Vibratory Screeners: Shaking Up Major Industry
Before there were vibratory screeners, there were farm lagoons filled with manure too wet to spread on the fields. Then came innovation in the form of a screen that vibrates. The screen acts as a separator of solid and liquid waste, and the vibrations keep the screen from becoming clogged with debris. Using this new type of vibrating screen separator, farmers who operate large operations have found a simple solution to drying out animal waste in half the time it would normally take to do so. This means cleaner, more functional farms, happier animals, more cooperative neighbors, and a higher bottom line for farmers.
How It Works
Before the invention of the vibrating screen, the solids and liquids of manure were separated in a number of ways: By stationary screening, by rotating screen, by pressure, or simply by gravity -- hence the invention of farm lagoons. With the vibrating screen, however, farmers simply dump the wet manure onto the screen, turn it on, and let physics take over. The result is the same whether a farmer uses a vibrating screen or a non-vibrating screen -- the liquid still runs down through the openings in the screen while the manure stays up top. With a vibrating screen, however, the liquid runs down through and the solids are shaken to the edge and deposited into a separate trough, allowing more manure to to placed atop the screen for the next run.
Benefits of the Vibrating Screen
The biggest benefit of the vibrating screen is its ability to keep particles from clogging up the works. A vibrating screen needs cleaned about once weekly, unlike a stationary screen that requires pressure-washing several times a day. This is a huge time saver for anyone using a vibratory screener. The time saved by not stopping to unclog the screen is quite significant. Because of this, farmers are able to turn lagoons into usable, spreadable manure in a fraction of the time it would take gravity to do so.
Who Uses Vibratory Screeners?
Farmers use this type of screen, obviously. But typically, they're farmers who run larger operations such as large-scale dairy farms. This type of equipment requires a significant investment at the onset, even though it pays for itself over time. Other industries that use vibratory screeners are mining, metallurgy, archaeology, and construction -- any industry that has a need to separate solids from liquids or to shake dirt and debris off of items taken from the earth.
Applications
Aside from separating the solids and liquids of manure, vibrating screens are used for the following applications:
- In the application of concrete to release trapped air and excess water
- In the landscaping industry to sort sizes of gravel, aggregate, sand, and crushed rock
- In mining to shake dirt from valuable ores such as iron or coal
- In archaeology to sift through fine debris
There are other applications for the vibrating screen as well. In fact, these types of screens are able to be ordered to the exact specification of the company that plans to use them, whether to sort and separate similar-size prescription drugs or to mine for precious ores.
The invention of the vibrating screen has revolutionized various industries, including the ones listed here. It allows for the sorting and separation of an endless array of objects and materials without clogging, without the need for repeated cleanings, and in just a fraction of the time it would take to hand-sort, or gravity-sort the same materials. For these reasons, this type of screen is in great demand today, just like every other invention that was created with the intention of making life a little easier.