Spotlight Ovens, Incubators & Sterilising Cost-Effective Quality Tool
A 230-litre-capacity Carbolite oven with fanned convection is being used successfully by Alutrade Ltd as part of its quality control procedures in the recycling of aluminium drinks cans.
Alutrade is a recycler of aluminium scrap with a particular expertise in recycling drinks cans, which are usually highly contaminated when received from waste management companies, local authorities and other sources. Customers for the scrap, who manufacture strip from which more drinks cans are produced, require minimal contamination including no more than 4% by weight of moisture.
Contaminants such as plastics, paper and ferrous metals are removed by various mechanised and manual processes before shredded material is compacted into bales. Moisture content is checked by randomly taking a bale from each batch, weighing it, heating it for four hours at 150°C in the oven and then weighing it again. The weight loss reveals the moisture content.
The 200-litre oven is a standard Carbolite model, so was available off the shelf and at lower cost than a bespoke unit. It is big enough to accept one or two bales, depending on the size required by Alutrade’s customers, and the fan-assisted airflow provides good temperature uniformity and fast heat-up and recovery times.
The chamber is of fully welded construction and has an exhaust port, which vents fumes through a pipe to the outside of the building. A controller with a convenient soft-touch panel on the front of the oven allows the selected time/temperature programme to be carried out automatically and without supervision.
Circle no. 367
New Ductless Fume Hood
The new PURAIR 5 Ductless Fume Hoods from Air Science USA feature a high level of operator protection where routine work is being carried out. The units exceed OSHA, ANSI and all relevant international standards. The Ductless design eliminates installation costs and allows the unit to be positioned over a sink or benchtop apparatus.
There are three models available with a choice of 24", 36" or 48" widths. The units operate at low noise levels and because they recirculate, they do not exhaust expensive conditioned and/or heated air into the atmosphere.
A face velocity of 100 fpm ensures containment of fumes and particulates for operator protection. An alarm alerts the operator when the airflow falls to an unacceptable level.
The unit can be placed on any bench top, and an optional polypropylene spillage tray can be provided when required. The rear of the unit has lighting to illuminate the work surface.
All mechanisms in the head section are on the clean side of the filter, with the switches and electrical components being isolated from any contamination.
The patented filter clamping mechanism allows for the filter to be easily installed and ensures an even seal at the filter face at all times to prevent bypass leakage.
The main filter can be chosen from 14 different types of carbon, which include specialty media for vapors of organics, solvents, acids, mercury and formaldehyde. HEPA filters for particulate filtration are also available to suit your application needs.
Typical applications for the Purair 5 include histology, powder weighing and sampling prep work. Circle no. 368
Four Techne fluidised sand baths are providing the materials laboratory at Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering with precisely controlled heating facilities for a wide variety of heat treatment processes up to 600°C with temperature accuracy within ±1°C.
The SBL-2 sand baths are mainly used by students for tempering, annealing, stress-relieving and other procedures on steel, aluminium, brass and copper in a wide range of grades as part of their engineering degree courses. Staff use the equipment to heat metallic and non-metallic materials for research purposes.
Quick and Easy Sterilisation
Harvard Apparatus has introduced a Hot Glass Bead Dry Steriliser for decontaminating microsurgical instruments used in small animal surgery.
Fast and easy to use, this compact steriliser eliminates the need for messy chemicals or open flame in the lab. Dry glass beads heated to 500ºF (260°C) will sterilise surgical instruments within 15 minutes. This product is a must for any laboratory doing small animal surgery.
Circle no. 369
Samples are typically held in perforated metal containers suspended in the sand from supports at the top of a stainless steel cylinder containing particles of aluminium oxide. Air is blown through the sand to create a boiling effect similar to a liquid bath but without the fumes associated with oil baths and the solidification that occurs with salt baths.
As the sand is heated, the heat is distributed throughout the bath and transferred quickly and evenly to the samples in it. Temperature control is provided by Techne TC-8D wall- mounted instruments via type K thermocouples that fit into a pocket in each bath wall.
Cleanroom Truck Oven
No. 970 is a 500ºF (260ºC) electrically-heated, Class 100 cleanroom oven from Grieve, currently used for a variety of heat processings such as sterilising, depyrogenation, curing and drying workloads at the customer’s facility. Workspace of this unit measures 36”W x 42”D x 66”H. 30KW are installed in Incoloy-sheathed tubular elements to heat the oven, while a 2400CFM, 3-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow to the workload.
This Grieve cleanroom oven features 4” thick insulated walls throughout, aluminised steel exterior, Type 304 2B-finish stainless steel interior with continuously backwelded seams, exterior finished with white epoxy paint, #4 brushed finish stainless steel door and control panel face. The unit includes a 4”
insulated floor with removable truck wheel guide tracks.
In addition, No. 970 has a 325CFM stainless steel powered forced exhauster, two 24” x 30” x 12” thick stainless steel high-temperature HEPA recirculating air filters, digital indicating temperature controller, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors, recirculating blower airflow safety switch and a 10” diameter circular chart recording temperature controller.
Circle no. 370 The Spotlight
could be on you! Contact Tamsyn Cox on +44 (0)1727 855574 or email:
tamsyn@intlabmate.com
The bench-top units have an internal diameter of 228mm and depth of 140mm. Heating is provided by three 1kW elements that enable maximum temperature to be reached from ambient in approximately 100 minutes. The inner chamber is insulated from the outer wall, and the elements cut off if the air supply fails.
Circle no. 371
Sand Baths Provide Precise Heating Performance
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