Shale shakers are the primary solids separation tool on a rig. After returning to the surface of the well the used drilling fluid flows directly to the shale shakers where it begins to be processed. Once processed by the shale shakers the drilling fluid is deposited into the mud tanks where other solid control equipment begin to remove the finer solids from it. The solids removed by the shale shaker are discharged out of the discharge port into a separate holding tank where they await further treatment or disposal.

The working part of the shale shaker is fixed, and the material is screened by sliding along the working surface. Fixed screen is one of the most widely used in concentrators, generally used for pre-screening before coarse crushing or medium crushing. It has a simple structure and is convenient to manufacture. It does not consume power and can directly unload the ore onto the screen surface. The main disadvantages are low productivity and low screening efficiency, generally only 50-60%.

Linear Motion Shale Shaker In Drilling Rig

The shale shaker’s working surface is composed of horizontally arranged rolling shafts. There are plates on the shafts, and fine-grained materials pass through the gaps between the rollers or plates. The bulk material is driven by the roller to move to one end and is discharged from the end. Concentrators generally seldom use this kind of screen. The working part of the shale shaker is cylindrical, and the entire screen revolves around the axis of the cylinder, and the axis is generally installed at a small inclination angle. The material is fed in from one end of the cylinder, the fine material passes through the screen hole of the cylindrical working surface, and the coarse material is discharged from the other end of the cylinder. The rotating speed of the cylindrical screen is very low, the work is stable, and the power is well balanced. However, the screen holes are easy to block, the screening efficiency is low, the working area is small, and the productivity is low.

The movement direction of the machine body is perpendicular to the center line of the support rod or the suspension rod. Due to the swing movement of the machine body, the material on the screen surface moves to the discharge end at a certain speed, and the material is screened at the same time. Compared with the above-mentioned screens, the shaking screen has higher productivity and screening efficiency. The disadvantage is poor power balance. It is rarely used in concentrators now, and replaced by shale shakers with a more reasonable structure.