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Flow Hood / Biocontainment Unit

Cassox
Cassox
Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary Final Anniversary First Post First Anniversary 100 Posts You Look Familiar 1000 Posts 500 Posts 10 Posts Welcome Committee Paging Mr. F Have Some Cake We Have Touchdown I'm Not Dead Yet!
July 2015
edited July 2015
in Everything else




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  1. Cassox
    Cassox
    Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary Final Anniversary First Post First Anniversary 100 Posts You Look Familiar 1000 Posts 500 Posts 10 Posts Welcome Committee Paging Mr. F Have Some Cake We Have Touchdown I'm Not Dead Yet!
    July 2015
    So this is the finished biocontainment unit. I had an earlier failed monster I'd tried to make but it was way overcomplicated. This is easy, quick, cheap, and should hold it's own.

    It's based off of a free standing metal shelving unit. The walls are plain wipe-able wall panels. The side panel and door are made of some salvaged plastic panels and the from window is just plexiglass. The metal tape is the type used for air systems like vents and airconditioners.

    The objective is to have continuous positive pressure and clean airflow to decrease the likelihood of contaminents like spores etc. in your work space. Everything must be wipeable. In this case, I'm using a small wet/dry vac as an air pump. Although you can buy HEPA filters for these things... I found it prohibitively expensive. Instead, I use a plain filter to function like a pre-filter in the unit and then added a couple plastic snap boxes inside and mounted a series of HEPA fitlers within. This also disperses the airflow better.

    As cool as I think the gloves look... I'm not super happy with them. They are so thick that you lose a lot of dexterity. If you wanted a simple laminar style flow hood, the gloves could easily be left out. You'd have to change the position of the air inlet to make it "laminar" but it really wouldn't change much over all. Because of the delicate nature of an upcoming the project I'm keeping the gloves as of now. Also, the air system is going to be extended outside rather than just recirculating in the lab.

    I've checked all the edges and seals and everything seems to be holding up well.
  2. glims
    glims
    First Anniversary Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary First Post 10 Posts 100 Posts 500 Posts 1000 Posts You Look Familiar Welcome Committee Final Anniversary Paging Mr. F
    July 2015
    That looks awesome! Could you tell us more about the materials used for the device?

    This looks like it's meant to be a Class III hood model. How do you get things into it and is it gas tight?
    Or is this more of a mock up for future work?

    Why wouldn't you just go for a laminar Class II model? It works up to bsl3 and since none of us are the cdc.... Laminar can be spec'd out, like a the flow can be measured. Gas leakage is little more iffy. As is the attached autoclave chamber necessary for a glove box. However, I may be missing something.

  3. Cassox
    Cassox
    Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary Final Anniversary First Post First Anniversary 100 Posts You Look Familiar 1000 Posts 500 Posts 10 Posts Welcome Committee Paging Mr. F Have Some Cake We Have Touchdown I'm Not Dead Yet!
    July 2015
    Oh one other thing I missed. I just got in some UV sterilization bulbs to be mounted on the inner face.
  4. TheGreyKnight
    TheGreyKnight
    First Anniversary Second Anniversary Third Anniversary Fourth Anniversary Fifth Anniversary Final Anniversary First Post 10 Posts 100 Posts 500 Posts You Look Familiar Welcome Committee Paging Mr. F
    July 2015
    I don't know what kind of work you'll be doing in this, but have you considered backup pumping mechanisms, in case your main one fails? Beyond that, it sounds pretty sweet. What're the dimensions for the interior?
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