Top Benefits Of Polypropylene Storage Cabinet

While aiming to buy storage cabinets for a laboratory, you may see lots of designs and options in Polypropylene. Polypropylene storage cabinets are quite popular for use in laboratories. However just because something is popular and widely available in the market, should not make you decide to buy it, unless you know its benefits. Before you decide and go for polypropylene made storage cabinets for the cleanroom or lab, you must understand what benefits you would actually enjoy from the purchase and use of the utility.

The benefits of using polypropylene storage cabinets

As material polypropylene is a type of plastic. But it is highly stable, andis designed to resist corrosion. That is why fumes generated from chemicals in labs, which may corrode metals and other objects would not act on this plastic polymer. Hence it would stay stable and nonreactive to acidic and other corrosive fumes and chemical exposure.

Compared metal it has one high benefit, and is resistance to rust. Even stainless steel of poor quality may rust after several years. Buta well maintained polypropylene made storage box or cabinet cannot rust ever.

In these cabinets no parts are made from metal. For better stability and resistance to reactions and corrosion, the entire unit and its parts are made from polypropylene. This means hinges locks, and sliding drawers and shelves, all are made from this material. Hence none of the internal parts also have chances of reacting or getting rusted or corroded ever.

The material is moisture resistant. Therefore there are no chances of degradation in case of spills. Also you may maintain a humidity level as desired inside or around the cabinet without affecting its quality.

The material is very much suited for areas which must be maintained with strict sterility. It’s easy to sterile polypropylene, and hence for surgical rooms, laboratories, and cleanrooms it is an ideally suited material.

Being plastic it is lighter in weight than metal. Hence compared to a cabinet of similar dimension and design in metal, it would be lighter, and easy to shift from one place to another.

The material itself offers great structural strength. It can endure weight and can be relied on for storing and stacking any type of lab items.

The plastic polymer can be practically made into or molded into any design. That’s why it can give a strong competition to any storage box design made from steel or other metal. And this is one big reason tempered glass can also be fitted on to the doors of the cabinet to give you a see through advantage into the shelves inside.

With all these reasons to invest in a polypropylene cabinet for storage, you can very well understand that you can enjoy so many upsides for the choice made. And this is one big reason that the material is growing in popularity in lab use day by day. Hence, you may buy a storage cabinet of the material for cleanroom or lab use, with expectations that it would last for many years and would not give you any problem with maintenance and daily use or storage etc.

Safe Laboratory Stainless Steel Glove Boxes Recommended Practices

Maintaining the instruments and equipments in the laboratory in their best condition, and operating them with full knowledge is the best you can do.This ensures that you use them for a long time, use their full worth, enjoy your investment on them, and also yield the most out of the lab. For this, you must learn the best practices of using equipments. And you must be specially careful towards those lab instruments, which are expensive and difficult to operate units.

Why learn to operate the stainless steel glove box carefully

The stainless steel made glove boxes are also expensive cleanroom instruments which must be operated with lots of care to maintain their shape and functionality intact for a long time. Any carelessness while handling them can result in the damage of the instrument, damage of items which are being used inside the box, and failure of the experiment or process that was being carried out inside it, and also injury to the lab staff handling it. Overall, any serious mishandling may result in explosion of the instrument too due to air pressure differences, which may cause serious damage to life and property in the lab. That is why, a stainless steel glove box demands responsible handling by staffs who are well educated and trained to handle it.

Recommended practices to handle a stainless steel glove box

Some of the recommended practices to handle it are as follows:

• Be careful while opening the antechamber of the glove box. You cannot afford to create air pressure differences.
• The gloves must be handled with care sweat from hands also can damage the rubber of the gloves. Hence to avoid it, you must wear a set of absorbent gloves in hands first, and then enter hands in the glove box gloves. This will keep the rubber in best condition and avoid tears in it.
• Be careful while handling sharp objects and pointed things while wearing the gloves. The gloves may tear or leak from them, and this may result in change in air pressure inside the box. If the maintained air pressure gets altered, then the experiment would fail, and also there may be an explosion.
• Be very careful with the chemicals that you use inside the glove box. Some of the chemical are capable of changing the potency and effectiveness of the catalyst bed used inside the box. If the catalyst bed potency and working changes then the box would not be of any use.
• The catalyst bed would have to be changed in every 3 to 6 months and regenerated. Missing to track these changes would lead to inferior efficiency of the glove box.

Concluding it

Simply adhering to these tips can help one use the Laboratory Glove Box well while using the full efficiency of the instrument. The expensive instrument is an asset of the lab, and must be therefore looked after and handled carefully. This would help you get accurate results of work and experiments done inside the glove box.

Source: http://cleatech.bcz.com/2019/05/10/safe-laboratory-stainless-steel-glove-boxes-recommended-practices/

The role of a pass through desiccator is very important in cleanrooms and labs. In fact in any laboratory where humidity and air pressure matters in production and environment control, there pass through desiccators must be used.

And they are common too. Two commonly used makes of pass-through desiccators are PVC made and Stainless Steel Desiccator Cabinets made.

Before you go for testing the performance of pass-through desiccators

Time to time testing of pass-through desiccators is important. If the instruments channelizing transfers between two rooms or compartments in a cleanroom does not gets tested for their ideal conditions, then items transferred may have altered humidity, or air leaking with them may alter environment of the compartment in cleanroom. To test the pass-throughs, you must first therefore know what exactly the instruments is supposed to help you at.

Why test pass-through desiccators

The role of the pass through Plastic Desiccator Cabinets is to give passage or channel between two different rooms or chambers, so that the air pressure, hygiene, and humidity levels of the controlled room stays the same and does not get altered due to multiple numbers of transfer of items inside and outside the room. There are two doors on either side of the instrument. When one door is opened to place an item inside the shelves of the storage box, then another door stay auto shut and can’t be opened. And when this door is closed, then only the door on the other side can be opened to take out the item. This functionality ensures total control in retaining the controlled settings of the cleanroom.
Therefore, if the pass-through desiccators has to be tested for right performance, then:

• The humidity of the item being transferred must be checked after transfer, and the humidity of the air inside the pass-through storage box must be checked.
• The doors must not open together. Hence the door lock must be checked. When one door stays open another should stay auto locked. No force should be able to open the another closed door in any way.
• There are gaskets on the doors to seal the doors air tight. From time to time these gaskets also need to be checked for their tightness.
• The SDPVC coating or portion of the door panels must be checked that they are intact. These panels reduce the threat and chances of electrostatic
• Look for any signs of corrosion or rust in a stainless steel pass-through desiccator.

When you check these things you actually check for the performance of the pass-through desiccator. However, you may need professional assistance in making all these checks.

Getting professional help

If you believe, you would need professional assistance to test the performance of any kind of pass-through desiccator you have, then you may call for testing professionals. They would come to the lab, test it, and give detailed report and certify it for being okay, or suggest needed repairs or replacements. This way also you may pass on the responsibility of testing to experts and stay sure that you are maintaining the optimum conditions in your cleanroom.

Source: https://cleatech.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-role-of-pass-through-desiccator-is.html

How To Use Stainless Steel Glove Boxes

Stainless steel glove boxes are basically the same in working as a normal vacuum glove box. The only difference between the two is that, ina plastic made vacuum glove box, the material is transparent all over so that visibility inside the box is maximum. In case of stainless steel built glove boxes, this factor of all round visibility is compromised for better structural strength and durability of the equipment.

The special built

Stainless steel is a strong non-reactive metal alloy. That is why stainless steel has found application in all sorts of laboratory instruments and equipment. And this is the reason they are also used for making of glove boxes, where the pressure and atmosphere inside the box is maintained with extreme caution, care and accuracy. The presence of a structurally strong metal, that is non-reactive and easy to purge and sanitize,is a big plus point of stainless steel. That is why glove boxes made of stainless steel are of high utility.

Definitely, being made of an opaque metal, the box has not all sides made from transparent wall. Rather most of the sides are visually blocked. But the main front portion, which needs to have the viewing window for clear viewing is open, and gives enough surface to view and work. In fact the strong structural strength of stainless steel makes it saferto conduct experiment sunder very low atmospheric pressure and even in vacuum. Chances of explosions or leaks are minimized when you are using a stainless steel glove box.

The basic working

The basic working of the stainless steel gloves box revolves around giving a controlled environment inside the box for handling of chemicals and things with extreme care for special experiments and work. There is a chamber for working with things insidethe box, which has all walls made of stainless steel, and a viewing window made of glass. Two gloves are there in the box, in which hands are to be inserted from the outside, to hold things of interest inside the box. The pressure and humidity inside the box is controlled through controllers. Catalysis bed inside the box prevents oxygen and moisture from releasing or staying inside the box.

The catalyst bed is made from copper. And to retain the potency of the catalyst, certain compounds are not permitted inside the glove box. Certain reactive compounds which can make the catalyst non-reactive are not allowed. Also the catalyst needs a regeneration and change after each 3 to 6 months period. The catalyst is then taken out and made to pass through a process where the oxidized form of copper gets converted to metallic copper, and the catalyst again gets rejuvenated to work as earlier.

Finally

One who would be handling the stainless steel glove box will have to go through professional and formal training to understand the core working and operations of the box. This will enable the person to troubleshoot small issues, and also take care of the Economical Glove Boxes in day to day lab operations in the best way for durability.

How To Maintain Laboratory Vacuum Glove Boxes

Right after you buy a laboratory instrument, you must learn all about its maintenance so that you can maintain it at the best condition, reap the most out of it, and also use it through its highest possible life span. Here are the maintenance tips for vacuum glove boxes, which you will have to maintain while abiding by many strict rules and restrictions.
General tips to handle a vacuum gloves box

• Water or air should not enter the box.
• No solvents should be evacuated into the pump.
• The gloves must not be sucked into the box.
• The outer and inner antechamber doors must not be opened together.
• Sharp items must not be used as they can puncture the gloves.
• While locking the antechamber door, the locking device must lock without the exertion of much force. The door must not be made too tight or it will break. The door must not be left loose or the box would leak.
• If you have any doubt about the air or gas pressure in the antechamber, you must pump out before opening the door from inside.
• While handling sharps, solvents and powders, you must use nitrile gloves above the glove box gloves.
• Dispose off all used sharps in the container for sharp disposal.
• You must remove from the box all non-hazardous
• Used lithium must be sent to used lithium container where it’s not deemed hazardous. Once the used lithium box is full you must fill it up with mineral oil and mark it as hazardous and dispose it off.
• For un-used lithium closed containers which ae distinctly labelled must be used.
• Dirtied utensils must be cleaned.
• Solvents like acetonitrile must not be used inside the gloves box. They can react with lithium by destroying the catalyst.
• All assigned bins and samples must be properly labelled. The unlabeled items may get removed from the glove box common area, and may get disposed too.
• You must keep the work area inside the glove box clutter free and clean.

These are some of the general guidelines to be followed by any user of the gloves box in the cleanroom. Maintaining these things helps maintain the vacuum gloves box in its best health and working condition.
Finally
Maintenance is done in two ways. One way is how you maintain it by being particular with following the system, and knowing the general troubleshooting. This caters to the daily and day to day maintenance. Another is the quarterly or annual maintenance done by an expert. You can book such maintenance and check services so that your lab equipments stays in best condition and get checked for any problem at the earliest. For a gloves box also you must get such checking done periodically. And along with this, you must ensure all laboratory staff using the Laboratory Glove Box adheres to the general guidelines.
More tips are to be followed while fitting the gas cylinder to the gloves box, and for vacuum pumps, catalyst bed regeneration etc., which requires expertise in doing these things.