Laminar Air Flow Chamber
A laminar flow cabinet or laminar flow closet or tissue culture hood is a carefully enclosed bench designed to prevent contamination of semiconductor wafers, biological samples, or any particle sensitive materials. Air is drawn through a HEPA filter and blown in a very smooth, laminar flow towards the user. Due to the direction of air flow, the sample is protected from the user but the user is not protected from the sample. The cabinet is usually made of stainless steel with no gaps or joints where spores might collect.[1]
Such hoods exist in both horizontal and vertical configurations, and there are many different types of cabinets with a variety of airflow patterns and acceptable uses.
Laminar flow cabinets may have a UV-C germicidal lamp to sterilize the interior and contents before usage to prevent contamination of experiment. Germicidal lamps are usually kept on for 15 minutes to sterilize the interior and no contact is to be made with a laminar flow hood during this time. During this time, scientists normally prepare other materials to maximize efficiency. (It is important to switch this light off during use, to limit exposure to skin and eyes as stray ultraviolet light emissions can cause cancer and cataracts.)[2]
Laminar Air Flow provides a work area with aseptic/sterile conditions for the tissue culture. Laminar Air Flow has continuous displacement of air (it provides streamline flow of air) that passes through HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter that removes the particulates from the air.
Laminar Air Flow are equipped with a UV lamp that should be turned on about 10-20 minutes before being used to sterilize the shell or cabinet or the surface of the Laminar Air Flow to avoid any kind of contaminations. Wipe down the surface with ethanol before and after each use.
Laminar Air Flow can be vertical and horizontal. In the Vertical Laminar Air Flow the air blows down from the top of the cabinet. Vertical Laminar Air Flow is best for working with hazardous specimens since the aerosols that are generated in the cabinet are filtered out before they are released into the surrounding environments.
Horizontal Laminar Air Flow are designed such that the air flows directly at the operator hence they are not useful for working with hazardous specimens but are best protection for Tissue/cell culture.
Laminar Air Flow provides aseptic/sterile conditions for the preparation of Culture Media. All the culture vessels, test tubes, pipette, tip boxes, stocks of sterile eppendorfs should be opened only in the Laminar Air Flow to avoid any kind of contaminations. Culture Media cannot be prepared outside the Laminar Air Flow because it can get contaminated and there would not be any result.
- A laminar flow cabinet or laminar flow closet or tissue culture hood is a carefully enclosed bench designed to prevent contamination of semiconductor wafers, biological samples, or any particle sensitive materials air is passed through a HEPA (High Efficiency ParticulatesAir) filter which removes all airborne contamination to maintain sterile conditions
- 3. A laminar flow hood consists of a filter pad, a fan and a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulates Air) filter The fan sucks the air through the filter pad where dust is trapped After that the prefiltered air has to pass the HEPA filter where contaminating fungi, bacteria, dust etc are removed sterile air flows into the working (flasking) area where you can do all your flasking work without risk of contamination.
- 4. HEPA fliter
- 5. Laminar Flow Cabinets are suitable for a variety of applications where an individual clean air environment is required for smaller items, e.g. particle sensitive electronic devices. In the laboratory, Laminar Flow Cabinets are commonly used for specialised work. Laminar Flow Cabinets can be tailor made to the specific requirements of the laboratory ideal for general lab work, especially in the medical, pharmaceutical, electronic and industrial sectors.
- 6. Laminar Flow Cabinets, or laminar air flow cabinets as they are also known, are normally made of stainless steel with no gaps or joints thereby preventing the build-up of bacteria from collecting anywhere in the working zone. Laminar Flow Cabinets are also known as clean benches because the air for the working environment is thoroughly cleaned by the precision filtration process.
- 7. Laminar Flow Cabinets can be produced as both horizontal and vertical cabinets There are many different types of cabinets with a variety of airflow patterns for different purposes Vertical Laminar Flow Cabinets Horizontal Laminar Flow Cabinets Laminar Flow Cabinets and Hoods Laminar Flow Benches and Booths
- 8. direction of air flow which comes from above then changes direction and is processed across the work in a horizontal direction. The constant flow of filtered air provides material and product protection.
- 9. function equally well as horizontal Laminar Flow Cabinets laminar air directed vertically downwards onto the working area The air can leave the working area via holes in the base Vertical flow cabinets can provide greater operator protection.
- 10. Important parameters to make sure that the hood works efficiently: the HEPA filter has to remove all airborne materials the air speed in the working area has to be about 0,5 m/s
- 11. Before you start flasking in your laminar flow hood you should do the following actions. Turn on the blower and wipe out the sterile area with an alcohol soaked piece of kitchen paper. Let the blower run continuously for 30 minutes. When this time has passed, wipe out of the sterile area with an alcohol soaked piece of kitchen paper.