HOW WE DESIGNED THE
OCTAGON DIGITAL SIEVE SHAKER
The Digital Octagon Sieve Shaker is the first sieve shaker that is quiet, maintenance free, easy to use and provides accurate results!
When we set out to design a sieve shaker, we started by asking people what they liked and disliked about their current sieve shaker. Most of the concerns fell into one of four categories: Noise, Maintenance, Ease of Use and Results. We took these concerns and used them to develop & design the Octagon Digital Sieve Shaker: NOISE
This was the number one complaint from people using an older-style sieve shaker. Depending on the style of the shaker you are using, you know exactly what we mean. These shakers were designed to mechanically copy or mimic the motion used when sieving by hand. This was state of the art for the time. The issue was not noise - it was hand-sieving. Technology has come a long way since then and we were determined to find a way to produce the required sieving motion without the noise. Most of the noise came from the mechanism that is used to create the direct up-and-down motion. We knew we had to find a way to create the direct up-and-down motion without the hammering. We looked at all kinds of different methods: hanging a shaker from springs, suspending the sieve plate on springs, using a pulley and offset cam, using a cam that was in direct contact with the sieve stack, and some ideas we would rather not mention. No matter what we tried, one of two things kept happening, either the contraption was noisy or it didn't produce the required motion. We started looking at unconventional methods to produce the motion. Someone suggested we try using an electromagnet. We found that by using an electromagnet you can get the same motion without any noise! MAINTENANCE COST AND DOWN TIME
The second biggest concern. Like any mechanical piece of equipment, if you have moving parts, you have wear and tear. This leads to either regular maintenance or in the worst case, unplanned downtime. We had some people tell us that they spent as much as $300 to $400 a year maintaining their present equipment not to mention the cost of downtime. By using an electromagnet as the heart of the unit, we eliminated all the maintenance cost and down time caused by worn out motors. Now we had to find a way to complete the motion without adding other parts that could cause failure. This machine had to be built without using any bearings or bushing. This machine had to be completely free of moving parts. In order to complete the sieving motion we needed to take the up-and-down produced by the electromagnet and add a circular/twisting motion. We found a unique composite material that when mounted at an angle would really give the sieve stack a motion that forced the material over the sieves in a circular motion. Then, we asked the manufacturer about the life of this material and they guessed a hundred years or so. EASE OF USE:
Our third objective was misleading. It sounded simple in the beginning, but when we went back and asked for specific examples we got a wide range of answers. After looking at hundreds of responses it boiled down to two things:
1) It had to be easy to change the sieve stacks, regardless of the number of sieves in the stack.
2) The test setting had to be exactly the same from test to test.
We set out to tackle the clamping system first. In almost no time at all we came up with this really inventive clamping system that used a couple of latches and hooks. Even though this was an easy way to change the sieve stacks, extensive field testing proved it was not the best possible design. Determined to stay within the four objectives of this machine (quiet, maintenance-free, easy to use, accurate results), we went back to the drawing board and completely redesigned the clamping system. The redesigned clamping system has proven to be robust and easy to use. It makes changing sieve stacks easy regardless of the number of sieves in the stack. The test setting had to be exactly the same from test to test. This objective was turned over to the electronics specialists. They researched all the possibilities and developed a way to control the machine using electronic circuits. They explained how the available circuits were accurate and unlike standard-switches, they had a long maintenance-free life. Since the first Octagons were made, there have been some changes in the controls. The original Octagon was analog. As soon as the technology was available and affordable we converted over to digital control. Digital controls guarantee unsurpassed repeatability with absolutely no guess work when specifying test parameters. Another advantage to the digital machine is that it remembers your last test settings. All you have to do is push the start button; the time and speed are already set for you. RESULTS
Last on the concerns list, first on the purchasing list. We tested samples from all over the world. We found that we had no problem duplicating the results of any other sieve shaker out there. When we went back and revisited some of the first tests we found that we could actually cut the test time by as much as 75%! For more information on the Octagon Digital Sieve Shaker or particle size analysis, please contact us at 800-621-4778 or at info@cscscientific.com.
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