Miller Magazine Issue 109 / January 2019

75 ARTICLE MILLER / JANUARY 2019 aning business. Filip has focused on the manufacturing sieve cleaners for the milling industry with a high degree of expe- rience in export worldwide. Filip ships their cleaning equip- ment to countries all over the world – direct to milling groups and individual mills as well as through their global network of foreign representatives. Apart from that Filip also supply well-known mill builders around the world and manufactu- rers of sieve cloths and frames. Filip’s portfolio can be roughly divided into two areas: sie- ve cleaners for plansifters with and without backwire. Material, weight and design of the sieve cleaner In plansifter sieve cleaners are exposed to very heavy loa- ds: within 24 hours of continuous operation they have con- tact with the sieve frame approx. 350.000 times. Therefore, the sieve cleaner must be made of a very resilient as equally elastic plastic, so they do not break or so that no parts of the sieve cleaner can replace. Broken sieve cleaners can dest- roy the sieve cloth and contaminate the product to be sifted. Apart from that, broken sieve cleaners no longer clean the sieve cloth. The result is that the quality of the flour drops and the mill may have to be stopped, which costs the miller time and money. On the other hand, the plastic from which the sieve cleaner is made must not be too hard. With the horizontal sweep of the plansifter, which puts the cleaners in dynamic motion, too heavy material can attack the screen boxes and cause unwanted damage within the sieve field - especially in wo- oden screen boxes. It is therefore of utmost importance to choose exactly the right degree of hardness of the plastic. On the one hand, the material must be flexible and sufficiently elastic, on the other hand it must have a certain hardness so that it can withstand the stresses in the plansifter and does not wear off prematurely. The same is true of the weight of the sieve cleaner. Too light sieve cleaners cannot manage to move dynamically with strong product flow within the sieve field. In the worst case, they remain in the sieve field at standstill, which means that no large-scale sieve cleaning can take place. This reduces the net sieving area and thus the yield. If the sieve cleaner is too light at a certain point for too long, it can also cause the sieve mesh to break under punctiform loading. This means: sieve cleaners require a specific weight, so that they can move agile in the sieve compartment despite the high amount of product. Sieve cleaners for plansifter sieves without backwire must be so heavy that on the one hand they can carry the product out onto the sieve pan and at the same time clean the sieve cloth effectively and evenly. Furthermore, make sure that the material of the sieve clea- ner is heat resistant. Depending on the geographical location of the mill (climate) and season (heat), very high tempera- tures can occur in the plansifter. The operating temperature inside the machine must not cause the cleaner to deform. Deformed cleaners no longer reach the sieve mesh evenly so that effective and uniform sieve cleaning cannot take place. In order for the cleaner not to become brittle during its servi- ce life and therefore to break prematurely, the material must also be resistant to fats and enzymes. In addition to material and weight, the design/shape of a sieve cleaner is crucial for its cleaning efficiency. Why is that? Because a sieve cleaner cleans most efficiently at its outer perimeter. Cleaners with the “arched” triangular shape have been widely recognized as being the most efficient shape of this purpose. With FILIP double cleaners, the 22 studs or 21 bundles of bristles are arranged over the entire surface of the cleaner, ensuring above-average screening performance - even in difficult passages (e.g. C 4, C 7, C 10) or with pro- ducts that are difficult to sieve. Pointed summarized: more cleaning elements on the top of the cleaner lead to a better Double cleaner for plansifter sieves without backwire Sieve cleaning brush for plansifter sieves with backwire Pan cleaner for plansifter sieves with backwire Extremely effective corner and edge cleaning thanks to bristle or stud material set right into the corners – thus increasing the net sieve area. The ideal combination of shape, size, weight and material composition: FILIP’s double cleaner - here with black nylon bristles for wire mesh - is resistant to fats and enzymes.