SCREENING & SEPARATING - Processing Equipment

Screeners & Sieves:

Screeners (liquids) & Sieves (powders) are available in a wide variety of styles and shapes for all industries.

The standard types of machines will be rectangular, round or cylindrical with the ability to efficiently screen particles larger than 325 mesh/44 microns.

As particles become smaller they become more difficult to separate through screening/sieving. To aid in this separation, ultrasonic screen stimulators were developed in addition to tools such as balls, brushes, steam, air knives and sprayers.

The newer generation of screeners/sieves uses sound directed to the screen surface to surpass the ultrasonic performance.  The sound wave can be captured at a high enough level so that, unlike ultrasonics, it can even be used to separate particles in liquids.  The HiSifter is an excellent example of this type of screener which can separate particles as small as 10 microns.  In addition to the horizontal and vertical motion created by weights, the acoustic action creates a vertical motion of the product which appears to be similar to a fluid bed.  The particle sizes separate more easily as well as adding more velocity to the falling particle. The mesh open area is  kept open by the energy emitted by the sound vibration. The limit for these types of screeners is the media and not the technology itself. In other words, the challenge is finding mesh material with small openings and large surface area to make this technology work for particles smaller than 10 microns.