Know About Laboratory Oven

Heat treatment is one of the general processes used in many applications in laboratories. There are many equipment are utilized for this purpose and laboratory oven is one of them. As the name states; it is a kind of equipment, which generates heat inside the chamber.

Applications

There are many applications in which laboratory ovens play important role such as general heating of samples, sterilization of glassware and metal ware, drying of powder, moisture analysis, baking, curing and annealing etc.

Temperature range

The temperature range of a laboratory oven may vary from application to application. Most of laboratory ovens are manufactured with temperature range from ambient temperature to 250°C. Some other applications need little more heat temperature so they are manufactured with temperature range from ambient temperature to 300°C. In some cases, ovens can be manufactured with up to 400°C.

Types of Laboratory Ovens

Laboratory ovens are made in different configurations such as gravity convection oven, forced air convection oven, vacuum oven and clean room oven etc. Let’s understand the basic difference between them and where they are used in laboratories.

Forced Air Convection Oven

Also known as hot air oven, such ovens are made with heating element and fan or blower fitted inside the chamber. The role of fan is to evenly distribute hot air all around the heating chamber. A forced convection oven is well suited for applications that need quicker drying such as sterilization of pharmaceutical glassware, metal ware, weight measurement of samples before and after drying etc.

Gravity convection oven

A gravity convection oven follows the principle of gravity. Such oven consists of heating element and heat is naturally distributed without use of fan. A gravity convection oven is well suited for applications that are air sensitive such as powder. Such ovens are mostly used in moisture analysis of powder samples.

Vacuum Oven

There are some applications that need heating in absence of air; therefore, vacuum oven is best solution in such scenario. Such ovens are made with vacuum mechanism. While using, after putting samples, air is completely removed from the chamber using vacuum system, then heating is done up to desired temperature level. This vacuum in chamber considerably reduces the drying time. In order to avoid oxidation inert gas (such as nitrogen gas) is fed into the chamber.

Cleanroom Oven

Especially designed for clean room work, such ovens are made of HEPA filters fitted in them. The applications include adhesive curing, annealing the plastics on syringes, polymerizing contact lances and curing the coating on eye lenses etc. Some clean room ovens are also manufactured with nitrogen purging system for inert atmosphere clean process.

Control System

In earlier days, laboratory ovens are made with manual temperature controllers (dial type), user need to adjust temperature by rotating the knob at desired temperature point. Such controllers are not considered precise; therefore, they are replaced with digital microprocessor based temperature controller. User needs to push buttons to select the desired temperature range and screen displays set temperature and attained temperature on the screen. Some laboratory ovens are also fitted with safety thermostat, which keeps the oven safe from rising of temperature beyond the set limit.

Optional Accessories

In order to gain optimum use of a laboratory oven, some accessories are fitted optionally on demand of consumer. Temperature chart recorder, dot matrix printer and PLC and HMI interface controller etc.

I hope above this information about laboratory ovens are easy to understand. I tried my best to cover every single point. If something is missing or you want some more information in details please write your comments below. For those who want to buy laboratory oven, please visit: http://www.plusfurnace.com/hot-air-oven.html