type of material such steel, stainless steel, rubber compounds, polyurethane, brass,
etc.[3]

Shaker - A generic term that refers to the whole assembly of any type mechanical
screening machine.

Stratification - This phenomenon occurs as vibration is passed through a bed of material.

This causes coarse (larger) material to rise and finer (smaller) material to descend within the
bed. The material in contact with screen cloth either falls through a slot or blinds the slot or
contacts the cloth material and is thrown from the cloth to fall to the next lower level. [4]

Mesh - Mesh refers to the number of open slots per linear inch. Mesh is arranged in
multiple configuration. Mesh can be a square pattern, long-slotted rectangular pattern,
circular pattern, or diamond pattern.[5]

Scalp, scalping - this is the very first cut of the incoming material with the sum of all its
grades. Scalping refers to removing the largest size particles. This includes enormously large
particles relative to the other particle's sizes. Scalping also cleans the incoming material from
foreign body contamination such as twigs, trash, glass, or other unwanted oversize material.

Types of mechanical screening[edit]

There are a number of types of mechanical screening equipment that cause segregation. These
types are based on the motion of the machine through its motor drive.

Circle-throw vibrating equipment - This type of equipment has an eccentric shaft that
causes the frame of the shaker to lurch at a given angle. This lurching action literally throws
the material forward and up. As the machine returns to its base state the material falls by
gravity to physically lower level. This type of screening is used also in mining operations for
large material with sizes that range from six inches to +20 mesh. [6]

High frequency vibrating equipment - This type of equipment drives the screen cloth only.
Unlike above the frame of the equipment is fixed and only the screen vibrates. However, this
equipment is similar to the above such that it still throws material off of it and allows the
particles to cascade down the screen cloth. These screens are for sizes smaller than 1/8 of
an inch to +150 mesh.[7]

Gyratory equipment - This type of equipment differs from the above two such that the
machine gyrates in a circular motion at a near level plane at low angles. The drive is an
eccentric gear box or eccentric weights.[8][9]

Chemical Tumbler Screener

Trommel screens - Does not require vibrations, instead, material is fed into a horizontal
rotating drum with screen panels around the diameter of the drum.

Tumbler screening technique[edit]

Main article: Tumbler screening technique
An improvement on vibration, vibratory, and linear screeners, a tumbler screener uses elliptical
action which aids in screening of even very fine material. As like panning for gold, the fine
particles tend to stay towards the center and the larger go to the outside. It allows for segregation
and unloads the screen surface so that it can effectively do its job. With the addition of multiple
decks and ball cleaning decks, even difficult products can be screened at high capacity to very
fine separations.[10]

Circle-throw vibrating equipment[edit]

Main article: Circle-Throw Vibrating Equipment
Circle-Throw Vibrating Equipment is a shaker or a series of shakers as to where the drive causes
the whole structure to move. The structure extends to a maximum throw or length and then
contracts to a base state. A pattern of springs are situated below the structure to where there is
vibration and shock absorption as the structure returns to the base state.
This type of equipment is used for very large particles, sizes that range from pebble size on up to
boulder size material. It is also designed for high volume output. As a scalper, this shaker will
allow oversize material to pass over and fall into a crusher such a cone crusher, jaw crusher, or
hammer mill. The material that passes the screen by-passes the crusher and is conveyed and
combined with the crush material.
Also this equipment is used in washing processes, as material passes under spray bars, finer
material and foreign material is washed through the screen. This is one example of wet
screening.

High frequency vibrating equipment[edit]

Main article: High Frequency Vibrating Equipment
High frequency vibrating equipment is a shaker whose frame is fixed and the drive vibrates only
the screen cloth. High frequency vibration equipment is for particles that are in this particle size
range of an 1/8 in (3 mm) down to a +150 mesh.
These shakers usually make a secondary cut for further processing or make a finished product
cut.
These shakers are usually set at a steep angle relative to the horizontal level plane. Angles
range from 25 to 45 degrees relative to the horizontal level plane.

Gyratory Screener

Gyratory equipment[edit]
Main article: Gyratory equipment
This type of equipment has an eccentric drive or weights that causes the shaker to travel in an
orbital path. The material rolls over the screen and falls with the induction of gravity and
directional shifts. Rubber balls and trays provide an additional mechanical means to cause the
material to fall through. The balls also provide a throwing action for the material to find an open
slot to fall through.
The shaker is set a shallow angle relative to the horizontal level plane. Usually, no more than 2 to
5 degrees relative to the horizontal level plane.
These types of shakers are used for very clean cuts. Generally, a final material cut will not
contain any oversize or any fines contamination.
These shakers are designed for the highest attainable quality at the cost of a reduced feed rate.

Trommel Screens[edit]
Main article: Trommel Screens
Trommel screens have a rotating drum with screen panels around the diameter of the drum and
is on a shall angle. The feed material always sits at the bottom of the drum and as it rotates,
always comes into contact with clean screen. The oversize travels to the end of the drum as it
does not pass through the screen, while the undersize passes through the screen into a launder
below.

Screen Media Attachment Systems[edit]

There are many ways to install screen media into a screen box deck (shaker deck). Also, the
type of attachment system has an influence on the dimensions of the media.

Tensioned screen media[edit]

Tensioned screen cloth is typically 4 feet by the width or the length of the screening machine
depending on whether the deck is side or end tensioned. Screen cloth for tensioned decks are
made with hooks and are attached with clamp rails bolted on both sides of the screen box. When
the clamp rail bolts are tightened, the cloth is tensioned or even stretched in the case of some
types of self-cleaning screen media. To ensure that the center of the cloth does not tap
repeatedly on the deck due to the vibrating shaker and that the cloth stays tensioned, support
bars are positioned at different heights on the deck to create a crown curve from hook to hook on
the cloth.[11] Tensioned screen cloth is available in various materials: stainless steel, high carbon
steel and oil tempered steel wires, as well as moulded rubber or polyurethane and hybrid
screens (a self-cleaning screen cloth made of rubber or polyurethane and metal wires).

Modular screen media[edit]

Modular screen media is typically 1 foot large by 1 or 2 feet long [12] (4 feet long for ISEPREN WS
85 [13]) steel reinforced polyurethane or rubber panels. They are installed on a flat deck (no crown)
that normally has a larger surface than a tensioned deck. This larger surface design

compensates for the fact that rubber and polyurethane modular screen media offers less open
area than wire cloth. Over the years, numerous ways have been developed to attach modular
panels to the screen deck stringers (girders).[14] Some of these attachment systems have been or
are currently patented.[15] Self-cleaning screen media is also available on this modular system. [16]

Types of Screen Media[edit]

There are several types of screen media manufactured with different types of material that use
the two common types of screen media attachment systems, tensioned and modular.

Woven Wire Cloth (Mesh)[edit]

Traditionally, screen cloth was made with metal wires woven with a loom. [17][18][19] Today, woven
cloth is still widely used primarily because they are less expensive than other types of screen
media. Over the years, different weaving techniques have been developed; either to increase the
open area percentage or add wear-life. Slotted opening woven cloth[20] is used where product
shape is not a priority and where users need a higher open area percentage. Flat-top woven
cloth[21] is used when the consumer wants to increase wear-life. On regular woven wire, the
crimps (knuckles on woven wires) wear out faster than the rest of the cloth resulting in premature
breakage. On flat-top woven wire, the cloth wears out equally until half of the wire diameter is
worn, resulting in a longer wear life. Unfortunately flat-top woven wire cloth is not widely used
because of the lack of crimps that causes a pronounced reduction of passing fines resulting in
premature wear of con crushers.

Perforated & Punch Plate[edit]

On a crushing and screening plant, punch plates or perforated plates [22] are mostly used on
scalper vibrating screens, after raw products pass on grizzly bars.[23] Most likely installed on a
tensioned deck, punch plates offer excellent wear life for high-impact and high material flow
applications.

Synthetic screen media (typically rubber or polyurethane) [edit]

Synthetic screen media is used where wear life is an issue. Large producers such as mines or
huge quarries use them to reduce the frequency of having to stop the plant for screen deck
maintenance. Rubber is also used as a very resistant high-impact screen media material used on
the top deck of a scalper screen.[24] To compete with rubber screen media fabrication,
polyurethane manufacturers developed screen media with lower Shore Hardness. To compete
with self-cleaning screen media that is still primarily available in tensioned cloth, synthetic screen
media manufacturers also developed membrane screen panels, slotted opening panels and
diamond opening panels. Due to the 7-degree demoulding angle, polyurethane screen media
users can experience granulometry changes of product during the wear life of the panel. [25]

Self-Cleaning Screen Media[edit]

Self-cleaning screen media was initially engineered to resolve screen cloth blinding, clogging and
pegging problems. The idea was to place crimped wires side-by-side on a flat surface, creating
openings and then, in some way, holding them together over the support bars (crown bars or
bucker bars). This would allow the wires to be free to vibratebetween the support bars,
preventing blinding, clogging and pegging of the cloth. Initially, crimped longitudinal wires on selfcleaning cloth were held together over support bars with woven wire. [26] In the 50s, some
manufacturers started to cover the woven cross wires with caulking or rubber to prevent
premature wear of the crimps (knuckles on woven wires). One of the pioneer products in this
category was ONDAP GOMME made by the French manufacturer Giron. [27] During the mid 90s,
Major Wire Industries Ltd., a Quebec manufacturer, developed a hybrid self-cleaning screen
cloth called Flex-Mat, without woven cross wires.[28] In this product, the crimped longitudinal wires
are held in place by polyurethane strips. Instead of locking (impeding) the vibration over the
support bars with woven cross wires, the polyurethane strips lessens the vibration of the
longitudinal wires over the support bars but does not stop it, consequently allowing vibration from
hook to hook.[29] Major Wire quickly started to promote this product as a high-performance screen

that helped producers screen more in-specification material for less cost and not simply a
problem solver.[30] They claimed that the independent vibrating wires helped produce more
product compared to a woven wire cloth with the same opening (aperture) and wire diameter.
This higher throughput would be a direct result of the higher vibrationfrequency of each
independent wire of the screen cloth (calculated in hertz) compared to the shaker vibration
(calculated in RPM), accelerating the stratification of the material bed. Another benefit that
helped the throughput increase is that hybrid self-cleaning screen media offered a better open
area percentage than woven wire screen media. Due to its flat surface (no knuckles), hybrid selfcleaning screen media can use a smaller wire diameter for the same aperture than woven wire
and still lasts as long, resulting in a greater opening percentage.

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ Woven Wire Mesh Glossary of Terms

2.

Jump up^ Soil Gradation

3.

Jump up^ Pit & Quarry - Lesson 7 Screening

4.

Jump up^ Screening

5.

Jump up^ The Complete Wire Mesh Glossary of Terms

6.

Jump up^ WS Tyler F-Class

7.

Jump up^ RHEWUM WA- The original

8.

Jump up^ Engelsmann Separators and Screeners

9.

Jump up^ Sweco - Vibratory Screener, Sifters, Separators, Round Screen, Vibratory
Separator

10.

Jump up^ [1]

11.

Jump up^ Crown curve

12.

Jump up^ Panels Dimensions

13.

Jump up^ ISEPREN WS 85 brochure

14.

Jump up^ Modular panels types

15.

Jump up^ Google Patent - vibrating screen panel

16.

Jump up^ Flex-Mat 3 Modular

17.

Jump up^ Haver & Boeker history

18.

Jump up^ 19th centurys product book page 1 from Major Wire

19.

Jump up^ 19th centurys product book page 2 from Major Wire

20.

Jump up^ Photo of a slotted opening woven wire cloth

21.

Jump up^ Weave Types (see type E for Flat Top)

22.

Jump up^ Perforated Plate & Punch Plate

23.

Jump up^ Grizzly Screen

24.

Jump up^ Photo of a scalper screen with tensioned rubber panels

25.

Jump up^ 7-degree demolding angle results in its openings widening as soon as the top
surface is worn

26.

Jump up^ Self-Cleaning woven wire cloth

27.

Jump up^ Girons Anti-clogging products

28.

Jump up^ Flex-Mat 15th anniversary

29.

Jump up^ Hook to hook vibration

30.

Jump up^ "Flex-Mat 3 Increases Throughput While Reducing Downtime"