According to Weir Minerals Africa engineer Christian Stehle, After offering the range for more than four decades, the company has now brought the work to South Africa, so it can be more flexible in creating screens to suit the layout of each client's plant

South Africa also hosts Weir Minerals' global screening and separation technology group.

"This expertise ensures that our robust Enduron vibrating screens provide exceptional classification and dewatering screening performance," Stehle said, pointing out that the screens are deployed across a broad range of minerals processing applications. "Vibrating equipment is generally more challenging to design than static equipment due to the high-frequency cyclic loading to which the machines are subjected."

With the creation of screens, final designs must address crucial elements such as efficiency, throughput and loading, and the materials used must have the needed acceptable fatigue life limits. Weir Minerals uses Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools, Stehle said, to allow its engineers to optimise screen life by obtaining stress and deflection levels - then applying appropriate structural design in key areas.

"Traditionally, screen designs used to be heavier in an effort to extend the life of the equipment," he said. "Using FEA tools during the design stage allows us to retain structural integrity while actually reducing the overall weight of the machine."

Weir Minerals said use of the technology to see where more strength is needed and where lower stresses occur - sometimes permitting the use of less steel to make the structure lighter - had allowed the company to cut the weight of some new units by up to 15%.

"One of the new, modern screen designs is part of a recent Weir Minerals Africa complete comminution plant contract for a South African mining project," Stehle confirmed, adding that the scope included two crushing stations, a screening station and all related feed chutes, bins and conveyors.

Weir's Synertrex Internet of Things (IoT) platform can be applied to monitor and improve vibrating screen performance as well.