Abstract: A series of troubles has been encountered in the operation of the shallow-trough dense-medium separator. Based on the theoretical study over years and experience gained in practical operation,work is made on the renovation and optimization of the separator. The paper presents an introduction to the performance of the separator and points out the points for attention in design of the associated pipework. The renovated separator can now work with stall protection,hydraulic tensioning,automatic lubrication and centralized control functions. Through a series of improvement work,a favourable economic result has been obtained because of the safe and smooth operation of the separator,extended service life of wearing parts,centralized automatic control,and reduced maintenance work and cost.