A Shale shaker is one of the necessary solid control equipment required to treat the drilling mud. Not only does it help in decreasing the amount of solid waste, and prepares the mud for subsequent use. However, the complete structure of the shale shaker also has a vital screen requirement. This screen plays a crucial role in the functioning of the device. That’s why the quality and strength of this screen design need to be on point. Many builders and commercial business people prefer Solid Control World to access the best screen designs.
However, the question also arises of how you are going to determine whether the shake shaker screen design is good enough or not. Especially the beginners in this industry will find it hard to understand how the shale shaker screen designs can be considered the best. To resolve this issue, we will discuss everything you need to know about shale shaker screens in this article. Let’s begin!
How to look for an ideal shale shaker screen?
For the shale shaker, the most important regenerative structural device is the shale shaker. It helps in extracting the more significant solid parts. The shale shaker comes with a screen mesh that has millions of holes. So any object or impurity bigger than the screen mesh hole will come out of it. This creates a filtration channel for the fluid. The drilling fluid may contain a few solid parts, drained straight to the mud tank where they undergo further purification. The lumpy solids or rock chips that are larger than the size of the hole stay out of it and above the screen.
The screen is also in the constant vibrational stage. This means the screen vibrates to remove the lumpy and larger solids above it. These solids go straight to the shale shaker screen basket. This creates the need for the right targeted settling above the mesh. Several components, like gravity, consistency, etc., come into play now. If you don’t choose the screen correctly, it can cause the loss of drilling fluid. Other issues can be premature pump failure, overloading, etc.
So you must be careful about all these aspects while choosing the right screen design. It should fulfill all the requirements and placements. The measurement of the screen should be in alignment with the solid size that we want to remove. The diameter of the hole and impurities come with a wide range of alignment arrangements.
Types of shale shaker screens
Above, we discussed various aspects you should see in a shale shaker screen. These factors help in determining the correct type of shale shaker screen. However, before that, you should also understand the different shale shaker screens. Every screen provides targeted utilization for specific concerns. That’s why depending upon the machine and the needs, the requirement of the shaker screen type also changes. You can get the shale screen shakers in the steel frame category. They are also available in the prismatic cone category. Other categories are;
Every type of frame comes with different features and structures. These screens support different sizes of material screening. The user chooses the size and type per the material to be eradicated. If we talk about the steel frame, which is the most famous and common one, it is composed of a steel frame and comes with a pair, each with three layers of chrome steel mesh. This mesh is combined with the steel frame strongly by welding or bolts.
Characters of shale shaker screens
To determine the correct shale shaker screen type, you must also understand its different characters. The shale shaker screen comes with high strength and agility. The shale shaker screen mesh has a very high load capacity, which can quickly clarify the heavier solids. The pyramid product takes up enormous space, which helps collect the screened particles. The flexibility of the shale shaker screen mesh is also very high. The shale shaker screen comes with a very specifically designed hook. It also uses flat bar products with long durability and rigid and robust supporting branches.
It is also very cheap, which aligns with the cost-cutting approach. So if you are choosing a shale shaker screen design, ensure it fulfills these essential design criteria as they are readily available.
When it comes to regenerative structural devices, there is no more important one than that of the Shale Shaker.The shape and size of these structures can be designed as per the need and requirements of the customer. The screen surface area of the screen can also vary. Sometimes when the industries need a higher capacity of processing, they can choose larger contact space screens for shale shakers. The increased surface area helps in cleaning more drilling fluid from it. However, when you choose a flat screen, the efficiency of the screen decreases as the clogging risk increases. So you may have to act manually to resolve the issue. That’s why the wavy screen is a better choice. It helps in better cleansing. However, if you are choosing a flat screen, try to choose a smaller size as the smaller size flat screen is easier to use and has better efficiency than a larger flat screen.
If you want to choose the right screen mesh type, then we can help you. First of all, you need to check the right screen mesh size. You measure it by the holes per square inch. If you choose two different mesh sizes, they only get the cut at the different parts. However, the similar-sized mesh can cause drilling issues. This is because the sizes and shapes have different forms depending upon the cutting and style of strata you want to target.
Applications of shale shaker screens
Here, we are discussing the shale shaker screen uses. This will help you understand shale screens’ viability and user advantage.
The primary function of shale shaker screens is to eradicate the large solids from the drilling mud. It is also the initial step of the control system on the rig. The primary utilization of such screens is only seen in upstream markets in oil and gas domains. However, you can also see their uses in mining, coal cleaning, etc. A standard screen shaker includes a basket, vibrator, feeder, etc. The hole size of the screen comes with a wide range of API screen numbers. The hole on the screen determines the requirement of the number.
The shale shaker finds its extensive use in eradicating crude oil or natural gas. It is done from the underground portions of the soil, which is mainly regarded as the reservoir. This task requires a frequent change in the types of equipment as they are quickly used and damaged under this process. The drilling fluid or mud is used by the shale operators again by the application of the shale screen. It is a costly resource that can’t be discarded easily.
That’s why screen shakers save a lot of money and help better manage resources by helping cost-cutting. Pumping the fluid from the shale shaker screen brings the fluid back to the well. This is further resued from here. The need for disposing of this drilling fluid decreases, which also helps in better regulatory management.
The shale shaker screens are the only tool available in solid control which helps in dealing with the changing fluid conditions or characters. A Shaker screen also helps regenerate a more significant amount of drilling fluid. This also helps recover a considerable amount of drilling fluid at the end of the cycle. This helps in saving a lot of money. In addition, the shaker screen should manage the circulation rates of the complete process.
It should also be available and capable of processing large volumes of drilling fluid. For all industries, the shale shaker screen is the only device that helps separate the particles according to their sizes.
Conclusion
The shale shaker helps remove the large solids, mainly above the size of 75 microns. It helps in regenerating the drilling fluid. They comprise vibrating sieves that help filter the mud from the mud tank. In this complete process, the screen size of the shale shaker device plays a crucial role. It helps in managing the separation capability of any shale shaker device. It also helps in managing the separation as per the size of the particle. The mud separation of the shale shaker starts with generating vibrations. The screen vibrates from the bottom, and the particles spread on it are separated.
The smaller ones go down while, the larger one stays upon it. This residual is sent to the mud tank or disposer with other vibrations. The shape and size of the screen also matter. The size is determined by the number of holes in every inch of square measurement. In terms of shape, the curved shape is considered as much more efficient.
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