Laboratory ovens- appropriate for use in research

Posted by Christian Silmaro on August 30th, 2018

Laboratory ovens are used for numerous applications in various industries such as pharmaceuticals, biotech and materials manufacturing. The applications include processes of curing, baking, annealing and drying materials of varying physical and chemical compositions. These processes have different end-result and need different types of lab ovens.

Standard applications of many laboratory ovens are heating and drying glassware or autoclaving lab supplies for sterilization purposes. Laboratory ovens are used for performing material testing to determine tensile strength, resiliency and deformation of various manufactured products. Laboratory ovens are used for testing and troubleshooting processes such as

• Burn-in test for detecting early failures in manufactured integrated circuits
• Curing to catalyze a chemical reaction and alter the chemical nature of advanced polymers
• Electronics testing
• Accelerated simulations to measure prolonged product use
• Solder strength testing in circuit boards

Laboratory ovens are specially used in forensic, biological and environmental labs. Laboratory ovens are used in research in various fields such as

• Forensic labs use vacuum ovens as fingerprint development chambers.
• Gravity convection ovens are used in biological laboratories for removal of microbiological contaminants in labware and vacuum ovens for adhering substrates to the surface of filters and other media.
• Specimens are dried in laboratory ovens by environmental laboratories, weighing samples before and after drying to determine the moisture content of the sample. The ovens used for these types of processes are gravity convection and forced-air ovens.

A laboratory oven is chosen as per the types of applications it is going to be used for. There are various general and specialized ovens with advanced security options such as vacuum, gravity, high-temperature or mechanical convection ovens which are commonly used in pharmaceutical and clinical labs. Ovens used for drying glassware are forced-air multi-purpose ovens as these are versatile with a fast recovery feature and vacuum ovens are suitable for material which requires an inert atmosphere. Stainless steel cleanroom ovens have HEPA filtration which helps meet ISO 5 (Class 100) compliance requirements and conditions.

Manifold heaters- providing silent and comfortable atmosphere

Manifolds are used in underfloor heating applications using a star pattern system and helps in speedy installation and commissioning. These are now used in wall hung radiator systems with the use of plastic piping.

Underfloor heating is known for providing an efficient and uniform heat. A large heated surface is produced by the radiant heat and this surface dissipates heat evenly into the living space. A radiator produces convection currents which rise to the highest part of the room which means most of the heat is lost at ceiling height. Underfloor heating is used to provide comfort to the people in the house and is energy efficient due to the use of lower water temperatures in the heating system and less wasted heat. Manifold heaters make no noise, are energy efficient and are flexible for room layouts adding great value to a property. Underfloor heating is compatible with various heat sources such as gas and oil fired boilers and is appropriate for renewable technologies such as air and ground source heat pumps. It can be installed to almost any floor type such as timber joist and concrete slab. It can be also be installed as a retro fit system over existing floors.