Horizontal Laminar Flow Hood
happens to be those tools that allow obtaining a safe and sterile area for any need required within a laboratory. They can beVertical and Horizontal. It essentiallyestablishes a placethat permits working in a room with firm control of non-street particles by means of precise air treatment.
This type of equipment is used for specific processes where extreme contamination control is required.
Typically, these systems are used for microbiological control procedures, packaging process, sterile filling, etc. However, in no way should they be used for procedures involving straining of contaminating biological elements, whether they are known or not. For these cases, there are biological safety cabinets prepared to protect the product/process, the operator and the environment.
To comprehend the persistence of laminar flow equipment, it happens to beessential to consider its operation and the physical space where it will be located.
In the first place, you must consider that an extremely clean area will be required whenever working with products or processes with requirements of a certain degree of sterility. These zones are made up of systems that operate under a laminar flow pattern.
How is laminar flow generated?
The laminarity is generated thanks to a constant speed in the air outlet that use to allow homogenizing the circulation in the workplace. This happens to be possible thanks to the assignment of HEPA filters as a preceding step to the air outlet. Nevertheless, considering a complete room with filters of these individualities would be tremendously expensive. The question you must ask yourself and if you really need the entire surface covered with filters. Although these systems may differ in some construction features, maintaining a continuous laminar airflow is critical to the goal. So it makes that you could decrease the necessity to a clean or super clean area, in place of thinking the whole area below this condition.
Two primary sources are there of contamination in an area with exact control requirements. These might be external (related to the environment) and internal (made within the area either by employees or by the sort of work). In the previous circumstance, the decrease of pollution used to be attained with the diverse filtering phases through that the outside air need to pass until it reaches the atmosphere. In the case of the latter, it is necessary to work on strict procedures, both for the development of the activity and for cleaning, even considering possible events.
Laminar Flow Hoods, in this case, contribute to the recirculation of fresh air in the atmosphere where they use to be located since they have a continuous work of air regeneration. Let’s not overlook that they have it from their atmosphere, filter it and return it to the environment with a different stage of complete filtration, and this procedure is continuous.
In the situation of laminar flow hoods, the continuous, constant air outlet rapidity and standardized distribution by HEPA filterslet the particles generated in the work area be evacuated, producing a sweeping outcome out of the said area. This mechanism attains a scoreof a workspace with a very low concentration number of different sized particles.
Now, suppose you realize that the laminar flow system offersyou a work area with zero contaminating particles. In addition, the site environment will benefit from continuous use, and the use of a measured environment will be beneficial for the system’s operation. In that case, you can consider that the failures associated with the operation of the equipment are often due to the way they are used.
A laminar flow hood happens not to be a storage unit, nor a writing table, nor a holder for waste, but a critical work tool, so it is essential to provide it with adequate care and maintenance to countenance it to work with reliable results through its valuable life.
Horizontal Laminar Flow Cabinets
Those with the horizontal flow are those in which the HEPA filter is placed at the rear of the cabin, so the unidirectional airflow moves through horizontal parallel lines from the rear of the equipment towards the operator.
Conclusion
This type of equipment cannot be used to work with dangerous products, such as certain antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents, or any kind of pathogenic sample such as viruses. During handling, aerosols can be generated airflow will carry to the operator. The Horizontal Laminar Flow Hood can be used for the preparation of culture media.
