An inline compact rotary screener is a small-footprint, self-contained rotary screen unit designed for direct installation within a continuous production line mounted between upstream process equipment (pneumatic transfer, vacuum loader, blender outlet) and downstream equipment (tablet press hopper, IBC, packaging machine) without requiring a separate sifting station. Processing 50–5,000 kg/h with apertures of 0.5–10 mm at drum speeds of 10–40 RPM, it provides continuous inline oversize rejection, de-lumping, and quality control sieving with minimal headroom and a footprint of under 0.5 m² in any orientation.
Material flows directly through the inline screener body by gravity or pneumatic pressure no manual loading or transfer step is required. The compact rotating cylindrical drum (10–40 RPM) receives continuous feed at the inlet nozzle; on-specification product passes radially through the drum screen into the main discharge stream while oversize material is retained and diverted to a separate reject outlet. The entire unit installs in-line with the process pipe or chute the product stream exits the unit within 1–3 seconds of entry. Reject rate is monitored by a PLC weighing the reject vessel; high reject rate triggers an upstream process alarm. Screen cartridge changes are performed in under 5 minutes without stopping adjacent equipment.
Challenges
Limited Screen Area Per Unit Maximum Throughput Constrained
Compact drum geometry limits total screen area maximum throughput lower than large rotary sieves.
Feed Rate Surge from Upstream Batch Discharge
Batch discharge from FBP or blender creates a surge that temporarily overloads compact screen capacity.
Screen Cartridge Change Under Continuous Line Operation
Stopping inline screener for screen change requires halting upstream and downstream equipment.
Fine Powder Carry-Over into Reject Stream at High Throughput
At maximum throughput, fine powder is dragged with oversize into reject stream product loss.
Integration with Line Control System for Reject Alarm and Divert
Standalone screener PLC cannot automatically trigger upstream process alarm or divert valve on high reject.
Solutions
- Multiple Inline Units in Parallel for High-Throughput Lines: Two or three inline units in parallel double or triple effective throughput no single unit capacity limit.
- Surge Buffer Inlet Hopper (30–60 s Capacity Above Unit): Small buffer hopper above inline screener smooths batch discharge surge screener never sees peak load.
- Hot-Swap Screen Cartridge (Pre-Loaded Second Cartridge, <3 min Swap): Pre-loaded replacement cartridge swaps in while first is cleaned continuous line operation maintained.
- Deflector Baffle at Reject Outlet (Prevents Fine Carry-Over): Angled baffle at reject outlet creates quiescent zone oversize settles while fines re-enter pass stream.
- Profibus / PROFINET / EtherNet/IP Interface to Line PLC (Reject Rate, Alarm): Inline screener reports reject rate to line PLC in real time upstream divert valve activated automatically.
Applications
- Pharmaceutical (Continuous Mfg): ICH Q13 inline oversize rejection between continuous granulator and tablet press feed.
- Pharmaceutical (Pneumatic Transfer): Inline screening of pneumatically transferred granule oversize removed before filling IBC.
- Food & Beverage: Inline oversize rejection on high-speed packaging and filling lines sugar, flour, spice.
- Nutraceuticals: Inline QC screening before capsule and sachet filling oversize and agglomerate removal.
- Chemical: Inline oversize control in continuous chemical and mineral production lines.
Models & Capacities
| Type 4Â Inline Compact Rotary Screener: Models & Capacities | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Scale | Throughput [kg/h] | Drum Ø × L [mm] | Screen Aperture [mm] | Drum Speed [RPM] | Motor [kW] | Inlet / Outlet Ø [mm] | Overall L × W [mm] | Overall H [mm] | Weight [kg] |
| IRS-LAB | Lab/Pilot | 50–200 | Ø80×200 | 0.5–5 | 10–40 | 0.12 | Ø50 | 350×250 | 450 | 18 |
| IRS-PIL | Pilot | 100–500 | Ø120×300 | 0.5–5 | 10–40 | 0.18 | Ø80 | 480×320 | 580 | 32 |
| IRS-500 | Production | 200–1,000 | Ø180×450 | 0.5–8 | 10–40 | 0.37 | Ø100 | 650×420 | 720 | 62 |
| IRS-1000 | Production | 400–2,000 | Ø250×600 | 0.5–8 | 10–40 | 0.55 | Ø125 | 850×550 | 900 | 105 |
| IRS-2000 | Production | 800–4,000 | Ø350×900 | 0.5–10 | 10–35 | 0.75 | Ø150 | 1,100×700 | 1,100 | 185 |
| IRS-3000 | Production | 1,200–6,000 | Ø450×1,200 | 0.5–10 | 10–30 | 1.1 | Ø200 | 1,400×850 | 1,350 | 295 |
| IRS-5000 | Large Prod | 2,000–10,000 | Ø600×1,500 | 1–10 | 10–25 | 1.5 | Ø250 | 1,800×1,050 | 1,650 | 480 |
| IRS-8000 | Large Prod | 3,500–15,000 | Ø750×2,000 | 1–10 | 10–20 | 2.2 | Ø300 | 2,300×1,250 | 1,950 | 750 |