Cereal cleaning and screening machine april-2016

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
School of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering
Project Progress
Title on: Design modification of coffee and cereals
Screening Washing and Cleaning machine
Abraham Engida ENR/6443/04

Henok Ayele ETR/2957/03

Mearg Hafte ENR/4703/04

Yordanos Shiferaw ENR/3912/04

Submitted to: Ins. tamrat

April 12,2016
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Cereal cleaning and screening machine april-2016

Literature review
Function of Grain Separation and Cleaning
It is well recognized that grains are the most important input for agricultural production and they carry
important genetic information of which the desirable types can be expressed under well organized
production knowhow. However, the benefits of good crop varieties cannot be realized without the
availability of clean seeds to farmers. Furthermore, clean seeds of improved varieties need to be
maintained under specific conditions to produce quality grains by farmer.

The function of grain separation is to remove/separate grain from unwanted materials such as broken
and yet short straw, pieces of broken ears (cobs) and chaff. The function of grain cleaning is to eliminate
foreign or undesirable material such as twigs, leaf and soil particles, empty and weed seeds, dust, chaff
and the like to reduce bulk, improve storability and make grains easier to handle during subsequent
processes. The ideal cleaned grain is free from any other materials. The degree to which this is achieved
is called the purity (cleaning efficiency), usually measured in percentage (Schmidt, 2000). Cleaning refers
to separation of contaminants from produce and complete removal of the contaminants so that the
cleaned produce is free from re-contamination (Kajuna, 2001).

Separating process fraction the grain lot into two categories, one category containing the grain and the
other containing inert matter like stem, leaves, dust, dirt, chaff, etc. to be discharged. There are
methods that may separate the grain lot into several fractions with various purities. Intermediate
fractions typically contain both grains and inert matter and must be further cleaned (Schmidt, 2000).

Basically, undesirable material can be separated from the grain if it differs in its physical characteristics
such as size, shape, weight/mass and density or specific weight. And the more similar the impurities are
to the grains, the more difficult they are to remove/separate. Variation in grain size and morphology of
the grain adds another constraint to grain cleaning: the larger the variation in the grain lot, the more
difficult it is to clean. Eliminating/taking out inert matter without eliminating grains with different sizes
is difficult for many species (Schmidt, 2000).

Separating and Cleaning Devices

The objective of using a separating and cleaning device is to separate grain from materials other than
grain (MOG). Such devices may make use of differences in surface characteristics of the grains. There are
many types of separating and cleaning device namely: aerodynamic, mechanical, combination of
aerodynamic and mechanical, specific gravity table method etc. (Arfia, 2006). Many commercial cleaners
incorporate more than one of these cleaning methods (Hauhouot et al., 2000).

Aerodynamic Separator and Cleaner

Nagesh and Lakshminarasimhan (2014), pointed out that threshed grains require considerable
additional cleaning before it can be used as food, whole or ground and even as grain. Pneumatic
(aerodynamic) cleaning is the process of using air to lift light, chaffy and dusty materials out of the grains
while heavier materials move downward.

For aerodynamic separation to occur, the particles in a mixture must be accelerated as free dispersed
bodies and not as a mat. Aerodynamic separation depends upon the existence of a differential between

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suspension velocities (terminal velocity) of the components to be separated. Aerodynamic separator

and cleaner use air as a medium to lift light materials such as chaff and dust out of mixture of grain and
undesirable materials; i.e. heavier materials moving downward while light materials are blown away. Air
current, either to blow or suspend lighter materials, is generated by natural or mechanical fan. However,
the limitation of natural air current as a means of separation is the unpredictability in direction, speed
and continuity of the air current (wind), and the high labor requirement and rather imprecise degree of
separation (Aguirre and Garray, 1999).

Aerodynamic separators and cleaner are basically of two types, namely the vertical air stream and
horizontal air stream separators (Gorial and Callagham, 1990). In the vertical air stream separator, air
stream is flowing vertically against the injected mixed product such that heavy particles drop through
the air (counter current flow) while the light materials move upward and are carried along by the air
(concurrent flow). In the horizontal air stream separator, air is blown horizontally or at an inclined angle
to the horizontal against mixed product injected along the vertical plane. The mixed products are
displaced along the horizontal plane at various distances based on their aerodynamic properties (Gorial
and Callagham, 1990).

Mechanical separation
In mechanical separation mixed materials are moved over a perforated and oscillating surface with
openings of specified shape and size. Mechanical or sieve separation is a process separating the desired
material/grain from undesired materials on the basis of differences in sizes and shapes. Multi sieve
separators are used for classifying grains to size grades. Nonetheless, presence of short straws creates
problems by blocking sieve openings and thereby reduces the quality of final product. Segregation and
separation take place along the sieve length as grain and MOG are being transported over the sieve. The
thickness and looseness of the grain and MOG layer on the sieve influences separation (Gorial and
Callagham, 1990). The process of separation is ensured by the relative movement of layers of grain and
undesired materials caused by the oscillation of plain sieves (Wang et al, 1994).

Combination of aerodynamic and mechanical

Combined air and sieve system, used to separate grain from undesired materials, employs terminal
velocity, size, shape, and density as a means to segregation and separation. The method is advantageous
and effective than the others methods of separation. The primary method of grain separating and
cleaning, at the moment, is the air-sieve separator (OARI, 2006/7). According to Simonyan et al. (2006)
the physical parameters affecting the separating and cleaning process are grouped into two: (i) crop
factors that include crop variety, maturity stage, grain moisture content, straw moisture content, bulk
density of grain, bulk density of straw, stalk length, terminal velocities of particles (both grain and other
materials), grain size and (ii) machine factors such as frequency of sieve oscillations, amplitude of
oscillation, sieve slope, length of sieve, width of sieve, sieve hole diameter, fan speed, angle/direction of
air flow from the fan.

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Cereal cleaning and screening machine april-2016

Mechanical screening: - often just called screening, is the practice of taking granulated
ore material and separating it into multiple grades by particle size.

This practice occurs in a variety of industries such as mining and mineral processing, agriculture,
pharmaceutical, food, plastics, and recycling

General categories

Screening fall under two general categories: dry screening and wet screening. From these
categories, screening separates a flow of material into grades, these grades are then either further
processed to an intermediary product or a finished product. Additionally the machines can be
categorized into moving screen and static screen machines, as well as by whether the screens are
horizontal or inclined.

Applications
The mining and mineral processing industry uses screening for a variety of processing
applications. For example, after mining the minerals, the material is transported to a primary
crusher. Before crushing large boulder are scalped on a shaker with 0.25 in (6.4 mm) thick
shielding screening. Further downstream after crushing the material can pass through screens
with openings or slots that continue to become smaller. Finally, screening is used to make a final
separation to produce saleable products based on a grade or a size range. Also

Process

Model of Screening Process

A screening machine consist of a drive that induces vibration, a screen media that causes particle
separation, and a deck which holds the screen media and the drive and is the mode of transport
for the vibration.

There are physical factors that makes screening practical. For example, vibration, g force, bed
density, and material shape all facilitate the rate or cut. Electrostatic forces can also hinder
screening efficiency in way of water attraction causing sticking or plugging, or very dry material
generate a charge that causes it to attract to the screen itself.

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As with any industrial process there is a group of terms that identify and define what screening
is. Terms like blinding, contamination, frequency, amplitude, and others describe the basic
characteristics of screening, and those characteristics in turn shape the overall method of dry or
wet screening.

In addition, the way a deck is vibrated differentiates screens. Different types of motion have their
advantages and disadvantages. In addition media types also have their different properties that
lead to advantages and disadvantages.

( screening machines)

Finally, there are issues and problems associated with screening. Screen tearing, contamination,
blinding, and dampening all affect screening efficiency.

Physical principles

 Vibration - either sinusoidal vibration or gyratory vibration.

o Sinusoidal Vibration occurs at an angled plane relative to the horizontal. The vibration is
in a wave pattern determined by frequency and amplitude.
o Gyratory Vibration occurs at near level plane at low angles in a reciprocating side to side
motion.
 Gravity - This physical interaction is after material is thrown from the screen causing it to fall to
a lower level. Gravity also pulls the particles through the screen media.
 Density - The density of the material relates to material stratification.
 Electrostatic Force - This force applies to screening when particles are extremely dry or is wet.

Screening terminology

Like any mechanical and physical entity there are scientific, industrial, and layman terminology.
The following is a partial list of terms that are associated with mechanical screening.

 Amplitude - This is a measurement of the screen cloth as it vertically peaks to its tallest height
and troughs to its lowest point. Measured in multiples of the acceleration constant g (g-force).
 Acceleration - Applied Acceleration to the screen mesh in order to overcome the van der wall
forces

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Cereal cleaning and screening machine april-2016

 Blinding - When material plugs into the open slots of the screen cloth and inhibits overflowing
material from falling through.
 Brushing - This procedure is performed by an operator who uses a brush to brush over the
screen cloth to dislodged blinded opening.
 Contamination - This is unwanted material in a given grade. This occurs when there is oversize
or fine size material relative to the cut or grade. Another type of contamination is foreign body
contamination.
o Oversize contamination occurs when there is a hole in the screen such that the hole is
larger than the mesh size of the screen. Other instances where oversize occurs is
material overflow falling into the grade from overhead, or there is the wrong mesh size
screen in place.
o Fines contamination is when large sections of the screen cloth is blinded over, and
material flowing over the screen does not fall through. The fines are then retained in the
grade.
o Foreign body contamination is unwanted material that differs from the virgin material
going over and through the screen. It can be anything ranging from tree twigs, grass,
and metal slag to other mineral types and composition. This contamination occurs when
there is a hole in the scalping screen or a foreign material's mineralogy or chemical
composition differs from the virgin material.
 Deck - a deck is frame or apparatus that holds the screen cloth in place. It also contains the
screening drive. It can contain multiple sections as the material travels from the feed end to the
discharge end. Multiple decks are screen decks placed in a configuration where there are a
series of decks attached vertically and lean at the same angle as it proceeding and exceeding
decks. Multiple decks are often referred to as single deck, double deck, triple deck, etc.
 Frequency - Measured in hertz (Hz) or revolutions per minute (RPM). Frequency is the number
of times the screen cloth sinusoidal peaks and troughs within a second. As for a gyratory
screening motion it is the number of revolutions the screens or screen deck takes in a time
interval, such as revolution per minute (RPM).
 Gradation, grading - Also called "cut" or "cutting." Given a feed material in an initial state, the
material can be defined to have a particle size distribution. Grading is removing the maximum
size material and minimum size material by way of mesh selection.
 Screen Media (Screen cloth) - it is the material defined by mesh size, which can be made of any
type of material such steel, stainless steel, rubber compounds, polyurethane, brass, etc.
 Shaker - A generic term that refers to the whole assembly of any type mechanical screening
machine.
 Stratification - This phenomenon occurs as vibration is passed through a bed of material. This
causes coarse (larger) material to rise and finer (smaller) material to descend within the bed.
The material in contact with screen cloth either falls through a slot or blinds the slot or contacts
the cloth material and is thrown from the cloth to fall to the next lower level.
 Mesh - Mesh refers to the number of open slots per linear inch. Mesh is arranged in multiple
configuration. Mesh can be a square pattern, long-slotted rectangular pattern, circular pattern,
or diamond pattern.
 Scalp, scalping - this is the very first cut of the incoming material with the sum of all its grades.
Scalping refers to removing the largest size particles. This includes enormously large particles
relative to the other particle's sizes. Scalping also cleans the incoming material from foreign
body contamination such as twigs, trash, glass, or other unwanted oversize material.

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Types of mechanical screening

There are a number of types of mechanical screening equipment that cause segregation. These
types are based on the motion of the machine through its motor drive.

 Circle-throw vibrating equipment - This type of equipment has an eccentric shaft that causes the
frame of the shaker to lurch at a given angle. This lurching action literally throws the material
forward and up. As the machine returns to its base state the material falls by gravity to
physically lower level. This type of screening is used also in mining operations for large material
with sizes that range from six inches to +20 meshes.
 High frequency vibrating equipment - This type of equipment drives the screen cloth only.
Unlike above the frame of the equipment is fixed and only the screen vibrates. However, this
equipment is similar to the above such that it still throws material off of it and allows the
particles to cascade down the screen cloth. These screens are for sizes smaller than 1/8 of an
inch to +150 mesh.
 Gyratory equipment - This type of equipment differs from the above two such that the machine
gyrates in a circular motion at a near level plane at low angles. The drive is an eccentric gear box
or eccentric weights.
 Chemical Tumbler Screener.
 Trommel screens - Does not require vibrations, instead, material is fed into a horizontal rotating
drum with screen panels around the diameter of the drum.

Tumbler screening technique

An improvement on vibration, vibratory, and linear screeners, a tumbler screener uses elliptical
action which aids in screening of even very fine material. As like panning for gold, the fine
particles tend to stay towards the center and the larger go to the outside. It allows for segregation
and unloads the screen surface so that it can effectively do its job. With the addition of multiple
decks and ball cleaning decks, even difficult products can be screened at high capacity to very
fine separations.

Circle-throw vibrating equipment

Circle-Throw Vibrating Equipment is a shaker or a series of shakers as to where the drive causes
the whole structure to move. The structure extends to a maximum throw or length and then
contracts to a base state. A pattern of springs are situated below the structure to where there is
vibration and shock absorption as the structure returns to the base state.

This type of equipment is used for very large particles, sizes that range from pebble size on up to
boulder size material. It is also designed for high volume output. As a scalper, this shaker will
allow oversize material to pass over and fall into a crusher such a cone crusher, jaw crusher, or
hammer mill.The material that passes screen by-passes the crusher and is conveyed and
combined with the crush material.

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Cereal cleaning and screening machine april-2016

Also this equipment is used in washing processes, as material passes under spray bars, finer
material and foreign material is washed through the screen. This is one example of wet
screening.

High frequency vibrating equipment

High frequency vibrating equipment is a shaker whose frame is fixed and the drive vibrates only
the screen cloth. High frequency vibration equipment is for particles that are in this particle size
range of an 1/8 in (3 mm) down to a +150 mesh.

These shakers usually make a secondary cut for further processing or make a finished product
cut.

These shakers are usually set at a steep angle relative to the horizontal level plane. Angles range
from 25 to 45 degrees relative to the horizontal level plane.

Gyratory Screener

Gyratory equipment

This type of equipment has an eccentric drive or weights that cause the shaker to travel in an
orbital path. The material rolls over the screen and falls with the induction of gravity and
directional shifts. Rubber balls and trays provide an additional mechanical means to cause the
material to fall through. The balls also provide a throwing action for the material to find an open
slot to fall through.

The shaker is set a shallow angle relative to the horizontal level plane. Usually, no more than 2 to
5 degrees relative to the horizontal level plane. These types of shakers are used for very clean
cuts. Generally, a final material cut will not contain any oversize or any fines contamination.
These shakers are designed for the highest attainable quality at the cost of a reduced feed rate.

Trommel Screens

Trommel screens have a rotating drum with screen panels around the diameter of the drum and is
on a shall angle. The feed material always sits at the bottom of the drum and as it rotates, always

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comes into contact with clean screen. The oversize travels to the end of the drum as it does not
pass through the screen, while the undersize passes through the screen into a launder below.

Screen Media Attachment Systems

There are many ways to install screen media into a screen box deck (shaker deck). Also, the type
of attachment system has an influence on the dimensions of the media.

Tensioned screen media

Tensioned screen cloth is typically 4 feet by the width or the length of the screening machine
depending on whether the deck is side or end tensioned. Screen cloths for tensioned decks are
made with hooks and are attached with clamp rails bolted on both sides of the screen box. When
the clamp rail bolts are tightened, the cloth is tensioned or even stretched in the case of some
types of self-cleaning screen media. To ensure that the center of the cloth does not tap repeatedly
on the deck due to the vibrating shaker and that the cloth stays tensioned, support bars are
positioned at different heights on the deck to create a crown curve from hook to hook on the
cloth. Tensioned screen cloth is available in various materials: stainless steel, high carbon steel
and oil tempered steel wires, as well as moulded rubber or polyurethane and hybrid screens (a
self-cleaning screen cloth made of rubber or polyurethane and metal wires).

Modular screen media

Modular screen media is typically 1 foot large by 1 or 2 feet long (4 feet long for ISEPREN WS
85) steel reinforced polyurethane or rubber panels. They are installed on a flat deck (no crown)
that normally has a larger surface than a tensioned deck. This larger surface design compensates
for the fact that rubber and polyurethane modular screen media offers less open area than wire
cloth. Over the years, numerous ways have been developed to attach modular panels to the
screen deck stringers (girders).Some of these attachment systems have been or are currently
patented. Self-cleaning screen media is also available on this modular system.

Types of Screen Media

There are several types of screen media manufactured with different types of material that use
the two common types of screen media attachment systems, tensioned and modular.

Woven Wire Cloth (Mesh)

Traditionally, screen cloth was made with metal wires woven with a loom. Today, woven cloth is
still widely used primarily because they are less expensive than other types of screen media.
Over the years, different weaving techniques have been developed; either to increase the open
area percentage or add wear-life. Slotted opening woven cloth is used where product shape is not
a priority and where users need a higher open area percentage. Flat-top woven cloth is used when
the consumer wants to increase wear-life. On regular woven wire, the crimps (knuckles on
woven wires) wear out faster than the rest of the cloth resulting in premature breakage. On flat-

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top woven wire, the cloth wears out equally until half of the wire diameter is worn, resulting in a
longer wear life. Unfortunately flat-top woven wire cloth is not widely used because of the lack
of crimps that causes a pronounced reduction of passing fines resulting in premature wear of con
crushers.

Perforated & Punch Plate

On a crushing and screening plant, punch plates or perforated plates are mostly used on scalper
vibrating screens, after raw products pass on grizzly bars. Most likely installed on a tensioned
deck, punch plates offer excellent wear life for high-impact and high material flow applications.

Synthetic screen media (typically rubber or polyurethane)

Synthetic screen media is used where wear life is an issue. Large producers such as mines or
huge quarries use them to reduce the frequency of having to stop the plant for screen deck
maintenance. Rubber is also used as a very resistant high-impact screen media material used on
the top deck of a scalper screen. To compete with rubber screen media fabrication, polyurethane
manufacturers developed screen media with lower Shore Hardness. To compete with self-
cleaning screen media that is still primarily available in tensioned cloth, synthetic screen media
manufacturers also developed membrane screen panels, slotted opening panels and diamond
opening panels. Due to the 7-degree demoulding angle, polyurethane screen media users can
experience granulometry changes of product during the wear life of the panel.

Self-Cleaning Screen Media

Self-cleaning screen media was initially engineered to resolve screen cloth blinding, clogging
and pegging problems. The idea was to place crimped wires side-by-side on a flat surface,
creating openings and then, in some way, holding them together over the support bars (crown
bars or bucker bars). This would allow the wires to be free to vibrate between the support bars,
preventing blinding, clogging and pegging of the cloth. Initially, crimped longitudinal wires on
self-cleaning cloth were held together over support bars with woven wire. In the 50s, some
manufacturers started to cover the woven cross wires with caulking or rubber to prevent
premature wear of the crimps (knuckles on woven wires). One of the pioneer products in this
category was ONDAP GOMME made by the French manufacturer Giron. During the mid 90s,
Major Wire Industries Ltd., a Quebec manufacturer, developed a “hybrid” self-cleaning screen
cloth called Flex-Mat, without woven cross wires. In this product, the crimped longitudinal wires
are held in place by polyurethane strips. Instead of locking (impeding) the vibration over the
support bars with woven cross wires, the polyurethane strips lessens the vibration of the
longitudinal wires over the support bars but does not stop it, consequently allowing vibration
from hook to hook. Major Wire quickly started to promote this product as a high-performance
screen that helped producers screen more in-specification material for less cost and not simply a
problem solver. They claimed that the independent vibrating wires helped produce more product
compared to a woven wire cloth with the same opening (aperture) and wire diameter. This higher
throughput would be a direct result of the higher vibration frequency of each independent wire of
the screen cloth (calculated in hertz) compared to the shaker vibration (calculated in RPM),
accelerating the stratification of the material bed. Another benefit that helped the throughput

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increase is that hybrid self-cleaning screen media offered a better open area percentage than
woven wire screen media. Due to its flat surface (no knuckles), hybrid self-cleaning screen
media can use a smaller wire diameter for the same aperture than woven wire and still lasts as
long, resulting in a greater opening percentage.

In agricultural product both separation and winding are referred to us cleaning processes.
Cleaning is the operation of isolating the desired grain from chaff, small debris and incompletely
threshed and completely unthreshed grains. The cleaning unit include a grain pan, set of sieve
placed in a casing generally called a basket and an exhaust fan.

SCREENING:-the operation of isolating the desired grains by mechanical device where the
desired grain is carried over the device and undesired material penetrates the device.

SIEVING:- the operation of separating the desired grains by a mechanical device where the
desired grain penetrates the device and the undesired material is carried over the device.

WINDING (CHAFFERING):- is the process of separating the chaff and the grain either using
pneumatic air or mechanical fan types.

Factors Affecting Separating and Cleaning Efficiency

Separation and cleaning machine has been evaluated using parameters such as separating and cleaning
efficiencies and losses associated with separation and cleaning loss. Machine based factor such as sieve
oscillation, sieve slope and feeding rate, and crop based factor such as physical properties and
aerodynamic properties were considered to affect the performance of the machine.

Machine Factors Effect of sieve oscillation and sieve slope

Ebaid (2005) indicted that sieve slope, sieve oscillation and air speeds were the main factors that affect
separating, cleaning and total losses. Both separating and leaning efficiency and total loss increased with
increasing air speed, sieve tilt angle and sieve oscillation. According to Awady et al. (2003) cleaning
efficiency and total losses were seriously affected by air speed, and sieve tilt angle. Abdel et al. (2007)
reported that the slope of the sieve was the main factor that had a great effect on separation efficiency.
The separation efficiency increased significantly with increase in sieve slope at small stroke length and
decreased at high stroke lengths. In general, there was decrease in cleaning efficiency with increasing
sieve oscillation frequency along the sieve length. The decrease in cleaning efficiency with increasing
sieve oscillations may be due to less resident time of materials to be separated on the sieve. Harrison
and Blecha (1983) described that the transport of particles along oscillating sieves, which is a function of
sieve oscillation frequency, affects the efficiency of the process and 8 affects metering of particulate
substances along the sieve. Feller and Foux (1975) indicated that the frequency affects the passage of
particles through the sieves. There was an increase in cleaning loss with increasing sieve oscillation
frequency. According to Salwa et al. (2010) increasing the sieve oscillation from 26 Hz to 34 Hz
considerably decreased the cleaning efficiency of fennel grain. In the cleaning system of cereal harvester

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having oscillatory sieves and also in vacuum separators frequency of oscillations were found to be the
main factor that can appreciate the optimal efficiency of separation (Voicu et al, 2007).

Effect of feeding rate

Inverse relationships had been reported between separating and cleaning efficiencies and feed rate.
Decline in efficiency has been a common phenomenon with increasing feeding rate. The inverse
relationship between cleaning efficiency and feed rate was indicated be due to the increasing load on
the sieve that restricted free movement of grains and undesired materials (Abduljelil, 2010). Abduljelil
(2010) noted a cleaning efficiency of 40.13 % at the feed rate of 120 kg/hr while the same efficiency
declined to 36.83 % at the feed rate of 600 kg/hr. According to Awady et al (2003) cleaning efficiency
and total losses were affected by increasing feed rate when cleaning rice (at higher feed rate, it required
greater sieve length and took longer time for the grain to be separate from MOG. This was considered to
be due to the denseness of the MOG, which makes diffusion of the grain through it very difficult. The
increase in cleaning loss with increasing feed rate was indicated to be due to high intensity of load with
MOG on the sieve that had matting effect on the sieve and possibly blocked sieve holes (Awady et al.,
2003). Awady et al (2003) further indicated that if feed rate is increased (higher), the materials are no
longer supported aerodynamically, and form a mat on the sieve, increasing grain losses. Abduljelil (2010)
indicated that there could be an increase in grain loss with increasing throughput of MOG. Faran and
Macmillan (1979) confirmed that increasing material feed rate also increased the total head on the fan
leading to a reduction in air velocity from the nominal value. According to Kepner et al. (1972)
separation, at low feed rates with cereal grains and large grains, is primarily aerodynamic, and losses are
usually small.

Crop factors
Physical properties grain

Gumble and Maina (1990) indicated that physical and mechanical properties of grains such as size,
shape, density, repose angle, coefficient of friction, tensile and compressive strengths are important
parameters and be measured or estimated in order to design separating, cleaning, sizing and grading
machines. Abdulejelil (2010) measured and/or calculated average diameter (based on major and minor
axis diameters), arithmetic and geometric mean diameters, equivalent diameter, thousand grain weight
(TGM).

Screening Surface and Recommended Sieve Sizes for Different Grains

The basic sieve for cleaning elongated grain is a slotted top sieve and a slotted bottom sieve. In special
separations it may be necessary to pass such grain through round-hole top sieve or over some sieve

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other than a slotted bottom sieve, but generally, slotted top and bottom sievesare used (USDA, 1968).
AAMRC (2012) recommends different sieves for different crops.
Material screening on sieves with oscillatory motion is a complex process, influenced by a wide range of
factors, related both to the physical properties of the material subjected to screening, as well as to the
geometry of the separation system and its kinematic and functional parameters. Thus, the
understanding of the angle of internal and external friction of grains on the separation surface, their
density, shape of material particles (of grains), grains size, content of impurities in grain mixture, etc are
important (Yan et. al, 2010).

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