Even in the business of manufacturing and supplying vibratory sieving and screening equipment, the terms ‘sieve’ and ‘screen’ are pretty interchangeable, but technically speaking, there is a difference.
Why the Confusion?
Different industries have words and terms that relate specifically to certain subjects or objects. This can be at times confusing and the term sieve or screen are both very similar (which is why they are often thrown in together).
Both terms are generally consist of a wire mesh material passes through (or not) using some form of applied vibration.
The mesh is included to separate a product into two different groups based on particle size. One separation of the product is generally considered the ‘good’ product, and the other discarded or reprocessed. It is a simple process used for countless applications in dozens of sectors.
So, what is the difference between a sieve and a screen?
What is a sieve?
A sieve is used to process individual batches of product.
At Gough, we sell a lot of sieves to baking companies who use them to sift and check screen bags of flour and other ingredients before they are mixed during production. The sieving process sifts out lumps and improves the quality of the flour for a better final product, as well as adding a measure of safety by separating out any debris that may have found its way into the product. The sieve can also be used in other industries, as a simple effective check screen and the Gough Batch Sieve GBS comes in two sizes 550mm diameter or 850mm diameter.
What is a screen?
A screen is used more on a continuous flow of product.
Screens are installed into production streams to remove lumps and oversize particles, or allow fine particles and dust to be separated out, with the aim of cleaning up the final product.
We have supplied screen systems to chemical manufacturers to screen off lumps before the final bagging process, and to crisp manufacturers to remove small broken crisps and crumbs before packing.
Screens come in both circular (such as our Gough Vibraflo GVF range) and linear configurations (Gough Linear Vibratory Screen GLVS). Deciding which is best for a particular process is usually determined by the type of product being processed, the throughput required, and space limitation within a facility.
