Air Jet Sieve VS Traditional Vibrating Sieve

When selecting particle analysis equipment, there are many options available. You can find sieves, computerized particle analyzers, test sieves, and air jet sieves. Each of these has quite a few models to choose from. It can be difficult to determine which type of device is most suitable for your particle separation process. In this article, we will compare the Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro with traditional vibrating sieves.

We will compare the two equipments in the following categories: Material Type and Size, Cost, Noise Level, Installation, Ease of Operation, Accuracy, Time and Speed, Data and Reporting, Maintenance.

What is an Air Jet Sieve?

AS-200 Pro is a vacuum-powered air jet sieve designed specifically for particle size determination. It utilizes vacuum pressure to push air through a single sieve mesh from the bottom, causing particles on the sieve mesh to impact the sieve cover. Particles that are no longer agglomerated due to their reduced size or that have broken apart will fall through the sieve openings.

What is a vibrating sieve?

A vibrating sieve is a type of particle analysis equipment used for testing and separating particles in various industries. Oscillating motion is used to shake particles through a series of different test sieves. In essence, the machine holds a stack of sieves and shakes them to allow material to fall through from each sieve at different-sized openings. This machine is designed to obtain consistent, reproducible results that are more reliable than manual sieving.

Material Type and Size:

Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro is used for dry sieving, typically of fine, agglomerated dry particles as small as 10 microns.
Vibrating sieves can be used to sieve a wide range of materials, both wet and dry, with a particle size of 20 microns. This depends on the sieve you use in the vibrating sieve.

Noise Level:

Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro, when used in conjunction with an industrial vacuum, generates some noise during operation. However, it is certainly quieter than the noise generated by all traditional vibrating sieves.
Vibrating sieves produce a higher noise level, which might increase depending on the type of material being tested.

Installation:

Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro installation depends on the customer's needs. For AS-200 Pro Basic Edition, you can connect it to a balance, vacuum, and power source. For AS-200 Pro Advanced Edition installation, it might take up to 2 days to fully connect the equipment to the network, program all relevant users, create your audit trail, and complete IQ/OQ documentation.

Ease of Operation:

The learning curve for the Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro is steeper for administrators, but once properly set up, operation is straightforward. SOP can be programmed into the AS-200 Pro (depending on the software level), guiding operators through the testing procedure. When operators place the wrong sieve during the SOP, the command will be rejected as the RFID chip in the sieve does not correspond to the procedure. All levels of eControl (software) are capable of weighing, exporting results, and even creating particle distribution curves.

Accuracy/Reproducibility:

Due to its one-sieve-at-a-time approach and ability to break down agglomerated particles, the test result of Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro is highly accurate. Given the same material type and representative sample, you will obtain reproducible results.
Human error of vibrating sieve leading to low accuracy and difficulty in obtaining repeatable results with two sieving instances.

Time and Speed:

AS-200 Pro Air Jet Sieve: While you can save time and avoid human error by calculating results in the eControl software, if you want to determine the particle size distribution (PSD) of a large sieve stack, you must run one sieve at a time. This can be done using either the standard method or the Swiss method in the software.
The Vibrating Sieve average time for a sieve analysis is 8-10 minutes. This analysis is done using a stack of sieves, making it time-consuming and inefficient.

Data and Reporting:

Reports from Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro are highly accurate. Depending on your needs and software level, you can calculate and record results in the air jet sieve, print each test result for record-keeping, or archive everything and provide electronic signature traceability during audits.
From vibrating sieve, you can only obtain particle size distribution analysis; you cannot gather information on individual particles. It lacks intelligence and relies on manual reporting.

Maintenance:

Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro can identify screens through RFID chips, countdown usage, and indicate when a thorough cleaning is needed. Since it's air-driven, it can be used for longer periods between cleanings. There's also a "sieve mesh cleaning" function that allows you to place an empty sieve on the air jet nozzle and run it to remove blind spots. This is suitable for light cleaning but thorough cleaning should still be done periodically.
However, the air jet sieve does require some maintenance. We recommend regular cleaning after  testing, and scheduling yearly calibration, deep cleaning, and maintenance procedures to ensure the vacuum pressure is within acceptable tolerances and to diagnose any filters or lines needing replacement.
Vibrating sieves have many parts that wear out faster over time due to manual operation (non-standardized), necessitating frequent component replacements.

In Conclusion:

Air Jet Sieve AS-200 Pro is a feasible and reliable method for determining particle size and particle size distribution. If your materials are prone to blinding screens, if you need audit traceability,  if you have clumped products that won't fall through the screens, AS-200 Pro is certainly the analysis tool best suited to your needs.

If you have any questions about these units or any other particle analysis-related inquiries, feel free to reach out to us; we're happy to help.