Shale shakers are devices that remove drill cuttings

Drill cuttings

Drill cuttings are the broken bits of solid material removed from a borehole drilled by rotary, percussion, or auger methods. Boreholes drilled in this way include oil or gas wells, water wells, and holes drilled for geotechnical investigations or mineral exploration.The drill cuttings are commonly...

 from the drilling fluid

Drilling fluid

In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid is a fluid used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are also used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells. Liquid drilling fluid...

 that is used for boring holes into the earth. Controlling the solids in drilling fluid is an important component of the cost of drilling, so research into improved shaker design is ongoing.

Shale shaker design

Shale shakers typically consist of large, flat sheets of wire mesh screens or sieve

Sieve

A sieve, or sifter, separates wanted elements from unwanted material using a woven screen such as a mesh or net. However, in cooking, especially with flour, a sifter is used to aerate the substance, among other things. A strainer is a type of sieve typically used to separate a solid from a liquid...

s of various mesh sizes that shake or vibrate the drill cuttings, commonly shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

, across and off of the screens as the drilling fluid (mud) flows through them and back into the drilling fluid system. This separates the solid drill cuttings from the fluid so that it can be recirculated back down the wellbore. In oilfield industry, linear motion shale shakers are widely used.

Shaker Screen Panels

Screen panels play a major role by removing particles larger than the mesh size. Screen selection is critical since shaking is the primary stage in the removal of solids. Improper screen selection can lead to de-blinding, loss of drilling fluids, premature pump

Pump

A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...

 part failures, overloading of other solids removal equipment within the mud systems

Mud systems

Effective solids control can be attributed to the overall performance of all the components of the mud systems. Conditioning the drilling fluid with the goal of dramatically lowering maintenance cost, avoiding excessive chemical treatment and maintaining mud systems volume will decrease the chance...

, decreased service life , reduced flow rate capacity, and serious problems in the wellbore.

Causes of screen failure

The causes of premature screen failure are:

• Personnel improperly trained on handling, storage, maintenance and installation of deck rubbers and screens
• Careless storage of screen panels prior to use
• Screens damaged before use from improper handling during installation
• Shaker screen not match very well to shale shaker
• Deck rubbers improperly installed
• Deck rubbers dirty, worn or missing
• Dried cuttings or drilling fluid left on screen during shutdown of shaker
• Personnel walking on screens or using the shaker as a work table
• Tools being dropped on screens
• Extremely high mud weights or heavy solids loading
• Defective or improperly manufactured screens
• Use of high pressure wash guns to clean plugged screens

Screen Panel Designation

An explanation and FAQs for the API RP 13C screen designation tests and data can be found at the link below
Wikipedia Commons pdf http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/API-13C_Work_Group_v16.pdf
The American Petroleum Institute

American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute, commonly referred to as API, is the largest U.S trade association for the oil and natural gas industry...

(API) Screen Designation is the customary identification for screen panels. This includes:

• API Number: the sieve equivalent as per API RP 13C

• Conductance: the ease with which a liquid can flow through the screen, with larger values representing higher volume handling
• Microns: a unit of length equal to one-thousandth of a millimeter
• Non-blanked area: an evaluation of the surface area available for liquid transmission through the screen

External links

• http://ru.solid-control.com/Product-peijian.asp
• http://shalesharon.wordpress.com/
• http://www.tsogem.com/product/AJS.htm
• http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/display.cfm?term=shale%20shaker
• http://www.tdshakerscreen.com
• http://fpmarangoni.com
• http://www.kemtron.com