Laminar Flow Cabinets

How does a laminar flow unit work?

A cabinet is a workbench commonly used in research and medical laboratories that creates dust free abacterial air environment.

Air from the room passes through the HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Absorbing) filters and is fed into the working chamber by a unidirectional vertical descending flow. From the working area and the workbench itself the air is moved back to the environment in the following way: partly – through the perforation in the bottom rear area of the cabinet, but most air – through the space between the working surface of the table and the protecting glass.

Flow hood involves a unidirectional exhaustion of air to the workplace and personnel whereby filtered air is discharged with a regular and fixed velocity.

Some of the basic components of a chamber include UV light, glass shield, an air intake fan, a protection plate, windows, etc. Each of the components of a clean bench plays an important role in creating and maintaining sterile conditions. The laminar flow hood fan pulls the air through the filter pad where the dust is pinned down; then, the HEPA filter pulls out all airborne contamination to maintain sterile conditions.

Types

The direction in which the air moves around the workspace and a clean bench is based on the specific cabinet that is being used. The type of cell culture cabinet needed depends very much on the requirements of the laboratory, the kind of airflow needed, working laminar flow principle, and the type of operation. Two main types of flow hoods differ according to the functions they can perform: horizontal airflow hood and vertical airflow hood.