drilling fluids solids control shale shaker screens

Shale shakers Screens are moved upward through the fluid with the elliptical, circular, and linear motion shale shaker. The linear motion shaker has an advantage because solids can be transported out of a pool of liquid and discharged from the system. The pool of liquid creates two advantages: not only does it provide an additional head to the fluid, but it also provides inertia or resistance to the fluid as the screen moves upward. This significantly increases the flow capacity of shaker. The movement of the shaker screen through the drilling fluid causes the screen to shear the fluid. This decreases the viscosity and is an effective component to allow the shaker to process drilling fluid.

One method of removing solids from drilling mud is to pass the mud over the surface of a vibrating screen. Particles are smaller than the openings in the screen pass through the holes of the screen along with the liquid phase of mud. Particles too large to pass through the screen are thereby separated from the mud for disposal.