Coarse bar screens and trash racks — the essential first line of defence at any intake, removing logs, weed and large debris to protect pumps and the fine screens behind them.
Intake Screening for Water & Desalination Plants
Bar racks are inclined arrays of parallel bars (typically 50–150 mm clear spacing) that intercept coarse debris. Cleaned manually or by a mechanical rake, they protect pumps and downstream fine screens and form the coarse first stage of virtually every intake screening train.
Bar racks are the oldest form of intake screening: manually-raked bar screens have protected water and mill intakes for well over a century. Mechanisation in the mid-twentieth century — chain-driven, catenary and climbing-rake cleaners — automated the raking duty and allowed reliable operation at large, deep intakes.
Configurations in service
Simplest coarse screen; hand-raked at low-debris, low-flow sites.
Powered rake removes debris on the upstream face automatically.
Cable/chain or climbing-arm rakes for deep channels and heavy debris.
Rake operates on the downstream face for specific debris/ice conditions.
An honest engineering assessment
Typical applications
Bar screens and trash racks are used at virtually every river, coastal and cooling-water intake as the coarse first stage ahead of fine band, drum or wedge-wire screens.
The full intake-screen series
A companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreA companion intake-screen type — design, history and trade-offs.
Read MoreThe screening stage of the seawater intake series.
Read MoreIntake design integrated with SWRO pre-treatment.
Read MoreThe full seawater intake hub — structures, fouling, materials.
Read MoreBar, band and drum screens across our range.
Read MoreOur engineers select and size intake screening — bar screens & racks and the full train — matched to your debris load, fish-protection duty and downstream process.
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