Why are Laminar air flow hoods important in Labs
What is a Laminar Air Flow workstation?
A Laminar air flow (LAF) workstation also called Laminar air flow cabinet or LAF hood or LAF chamber, is must-have equipment in microbiology and molecular laboratories. A laminar air flow workstation is a closed cabinet with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter system. Laminar essentially means unidirectional constant smooth flow of air with negligible turbulence. The air flow velocity may be between 0.3 m/s to 0.5 m/s. The purpose of a LAF cabinet is to create a contaminant-free, sterile work environment when performing specialized test or process highly sensitive to contaminants.
Laminar air flow workstations are commonly used in microbiology and molecular diagnostics laboratories, pharmaceuticals manufacturing, manufacturing of particle-sensitive electronic devices, biotech or life science research, mushroom cultivation, IVF, IUI and histopathology or pathology lab, plant tissue and cell culture and many more areas.
Parts and working of a laminar air flow workstation
- Cabinet – A LAF chamber is commonly made of stainless steel for its external structure. It protects the sterile environment established within the laminar air flow hood from contamination and impure particles found outside. It is also easy to clean.
- Opening / Aperture – A glass shield or a transparent acrylic plastic sliding door on the front of the cabinet allows the user to access the cabinet by offering a partial or whole opening. User can slide it manually and adjust the aperture as needed.
- Working Station – The work station is usually made of easy-to-clean stainless steel. Samples / products are placed on it for processing.
- Pre-filter or Filter Pad: The first stage filtering of air, drawn from the room is done by the pre-filter or filter pad. The filter pad sucks in the room air and typically filters-out impurities of 5μm or higher.
- Fan or Blower: The blower is used to suck the pre-filtered air from the filter pad and transmits it toward the high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.
- HEPA Filter: HEPA filter receives pre-filtered air and further eliminates particles upto 0.3 micron with nearly 99.99% efficiency. HEPA filter helps in the removal of all sorts of contamination particles including bacteria, fungi, and dust particles to maintain a safe and sterile environment.
- Germicidal UV lamp is an option used to sterilize working area prior and after use to prevent contamination of the sample. Before using the cabinet, UV lights are normally left on for 15 min to sanitize the interior.
- Fluorescent Lamp: A fluorescent light is installed inside the cabinet to give adequate illumination throughout the procedure.
- Service fixtures – The main chamber is fitted with electrical socket, air and gas cock, magnehelic pressure gauge to monitor differential pressure across HEPA filter compared to ambient. Other optional features may include LCD display for air velocity, time and lamp on/off status. Some laminar air flow chambers even come with alarms.
Types of LAF systems
Based on the direction of airflow, there are two different types of LAF cabinets – horizontal and vertical. The placement of blower, pre-filter and HEPA filter, inlet and outlet of air depends on the type of cabinet. Risk of contamination is low in horizontal LAF while Vertical LAF is useful while using large or bulky equipment. They are also a good choice for better user protection.
Precautions while using a laminar air flow cabinet
A Laminar Air flow hood provides protection from contaminants to the material being processed in it, but not the user. Hence, while using a LAF chamber, certain precautions must be observed by the user to protect themselves, as these units they may be impacted by exposure to contaminated air, sample or UV light.
The following are some of the precautions and safety procedures that the user should take:
- wear safety goggles, long gloves, and a lab coat.
- all the components and gadgets in the cabinet must be sanitized with alcohol swab (60%- 95% pure) and cabinet irradiated with UV light, before and after usage.
- The cabinet must be closed while UV light is on, as it is harmful to users. It should not be on when the cabinet is being used for processing samples.
Intermedics, Genlaf, Precilaf, Sigma Aldreich, Thermo Fischer, Shivani Scientific etc. are common names in Laminar Air flow workstations. Most common sizes used are 3”x2”x2” or 4”x2”x2” or 2”x2”x2”.
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