The Polydeck PIPETOP™ support rail is the single most innovative piece of hardware ever introduced to screening media because it increases efficiency while maintaining screen availability.
In the early days, as different screen manufacturers developed vibrating units, media remained relatively the same. Then, as synthetics were introduced to reduce wear in mining applications, media companies jumped on the opportunity.
Polydeck began creating modular urethane media and quickly advanced the product line. You could only use synthetics in certain applications, however, because the support rails for the media had a surface area that required covering to prevent damage. This meant you had to sacrifice open area and throughput.
Everyone wanted to use synthetics to lower operational costs and reduce downtime, but not at the expense of significantly lower production. Polydeck searched for a way to keep the modular panel system robust enough to wear for long periods of time while providing more open area.
The PIPETOP™ was the answer. With its half-inch surface, the PIPETOP™ support rail allowed for more apertures within a given footprint, and its development led to the creation of Polydeck’s “Maxi” system.
The Maxi system uses the PIPETOP™ rail to provide the maximum number of apertures in the system to achieve the highest open area in the industry, with the same wear construction in the panel that was there before the PIPETOP™ was created.
This combination maintained the screen availability and delivered more open area, while keeping the wear life of the older system. The Maxi system was also designed to be modular for ease of use, safety, and flexibility. Now, an operator could use synthetics to reduce downtime in more applications.
The PIPETOP™ rail did not stop evolving, though.
Polydeck continued to improve the rail by making it more maintenance-friendly, and adding adaptors for almost any other media need. The PIPETOP™ is now the preferred support member in most screening applications, even for side-tensioned wire systems because the PIPETOP™ better supports the wire.
Polydeck has created lots of innovative products over the years, but the PIPETOP™ support rail allows us to use every tool in our arsenal to tackle any screening challenge you may have.
Written by Frank Harris, Director of Mining for Polydeck.
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