Finer filtration
Use finer screens to target smaller contaminants and improve product clarity or quality. The larger screen surface gives more room to balance filtration fineness with the line’s pressure-drop requirement.
Filtration upgrades
80% more screen area. Almost the same space.
Patt’s latest wave-shaped breaker plate design delivers 1.8 times the filtration area of our flat breaker plates, with approximately 15 mm of additional system width. A compact upgrade for existing Patt filtration systems.
1.8×Screen area compared with Patt flat plates
≈15 mmApproximate additional width
4Available tooling steels
More filtration area without a larger flow channel
The wave profile gives the screen a larger developed surface within almost the same filtration-system envelope. A matching formed screen follows the breaker plate’s contours, adding useful filtration area without expanding or distorting the main melt-flow channel.
For an existing Patt installation, the wave-shaped plate and matching screen provide a straightforward retrofit route to extra area. Compared with replacing the complete filtration system, this is a relatively inexpensive way to adapt the line to a new filtration duty.
Put the additional area to work
Use the additional screen area to address the constraint that matters most to your process.
More recycled material
Accommodate higher contaminant loading as recycled content increases. Spreading the duty across more screen surface gives the process additional capacity to manage contamination.
Higher line throughput
Relieve a filtration-area bottleneck and support greater output when the filter limits the line. The throughput gain is set by the polymer, screen pack, contamination and available pressure capacity.
What 1.8× area means for screen loading
At the same volumetric flow, increasing active area from A to 1.8A reduces average flow per unit screen area to about 56% of its previous value: approximately 44% lower. This is the geometric relationship Q/A, not a pressure-drop or throughput multiplier. It explains how extra area gives the process more flexibility.
Keep the melt path compact
Adding screen area by enlarging a filter body can also add melt hold-up volume and complicate flow distribution. Patt’s wave-shaped approach adds the surface at the screen while retaining the main flow-channel geometry. It avoids the new stagnant pockets associated with an expanded flow path and helps maintain consistent melt-temperature control.
Retaining the compact channel avoids additional residence time from extra hold-up volume. Where the upgrade enables higher throughput, melt residence time through the same flow volume is reduced. The result is more filtration flexibility while protecting the melt’s thermal history.
Manufacturers using Patt wave-shaped breaker plates have reported improvements in product quality associated with these flow characteristics. Patt considers melt flow, screen support and thermal management together when configuring the upgrade.
The plate and screen work as a matched pair
The machined wave profile supports the matching screen across its developed surface. Patt supplies laser-cut screens in a wide variety of meshes, with sintered or spot-welded constructions selected for the application.
Four steels. Selection around the actual failure mode.
Wave-shaped breaker plates are available in H13, Dievar, Patt Tool and Patt Structural. This range allows Patt to coordinate the plate material, heat treatment and surface treatment with the polymer, contaminants, cleaning method and operating cycle.
Material selection starts with what limits service life: abrasive wear, hydrogen embrittlement, heat checking or corrosion. Patt reviews that failure mode alongside core hardness, toughness and operating temperature. Hydrogen exposure, cleaning chemistry and treatment history are considered together where embrittlement is a concern.
Explore Patt tooling steelsUpgrade the filter you already own
Send Patt the filter model, size and serial number, along with the current plate or screen drawing if available. Include the polymer, throughput, melt temperature, operating pressure, current screen pack and the improvement you want to achieve.
Patt can then specify the wave-shaped plate, matching screen construction, steel and installation details. This review matches the approximately 15 mm width allowance to your installation and turns the additional filtration area into a practical upgrade plan.
A design with a published history
Canadian Plastics featured Patt’s wave-shaped screen-changer design in “The new shape of screen changers” on May 1, 2001. Continued development has brought the current design to 1.8 times the screen area of Patt’s flat breaker plates. The archived article documents the earlier design; the specifications on this page describe today’s Patt upgrade.
Read the original Canadian Plastics article (2001)PDF data sheet
Download data sheet
Technical brief (PDF, English)
English technical brief: area gain, retrofit dimensions, process benefits, material options and application review.
Download PDFGet more from your existing Patt filter
Share your model and process target. Patt will match the plate, screen pack and material to the upgrade.