A Method for Stabilizing the Vibration Amplitude of a Flip-Flow Vibrating Screen Using Piecewise Linear Springs

The flip-flow vibrating screen (FFVS) is a novel multi-body screening equipment that utilizes vibrations to classify bulk materials in the field of screening machinery. The relative amplitude of FFVSs determines the tension and ejection intensity of elastic flip-flow screen panels, which is a critical operating parameter affecting the screening performance. However, FFVSs generally suffer from large variations of relative amplitude caused by the loading of materials and the changes in shear spring stiffness (the temperature changes of the shear springs lead to their stiffness changes), which significantly reduce the screening efficiency and lifespan of FFVSs. To address this problem, this paper proposes a nonlinear stiffness-based method for stabilizing the vibration amplitude of FFVSs using piecewise linear springs. By introducing these springs between the two frames, the sensitivity of the relative amplitude to shear spring stiffness is reduced, thereby achieving the stabilization of the relative amplitude of FFVSs. In this study, the variations of the vibration amplitude of the FFVS due to the loading of materials and the changes in shear spring stiffness were first demonstrated in a reasonable operating frequency range. Then the reasonable operating frequency range and dynamics of the resultant nonlinear flip-flow vibrating screen (NFFVS) with piecewise linear springs were investigated using the harmonic balance method (HBM) and the Runge–Kutta numerical method. The operating frequency region for the NFFVS lies between the critical frequency ωcs and the frequency ωlb corresponding to the saddle-node bifurcation point. Finally, a test rig was designed to validate the theoretical predictions. Theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that piecewise linear springs can effectively stabilize the relative amplitude of the FFVS.