Biological Safety Cabinets or BSCs offer personal, product, and environmental protection in the laboratories. These BSCs are also famously known as tissue culture hoods.
Biological Safety Cabinets or BSCs offer personal, product, and environmental protection in the laboratories. These BSCs are also famously known as tissue culture hoods.
The Classification of BSCs.
BSCs are famously trifurcated into three broad categories. If you plan to prepare your labs before experiments with a hazardous pathogens, it’s best you know more about these categories.
Class 1 Cabinet
These cabinets work best when scientists are using biological agents that have low to moderate risk. These cabinets are used at facilities with the Biosafety levels from 1 to 3.
The front aperture in the class 1 cabinet lets the air in through the inbuilt exhaust fan. This can be HEPA or carbon filters. They provide protection for the existing operator and the environment.
The HEPA filter is responsible for filtering the air before it is flushed out.
Scientists must not use class 1 cabinet for handling research products in the lab vulnerable to airborne contamination.
Class 2 Cabinets
These cabinets also offer personal, product, and environmental protection.
In the class 2 cabinets, 70 percent of the air is recirculated. While 30 percent of the air is flushed out of the cabinet using the HEPA filter.
Such cabinets can handle the materials used in research or labs that are also prone to airborne contamination promptly.
Class 3 Cabinets
These cabinets are best to handle the biological agents at the 4th level of Biosafety. These cabinets deal with the high-risk biological agents.
The operator has to separate himself from the cabinet using the physical barrier. That’s why these Biosafety cabinets are air-tight. They are non-opening and even have the front window sealed.
This Biosafety cabinet is often termed as the “Glovebox.” There are heavy-duty, which the operator can find attached to these Biosafety cabinets. These are plugged into the cabinet equipment in a gas-tight manner.
According to the SEFA 1-8 class guidelines, scientists or researchers can make most of the adaptive furniture systems. Where class 1 represents the least adaptive furniture, class 8 is the most adaptive.
Constructors can either build the cabinetry as per class 1 or have it to be modular. As we move ahead in the SEFA class guidelines for adaptive furniture, it’s found that the furniture is more supportive of different laboratories.
Where class 2 focuses on wall rail support, class 3 has a self-supporting frame. Similarly, class 5 is panel-based, class 6 is table-based, and ultimately, class 8 is a mobile workstation.
Under the class 8 adaptive furniture system, the workstation will easily incorporate adjustable height or existing fixed height work surfaces.
Scientists or lab users can pre-plumb, prewired, or use mobile workstations with above counter structures in conjunction with ceiling-mounted service utility distribution systems.
This way, the operator works on the product or element inside the container without compromising it in any way.
It’s not easy to remove the element or product from these cabinets. It’s done via a safety airlock transfer hatch.
Note: https://www.kewaunee.in/ is the site you must check when you want to buy the best Biosafety cabinet for your lab.
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