Reliable screening equipment plays a critical role across a wide range of industries — from aggregate operations handling stone, sand, and gravel to recycling facilities and industrial applications. When a screen goes down or underperforms, production is disrupted, operating costs rise, and product quality can quickly suffer.
Despite regular maintenance, conventional vibrating screens and trommels can often struggle with challenging materials and wear. In this article, we’ll examine the common issues associated with traditional screening equipment and explore how replacing a conventional screen with a BIVITEC can provide a more reliable, low-maintenance solution for demanding applications.
Common Signs that it’s Time to Replace Your Current Equipment
Performance and Material Separation Issues
- Consistent blinding or clogging of screen media
- Poor separation accuracy or inconsistent product sizing
- Excessive carryover of fines or contamination in finished material
- Reduced throughput compared to original capacity
- Inability to handle wet, sticky, or variable feed material
Maintenance and Reliability Problems
- Increasing frequency of breakdowns or unplanned downtime
- Rising maintenance labor hours and replacement part costs
- Repeated failures of bearings, motors, or drive components
- Structural fatigue, cracking, or warped screen frames
- Frequent screen media replacements or short media life
Operational and Cost Concerns
- High energy consumption relative to output
- Production losses due to shutdowns for cleaning or repairs
- Reliance on manual intervention to keep material flowing
- Maintenance costs approaching or exceeding the cost of upgrading
Learn how better screening equipment can help save money over time.
Safety and Compliance Risks
- Increased safety incidents during manual cleaning or repairs
- Difficulty meeting dust, noise, or environmental regulations
- Excessive vibration impacting surrounding equipment or structures
- Equipment no longer matches current production demands
- Inability to adapt to new materials, moisture levels, or tonnage
- Bottlenecks that restrict overall plant efficiency
Limitations of Traditional Vibrating Screens
Even with consistent maintenance and regular inspections, traditional trommels and vibrating screens have built-in performance limits that can’t always be overcome.
One of the most common challenges is handling wet, sticky, or highly variable materials. Conventional screens rely on fixed vibration patterns, which makes them prone to blinding, clogging, and material buildup when moisture levels change or fines increase. As a result, throughput drops, and product quality suffers.
Traditional screens also require frequent maintenance stoppages. Screen media wear, tensioning issues, and structural fatigue mean operators must routinely shut down equipment for repairs or adjustments.
As screens age, performance naturally declines. Worn components reduce screening efficiency, increase energy consumption, and limit the screen’s ability to meet tight spec requirements.
The BIVITEC Screen: A Proven Low-Maintenance Alternative
The BIVITEC® screen uses flip-flow screening technology to deliver reliable performance where conventional screening equipment falls short. Instead of relying on rigid screen media, the BIVITEC system uses flexible polyurethane mats that are tensioned and relaxed at high acceleration. This motion keeps the screen surface clean and active, allowing material to pass through efficiently without blinding or clogging.
Because of this unique design, the BIVITEC screen is especially effective at processing difficult materials with high moisture content, stickiness, or wide variations in feed. Materials that typically cause downtime on traditional screens — such as wet sand, compost, biomass, or fine aggregates — can be screened consistently without constant operator intervention.
By addressing the core limitations of standard vibrating screens, the BIVITEC system reduces maintenance demands, improves uptime, and delivers more consistent separation in demanding applications. Contact AEI to learn more about upgrading to a BIVITEC®.
