Cleanroom equipment – Gloveboxes and Isolators

What is the advantage of using a glove box in a clean room? When pharmaceutical, medical, industrial, chemical or physical research processes are sensitive to particulate and environmental contamination, scientists generally work in a sterile clean room. The particulate concentration is controllable, allowing them to operate in complete safety. However, glove boxes provide a high level of containment and safety and their  use in a clean room is essential when different levels of safety and gas protection are required.

Features of a Glove Box

Protecting operations and operators is the primary function of a cleanroom. In various sectors, such as industry, aeronautics, pharmaceutical and medical devices, it also helps to optimize product performance and ensure quality. In particular, it minimizes the introduction, production, accumulation and retention of particles inside the room. Airborne particles can also be controlled, just like the temperature, humidity, lighting and climatic conditions of the room.

The glove box has the same characteristics of a cleanroom, except that it is a closed, airtight, smaller structure. The glove box is a device for confining and controlling an atmosphere in order to handle various products, chemical compounds, dangerous or sensitive objects. Its sides are transparent and can integrate one or more workstations. Handling is carried out using external gloves. Transfer airlocks simplify the introduction and extraction of the elements to be protected and avoid the rupture of containment. Ventilation systems with filters at the inlet and outlet guarantee total protection of the product and/or the operator and the environment.

As in a clean room, it is also possible to control the internal conditions of a glove box: hygrometry, temperature, pressure, protective gas, particulate cleanliness, etc. It must comply with the ISO 14 644 standard and the regulations applicable according to the sector concerned.

Glove Box for Cleanrooms: What Are the Advantages?

A glove box in a cleanroom can be used for all traditional cleanroom applications, but also for applications in high-tech industry. All kinds of laboratory experiments can be carried out in the glove box. In terms of performance, the glove box guarantees a high level of purity compared to the clean room, whether for handling in a controlled atmosphere or for handling hazardous products. The sterilizing gas decontamination system removes contaminants from equipment, personnel, the production area or the environment.

Different types of glove boxes also protect either the operation, the operator and the environment, or both. In overpressure, the glove box is used to confine products in an inert atmosphere in order to secure the process. In negative pressure, it allows the containment of dangerous substances to protect the operator and the environment. There are also multi-purpose glove boxes designed to perform both functions.

A glove box in a cleanroom is used in processes such as drug production or sterile pharmaceutical preparation, microbial culture, microelectronics, optics construction, aeronautics manufacturing, etc. It can be useful in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical-medical, electronics, aeronautics, nanotechnology sectors, etc.

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