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You can maintain your work area with laminar air flow cabinets, as it can prevent contamination. In various medical and chemical research laboratories, you will find the presence of vertical and horizontal laminar flow cabinet. For handling various sensitive materials, you need an atmosphere that ensures zero contamination. With laminar flow cabinets, you can create a particle free working environment. It brings air through a filtration system for keeping the laboratory samples protected from contamination. In the following section, you can find more information on laminar flow cabinets. It would be interesting to check various features of laminar flow cabinets.
The Direction of Air Flow
Based on airflow direction, laminar flow cabinets can be divided into two categories. They are vertical and horizontal laminar flow cabinets. Both these laminar cabinets have their advantages and disadvantages. In the following section, features of these two types of laminar cabinets will be discussed.
Vertical Laminar Flow Cabinet
Vertical laminar flow cabinets are used in the small and medium laboratories. Due to the vertical air flow design, they consume lesser floor space. The filters and fans will be found attached to the top of the cabinet. Some other major features are discussed below.
Vertical laminar flow cabinets come with isolated work surface. Handling samples become easier due to the isolated work surface.
For vibration sensitive works, anti-vibration tables are available for such flow cabinets.
Configuration of the tall equipment will require more vertical space, and vertical laminar cabinets give that space.
The filters and fans attached at the ceiling are easily accessible. You may need a ladder for cleaning and replacing them.
Horizontal Laminar Flow Cabinet
As the name suggests, horizontal laminar flow cabinet comes with horizontal air flow. You will find that filters and fans are attached horizontally to the cabinet. It requires additional rear clearance for installation. If rear clearance is not there, air will not reach to the cabinets. A few major features are discussed below.
In such laminar cabinets, airflow is parallel to the work surface. Hence, it reduces the turbulent effect of the air.
Equipments are easy to be positioned on such airflow cabinets. You will get a comfortable surface space.
Keeping hands and gloves downstream of the samples will lead to no contamination of the samples.
Formats of the Laminar Flow Cabinets
As per designs, you will get vertical and horizontal laminar flow cabinets. They can also be classified as per the formats. You will find two types of laminar flow cabinets, if format is considered. They are benchtop cabinets and free-standing cabinets. A brief guide to these types of laminar airflow cabinets is provided below.
Benchtop: If you purchase benchtop flow cabinets, you will find them smaller in size. As a result, they provide excellent portability. You can mount such cabinets on different surfaces. However, you may face problem in dealing with vibration sensitive equipment and samples. So, you need to find benchtop laminar flow cabinets that come with vibration isolation stand.
Free-Standing: Floor mounted laminar flow cabinets are called as free-standing cabinets. The best way of recognizing such cabinets is to check their size. Such cabinets come with a larger size. Hence, you need more open space in a lab for installing such equipment. For handling vibration sensitive accessories and samples, you can rely on the free-standing laminar flow cabinets.
Frame Materials
Different kinds of laminar flow cabinets come with different manufacturing materials. In the following section, you can find different kinds of frame materials for the laminar flow cabinets.
Stainless Steel: Stainless steel based laminar flow cabinets offer durable service. You can easily conduct maintenance and cleaning operations for such cabinets. Using any cleaning agent will be good, as stainless steel is a nonreactive material. You can also use alcohol based cleaning agents.
Powder Coated Steel: Durability of powdered coated steel is lower than stainless steel, but they are more affordable. Cleaning and maintenance are easy. But, powder coating gradually comes off the steel.
Plastic: Many laminar flow cabinets are crafted with opaque plastic. They are suitable for wet chemistry operations. Such material can withstand common acids and solvents.
So, these are some of the most important features of the laminar flow cabinets. Before buying them, you need to consider these features to find a product that suits your requirements with precision.
Author Bio
Cleatech LLC, the leading company manufactures laboratory and cleanroom equipment. Buy the top-quality Laminar Flow Cabinet and other laboratory equipment such as Vertical Laminar Flow Hoods at Cleatech.com.
