Shaker screen users may know that there are flat type screen and pyramid type screen used very often on the shale shakers to separate the cuttings from the used drilling fluids.
The flat type shaker screen are very common in screen application, with 3 layers wire mesh stacked and closely connected with the steel back frame. Always there are hook strip type and steel tube frame type screen. Different from the flat type screen with a flat shape screen panel, the pyramid type screen is designed three dimensions screen panel like a wave. This pyramid screen design firstly issued by the world No. 1 solids control equipment manufacturer of Derrick Equipment. And they do have patent for this design.
Comparing with flat type screen, the pyramid type screen has below several advantages.
1. Make a larger effective screen area. Due to the wave type with top and troughs, in fact, the screen panel has a larger screen area than the flat type if the screen panels have same width and length. The pyramid screen let more drilling fluids distribute on the screen and more fluids will with solids less than the mesh will go through the screen.
2. Under the G force and gravity, the solids will accumulate at the troughs of the screen. Comparing with the flat type screen with solids distribute uniformly on the whole screen panel which will impede the go though the screen, the pyramid screen has the wave top and slopes at both sides will let drilling fluids come through.
3. The pyramid screen will make the fluids distribute as a much thinner layers which also helps to increase the flow rate and make the solids much dryer. And it can also separate solids around 3 meshes finer than the flat type screens.
These advantages pyramid screen will especially appear more clear when fed with larger volume drilling fluids that can submerge the screen panel. Thus the full screen effective area will be fully used.