An important part of oil drilling machinery is the screen. These screens are extremely large (usually 4- to 5-foot-long) mesh filters that must periodically be washed. In the past, this was done on the ground using a power washer. But today’s environmental regulations specify that the washing process must be fully contained so that it does not pollute the environment. Begneaud Manufacturing Inc.’s Screen Cleaning Machine, for which Miro did all of the design engineering work, fills this need.

Before Miro was brought in, the company had built a machine prototype for which the screen was clamped into an upright position and then placed in a chamber that enclosed the entire screen, much like a car wash. Not only did this screen cleaning machine take up quite a bit of space, the clamping mechanism posed problems. Each screen is slightly different in terms of size and angle, and trying to clamp the screens into place was dangerous, even when wearing rubber gloves. If the screen is not fully clean after the first pass through the machine, the operator simply sends it through again.