Aggregate screens can be a bottleneck in aggregate production. The cases of quarries operating with high rates of contamination and return of materials in their screens are not uncommon. Also, their stoppages have higher humidity and rain. This is challenging when simple actions are met relatively.

Truly, the right screens make all the difference for the aggregate processing operation. It increases the production efficiency and its profit. The bottom line is the screens needed in the construction area. However, choosing the correct ones can be complicated when new to the gravel, rock, sand, or mineral processing industry.

Tips to Make an Aggregate Screen Efficient

First, you need to measure

An ideal screen would work with an efficiency index in the 90% range. This means that the rate of return is the amount of material recirculates in the process for 10%. To measure efficiency, assessing the percentage of incorrect-sized particles is needed. For that reason, materials outside the particle size range are established by managers for production. Its measurement of screening efficiency is done by recording the amount of material that feeds the screens retained in each deck.

The procedure is simple. Collect 1m of material on the retention weigh and belt in the laboratory. Then pass the material through a screen in the same opening of the screen on the deck. After that, weigh it to the passing material and divide it by the total weight of the sample.

This will result in the percentage of incorrectly sized particles being presented in the sample.

Analyze the feed of the screens

If the percentage of incorrectly sized particles in the product is high, look at the previous steps, including feeding. Changing the media screen of the first deck can relieve the second deck, which improves screening performance. That means direct feed to the screen is a common mistake in many quarries.

Moreover, poor distribution also affects efficiency, which does not stabilize the material in the screening area. This includes the amplitude. It is another point of attention if the material is often jumping or thrown out of the screen. A good feed allows it for faster passage of fine materials at the beginning of the deck. It should make the screens on the second deck closer to the feed and receive more material.

It could be the equipment itself

Most optimization is challenging from tweaking the screen media, where the improvement only happens by replacing the screens. However, many managers bet on changing screening media to improve productivity when the bottleneck is the equipment itself. If the percentage of the incorrectly sized particles is too high, contact a specialist is needed to assess whether its screen size is adequate.

Type of screens influences the performance

From metallic wire to flexible and highly resistant rubber, several types of screening media are on the market. Likewise, there are also different systems for fastening. It includes modular rubber media, which have a longer wear life. For that reason, it has an easier change-out that takes less than 30 minutes and performs by single maintenance professional. However, rubber media tend to last at least 4 times longer. Therefore, consider 6 hours spent on changing the wire mesh.

At JW Bell, we offer heavy-duty screens that effectively sort your rock or mineral products. We work at designing new custom screening plants and retrofits into existing operations.

Why choose aggregate screens on your own when you can put the experience of our aggregate service to work for you? Our team knows the screeners that will work best based on your requirements and budget. Visit our website https://www.jwbell.com/ or call us at 319-365-3655.