When segregating excavated materials or stockpiles on construction sites, some companies have been known to cut holes in their excavator or loader buckets, and then shake the machines backwards and forwards.
The usual and immediate problem caused by this process was that the buckets would leak loose material as operators moved to screening sites. Damage was also inflicted on excavators or wheel loaders by the shaking. Due to the huge difference in cost between pre and post “˜screened’ material, this process is still used today.
Flip Screen inventor Sam Turnbull, who had a demolition and excavation business in Sydney in the 1980s and 1990s, recalls feeling frustrated after seeing the damage suffered by carriers screening loose materials. “There must be a way to become more effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly,” he said.
Developing the Flip Screen
Turning his frustration into focus, Mr Turnbull worked on the Flip Screen concept for 16 years. He built the first few prototypes using makeshift materials such as a 44 gallon drum, truck rims and some scrap steel. He placed video cameras inside the drums to see how materials were churned around inside.
From this, the Flip Screen was developed – a portable screening attachment, which has been well-received in Australia and is now being marketed to more than 19 countries around the world.
The Flip Screen consists of a bucket with a mesh screening chamber on top. Material is sieved through the mesh as the Flip Screen rotates 360 degrees, while the larger particles are retained inside by the unit’s inward spiralling action, without the use of a closing door. Counter-rotating the bucket ejects all the remaining oversized particles and the whole process is achieved without any vibration or shaking of excavators. The super hi-tensile meshes range in opening size from 1.93-300 mm, allowing the attachment to screen many different materials to many different sizes. The screen is easily changed in less than five minutes by one person with no tools required.
The portability of the Flip Screen negates the need for large and cumbersome screening plants and is ideal for single man contractors as well as large civil contractors.
Flip Screen can be used in the fields of civil engineering, mining, pipelines, roads and railways, construction and demolition, steel and waste recycling, and quarrying.
Business Review Weekly magazine noted Flip Screen as one of Australia’s fastest start-up companies in 2009. In less than seven years of its launch in the international market, Flip Screen has won numerous awards including:
* 2009 CivEnEx Most Innovative Product;
* 2008 Anthill Magazine “˜Cool Company’ Award for Innovation;
* 2006 World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, where it was selected as New Product for being “truly unique and innovative”; and,
* 2003 Australian National Field Days Invention of the Year.
The Flip Screen in practice
Excavation, cable installation and infrastructure civil engineering company Diona Pty Ltd is currently working on a project for Energy Australia in Sydney and is using the Flip Screen EX130 for its 22-36 tonne carriers.
“The Flip Screen is a versatile, low cost screening option which we found to be very cost effective,” said Diona General Manager David O’Connor. The company’s 14 crews all bring the excavated surface material, including asphalt, road base and concrete, to a central location to be screened, sorted and then transported to respective facilities to be recycled.
“We use the Flip Screen every day on our operations. The cost of disposing the materials separately opposed to mixed provides significant cost savings to our company,” said Mr O’Connor.
In addition, JHL Civil has used the Flip Screen on a pipeline project constructed for Barwon Water, which required significant environmental controls. This pipeline was to be constructed through the Aireys Inlet National Park. The spreading of spoils from the pipeline trench was restricted as the soil contained a soil borne fungi and this meant that JHL Civil had to consider alternative construction methodologies.
Through consultation with Barwon Water’s Rohan Burns, JHL Civil decided to purchase a Flip Screen E80, which was used to sort bedding sand from the spoil. Flip Screen also laid the bedding sand and fulfilled the role of two excavators and a truck, and supported the recycling of 100 per cent of all waste material.
“The Flip Screen has very quickly become an integral part of our quality control here at JHL,” said JHL Civil Executive Director Marcus van Enk.
“Our E80 Flip Screen is being used on most of our water pipeline and civil projects. During our work on the Aireys Inlet Pipeline project, the Flip Screen saved us the need to remove up to
8,300 cubic metres of excess spoil and further avoided the need to import about 7,800 cubic metres of bedding sand. This also meant that about 1,600 tipping truck movements were saved.
“The Flip Screen has become an invaluable tool in our business due to its versatility and cost saving.”
Keeping the environment in mind Important environmental benefits associated with the use of the Flip Screen are:
* Significant reduction in landfill contributions which increases the longevity of landfills; * Significant reduction in truck movements resulting to lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce congestion and damage on roads; and, * Significant increase in the rate of resource recovery and recycling resulting to a significant reduction of pressure applied to our natural resources.
For more information on Flip Screen visit www.flipscreen.net