Three-dimensional screen panels were introduced in the mid-1990s. These typically offer between 75 and 125% more screening area than flat-panel repairable plate screens, while retaining the ability to be repaired. Compared with nonrepairable hook-strip screens, most threedimensional screen panels offer up to 45% more screening area. This type of screen panel adds a third dimension to the previous, twodimensional screens.
The screen surface is rippled and supported by a rigid frame. Most three-dimensional screen panels resemble the metal used in a corrugated tin roof. Construction consists of a screen cloth that is in fact corrugated, pretensioned, and bonded to a rigid frame.
Like bonded flat screens, the three-dimensional screen panel needs only to be held firmly in place with a hook strip or other means to prevent separation between the shaker bed and the screen panel during vibration.
Three-dimensional screen panels can be used to support any type or style of wire cloth and with any type of motion. They improve any shaker performance over comparable flat-screen surfaces under most drilling conditions. Three-dimensional screens may not improve shaker performance when drilling gumbo or large, pliable, sticky cuttings.
Three-dimensional screen panels allow solids to be conveyed down into the trough sections of the screen panel. When submerged in a liquid pool, this preferential solids distribution allows for higher fluid throughput than is possible with flat-screen panels by keeping the peaked areas clear of solids. A three-dimensional screen panel improves distribution of fluid and solids across the screen panel.
