Use of Hot Air Oven in Laboratory

A hot air oven is an electrical device that uses a thermostat to control the temperature. The unit uses dry heat sterilization as pressure built up is less. The insulation prevents heat loss. The material sterilize is usually dry as pressure is less. It is not suitable to heat the materials having liquid content.

The materials used in the laboratories are needed to get sterilized after use. The hot air oven is used to deliver the heat treatment to the product. It has been widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, research laboratories, etc. The unit has a standard and simplified process which is cost-efficient. So the hot air oven is useful in various industries for a quick-drying process.

Dry sterilization
Hot air oven generally uses dry heat sterilization technique for material sterilization. As the process is dry the material heated also has to be in a solid state like glassware, powder, metal equipment, oil containers. Usually, the material which has a high melting point or does not catch the fire is used for this type of sterilization.

The working principle is simple. It operates on the conduction where the heat is conducted first at the bottom. Then it travels to the centre towards the top with or without the help of a fan. As the temperature starts raising the hot air mixture get lighter and move to the top. Then from the top, it crashes down to the bottom and creates the circular airflow. Due to the circular airflow, the temperature inside the chamber is constant everywhere. To reduce the temperature difference even more the fan and motor assembly is used to circulate the heated air mixture. The dry heat sterilization process is comparatively long time than autoclave.

Wet sterilization
An autoclave is equipment used for wet sterilization. It has a similar process as a hot air oven with a boiling pressure. Inside an autoclave, the water is filled that creates the water vapours and the pressure build-up which sterilizes the equipment faster. This process is generally used to kill the poison. But this process is generally more hazardous due to the high pressure.

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