Improving Energy Efficiency and Safety When Exhausting a Type A2 Biological Safety Cabinet
Robert Lloyd, The Baker Company
Exhausting type A2 biological safety cabinets to a building exhaust system is safely accomplished by using what is commonly called a canopy connection on the top of the cabinet. This presentation discusses a new canopy design that requires 15 percent less airflow than present designs and improves cabinet safety. Present designs reduce the cabinet airflow below the required amount when the exhaust system fails to increase cabinet airflow above the required amount when the exhaust system airflow increases. This new design will maintain the required cabinet airflows even when the exhaust system fails or exceeds its normal exhaust flow.
Because there is no industry standard test for canopy performance, a new test procedure was developed. This presentation describes this method for testing an exhaust canopy for containment. The presentation will review the test results for this new canopy and feature documentation and pictures. The documentation and pictures show:
- The air flow for this new canopy requires 15 percent less conditioned air than present canopy designs.
- When the exhaust system fails or increases its flow by 50 percent, the biological safety cabinet will maintain its proper airflows.
With renewed interest in reducing the energy consumption in laboratories, this new canopy development has shown energy consumption can be reduced by 15 percent, and the operating characteristics of the biological safety cabinet will be improved over present designs.
Biography:
Robert Lloyd is the engineering manager at The Baker Company and is responsible for all engineering functions related to research, design, testing, and manufacturing. Prior to joining The Baker Company, Mr. Lloyd was a nuclear engineer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where his responsibilities included design and repair of nuclear reactor systems; design and use of clean rooms, glove boxes, and containment areas; and implementation and review of radiological control procedures and nuclear engineering training. Mr. Lloyd also served as president, dean of faculty, and professor at New Hampshire Community Technical College in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he developed training programs in computer numerical control, computer aided design, computer integrated manufacturing, and robotics.