Air & Screen - Every Tool Has A Job

This article is going to start off a series I will be doing called “Every Tool Has A Job”. This idea came about because of the amount of customers I find myself going through the basics on why each machine is in a plant and what its specific purpose is. These articles will be short and to the point aiming to get you the basic level of knowledge on each piece of equipment in a cleaning facility.

Every tool has a job to do in a cleaning facility: Air Screen: width separation; Indent: length separation; Gravity Table: density separation; Optical Sorter: visual separation. In this article we will be discussing the Air Screen.

An Air Screen is designed to sort products based on their width. It uses a series of screens with different openings to separate materials of varying sizes. The process involves these steps:

1. Feeding: The product is fed into the machine through a shaker feeder, ensuring a consistent flow.
2. Initial Air Separation: Air is drawn through the product to remove lighter and larger particles, making the subsequent screening process more efficient.
3. Screening: The product is distributed evenly across the screening decks. By selecting screens with appropriate openings, the machine can separate materials that are wider or narrower than the desired product.

4. Final Air Separation: After screening, the product is subjected to another air separation to remove any remaining lighter particles.

So with the Air Screen we have done an initial air aspiration separation, then sized too wide and too narrow, and finally another air separation at the end. The seed now should be free of anything larger and lighter and anything smaller and lighter and ready for the next part in the process.