How to choose a suitable laminar flow hood clean bench for mushroom cultivation, mycology, micropropagation, and cell culture industries?

Laminar flow hood clean bench is used for biotechnology and cell culture, mushroom cultivation, mycology research, plant tissue culture, sterile drug preparation, drug development test, beverage fermentation strain culture

1.What is a Laminar Flow Hood Clean Bench?
Laminar Flow Hood Clean Bench is an efficient and reliable air purification equipment, mainly used to create a local highly clean operating environment. By delivering one-way clean airflow to the operating area, the operating area is effectively isolated from the invasion of external pollutants (such as particles and bacteria), ensuring the operating area is in a dust-free and sterile environment, reaching class 100 cleanliness standards (ISO Class 5). It is widely used in the industries that require a clean environment to ensure a production environment such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, etc. AIRKEY mobile LAF can create a class A area in a class B or class C clean environment, which is more flexible, faster and reduces costs than directly building a class A cleanroom.

Working principle:The Laminar Flow Hood Clean Bench mainly inhales external air through the fan. The external air first passes through the primary filter to remove larger particles and dust. The pre-filtered air enters the high-efficiency filter (HEPA) or ultra-high-efficiency filter (ULPA) to remove more than 99.99% of particles (≥0.3μm particles) and biological pollutants. After ensuring that the air meets the cleanliness requirements, it is subjected to pressure equalization treatment by the damping layer to form a unidirectional laminar airflow (vertical or horizontal direction) at a constant wind speed (usually 0.3-0.5 m/s), evenly covering the working area and continuously removing pollutants generated in the working area, so that the working area is always maintained in an ISO 5 clean environment to meet the needs of the process.

The main differences between Laminar Flow Hood Clean Bench and Biological Safety Cabinet:

2.Five major product advantages of AIRKEY’s Clean Bench
AIRKEY focuses on the treatment and solutions of air micro-pollution in various industries. Its LAF provides a dust-free and sterile production environment for different industries such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, biomedicine and laboratories. The product has the following main features and advantages:
▶ High-efficiency filtration: AIRKEY's clean bench is equipped with ultra-thin partition-free HEPA/ULPA filters. The conventional HEPA filter has a filtration level of H14 and an efficiency of ≥99.995%@0.3μm. The filter adopts gel-sealing with high sealing performance and good safety. It can also be configured with ultra-high efficiency (ULPA) filters according to customer needs. The filtration level can reach U15-U17, which can provide ultra-clean airflow for the work area to meet the cleanliness requirements of the process.
▶ Stable airflow: A high molecular airflow damping and equalizing membrane is configured under the HEPA filter of the LAF, which has the advantages of high light transmittance, high air permeability, small wind resistance, waterproof, easy to clean, acid and alkali resistance, etc. It is easy to clean, beautiful and can ensure that the clean airflow in the laminar flow hood is uniform and stable, ensuring that the samples and the operating area are safe and pollution-free.
▶ Stable structure: AIRKEY's clean bench adopts high-strength stainless steel SUS304/316 box frame and work surface, which is beautiful and not easy to rust, strong corrosion resistance, good high temperature resistance, good strength and wear resistance, easy to clean, meets environmental protection standards, and can be used for contact with food or medicine. At the same time, the work surface of laminar flow hood cabinet can be separated to reduce the impact of the main cabinet vibration on the work surface, which is more suitable for precision instrument operation or processes with vibration requirements.
▶ Comfortable experience: AIRKAY's clean bench adopts low-noise backward centrifugal fan, with large air volume, low noise, and energy-saving operation, the height of the workbench is ergonomically designed, and the lighting adopts non-stroboscopic eye-protection LED clean light strip, which can eliminate the stroboscopic phenomenon invisible to the naked eye, reduce visual fatigue, and greatly improve the human comfort and work efficiency of operators.
▶ Flexible customization: AIRKEY's clean bench adopts modular design, and the size can be flexibly customized according to customer process requirements, adapted to relevant standards of various industries (such as GMP, FDA), and can be equipped with UV lamps, differential pressure gauges, remote control modules, etc. to achieve corresponding customized functions and meet different customer needs.

AIRKEY's clean bench are mainly divided into horizontal flow and vertical flow.

The main features are as follows:
Horizontal Flow Clean Bench
1)Horizontal unidirectional flow, open countertop
2)Ultra-thin non-partition high-efficiency filter is used to minimize the size of the plenum chamber, and then equipped with a stainless steel countertop and organic glass side baffles, making the entire work area spacious and bright
3)The work surface can be separated from the main cabinet to reduce the impact of the main cabinet vibration on the work surface
4)The use of advanced variable air supply system and touch switch makes the air volume adjustable in a wider range and more convenient
Vertical flow clean bench:
1)Vertical unidirectional flow, open countertop
2)Ultra-thin non-partition high-efficiency filter is used to minimize the size of the plenum chamber, and then equipped with a stainless steel countertop and organic glass side baffles, making the entire work area spacious and bright
3)The work surface can be separated from the main cabinet to reduce the impact of the main cabinet vibration on the work surface
4)The use of advanced variable air supply system and touch switch makes the air volume adjustable in a wider range and more convenient
The difference between horizontal and vertical flow clean benches are as follows:

  In summary, both horizontal flow and vertical flow clean benches can reach Class 100 cleanliness standards. The difference in airflow patterns does not affect the purification capacity. If the operating area contains harmful substances, choose vertical flow (protection is irreplaceable). If the operating area contains tall equipment (microscopes, etc.) or large materials frequently enter and exit, an open horizontal flow workbench is more suitable.

3.Detailed Explanation of Application Scenarios in Six Industries
▶Biotechnology and cell culture:
Application scenarios: cell passage, inoculation and culture, culture medium and reagent preparation, biological product packaging, etc.
Demand characteristics: extremely strict requirements for sterility, microbial (bacteria, fungi) contamination in the environment affects cell activity and experimental results, and gene manipulation processes such as plasmid transfection and viral vector infection require a sterile environment to prevent exogenous DNA contamination from interfering with experimental results. At the same time, the filtration, sterilization and packaging of liquids such as cell culture fluid, buffer, and digestive enzymes must be performed in a clean bench to ensure that there is no pyrogen and microbial contamination. The packaging process of biological preparations such as vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and recombinant proteins must meet ISO Class 5 cleanliness standards (Class 100), and the unpacking and pretreatment of consumables such as culture dishes must be completed in a clean bench to avoid air pollution when the package is opened.
AIRKEY advantages: Due to the strict requirements for sterility in the field of biotechnology and cell culture, and the possible biological hazards involved in the operation area, the airflow pattern of the workbench is more suitable for vertical flow. AIRKEY's laminar flow hood vertical flow clean workbench can provide better personnel protection, and the vertical downward clean airflow can effectively protect the cell operation area. At the same time, AIRKEY's vertical flow clean workbench can be equipped with UV sterilization lamps to provide a safe and sterile environment for the workbench operation area. Data shows that the cell culture contamination rate using AIRKEY clean work bench can be reduced to below 0.8% (traditional environment is about 12%).

▶Mushroom cultivation & mycology research
Application scenarios: strain separation, tissue transfer, liquid propagation, sterile culture medium and material processing
Requirement characteristics: Mycelium separation, spore collection and mother strain transfer need to be operated in a clean bench to avoid contamination by foreign bacteria (such as Trichoderma and Penicillium) that may cause strain degradation or failure. When the mother strain is inoculated into substrates such as sawdust and cottonseed hulls, the invasion of mold spores (such as Neurospora) and bacteria in the environment should be avoided, consumables such as culture dishes, inoculation needles, and glass bottles should be unpacked and sterilized and temporarily stored in a clean bench to prevent the attachment of floating bacteria in the air. In the separation and identification of contaminated samples, the separation and purification of molds (such as Trichoderma and Aspergillus) in contaminated bags requires a clean environment to avoid cross-contamination that interferes with the identification results.
AIRKEY advantages: AIRKEY's clean bench surface is made of stainless steel, which is easy to clean and corrosion-resistant, and there is no mold residue after long-term operation. AIRKEY's clean bench is equipped with H14 high efficiency filter (efficiency 99.99%@0.3μm) and U15 (99.999%@0.12μm) or higher ultra-high efficiency filter, which can effectively filter mycoplasma and bacteria in the air, and can effectively achieve a sterile environment with UV sterilization lamp. Using AIRKEY's clean bench can reduce the inoculation contamination rate to less than 1% (the contamination rate in the open environment exceeds 15%). Regularly clean the table and filter housing, regularly check the wind speed, and turn on the ultraviolet lamp for 30 minutes before operation to sterilize, so that AIRKEY's clean bench can achieve better sterility and dust-free effect.

▶Plant micropropagation (tissue culture)
Application scenarios: explant inoculation, subculture and transfer, bottle seedling transfer
Requirement characteristics: The operation of implanting explants into culture medium must be completed in a clean bench to avoid mold spores (such as Penicillium) or bacterial contamination in the air, operations such as callus division, cluster bud division, and transfer of test tube seedlings to new culture medium must be completed quickly in a clean bench to prevent the invasion of miscellaneous bacteria in an open environment and cause culture contamination.
AIRKEY advantages: In addition to high-efficiency and ultra-high-efficiency filters, AIRKEY's clean workbench is equipped with high-efficiency and energy-saving backward-inclined centrifugal fans and polymer airflow damping equalizing membranes to ensure uniform and stable clean airflow in the laminar flow hood. It is equipped with UV sterilization lamps to effectively avoid mold spores or bacterial contamination, provide a sterile environment for operations such as test tube seedling transfer, and improve the survival rate of bottle seedlings.

▶Preparation of sterile drugs
Application scenarios: filling and transfer of eye drops, injections and other drugs, dissolution and dilution of sterile powders (such as antibiotics, freeze-dried powder injections)
Demand characteristics: the filling and filling of sterile preparations must be performed in a clean bench to ensure the sterility and pyrogen-free state of the drug solution, the dissolution and dilution of sterile powders must avoid particulate and microbial contamination in the environment, and the clean product equipment used for the preparation of sterile drugs must comply with GMP specifications.
AIRKEY advantages: AIRKEY's clean bench design meets the cleanliness standards of the pharmaceutical industry (cleanliness, airflow organization, wind speed, pressure difference, etc.). At the same time, AIRKEY provides an integrated pharmaceutical industry solution that can assist customers in completing the 4Q verification required by GMP and help customers quickly pass relevant certifications.

▶Drug R&D experiment
Application scenarios: drug analysis, microbial testing preparation, formulation experiment
Requirement characteristics: Sample processing for drug microbial limit inspection, sterility test and environmental microbial monitoring must be performed in a clean bench to avoid false positive results, preparation raw materials must be prevented from microbial contamination.
AIRKEY advantages: AIRKEY's clean bench has low-noise, high-efficiency, energy-saving backward-inclined centrifugal fans and polymer airflow damping equalizing membranes, which can ensure uniform and stable clean airflow in the laminar flow hood. At the same time, the ergonomic design of the workbench, combined with the non-stroboscopic eye-protection LED clean light strip, can eliminate the stroboscopic phenomenon that is invisible to the naked eye, reduce visual fatigue, and greatly improve the human comfort and work efficiency of operators during long-term experimental operations.

▶Beverage fermentation strain culture
Application scenarios: expansion and intergenerational transmission of basic strains such as yeast and lactic acid bacteria
Demand characteristics: Lactic acid bacteria, yeast, etc. need to be inoculated into liquid/solid culture media in a clean workbench to avoid environmental bacteria contamination that may cause strain degradation or mutation, liquid strain expansion operations need to prevent mold (such as Penicillium, Trichoderma) or bacterial contamination, the splitting and transfer operations of continuous strain propagation (such as mother strain→production strain) need to be completed quickly in a clean bench to avoid strain degradation or cross contamination caused by an open environment.
AIRKEY advantages: The stainless steel SUS304/316 material used in the clean bench box and work surface of AIRKEY meets environmental protection standards and can be used for contact with food or medicines, supporting food QS clean environment requirements. At the same time, the ISO 5 dust-free and sterile environment provided by AIRKEY's clean bench can effectively avoid cross contamination and improve fermentation stability.

4.Why do Customers From All Industries Choose AIRKEY?
AIRKEY's clean workbench is recognized and welcomed by more and more customers from all industries in the market, mainly because of the following reasons:
1. AIRKEY has always focused on the research and development and promotion of various purification equipment. It has a strong R&D team and professional equipment manufacturing production line, rich experience, strict quality requirements, and stable and reliable product quality.
2. AIRKEY's clean workbench products are assembled with modular design. Product assembly and parameter debugging are completed in the factory. After meeting the requirements, they are sent to the customer site. Assembly and delivery can be completed quickly at the customer site, with a short cycle and no impact on the customer's on-site process.
3. AIRKEY supports various non-standard customized businesses for customers in various industries, and produces purification products of various sizes and with various functions according to customer requirements, with high customer responsiveness.
4. AIRKEY has a highly professional installation and after-sales service team, which can provide engineers with remote guidance + on-site installation and debugging services for domestic and overseas projects to solve customers' worries.
5. AIRKEY has purification equipment and engineering systems for the entire clean industry, and can provide a complete set of clean room systems (enclosure structure + air shower room/transfer window/workbench and other clean equipment + HVAC equipment), providing integrated purification industry solutions.

5.Customer feedback and project cases
The laminar flow hood vertical flow workbench provided by AIRKEY for a biotechnology industry (cell experiment process):
Customer requirements: The workbench operation area meets ISO 5 cleanliness and sterility requirements (meeting the safety of the test samples and the colony count requirements of cross infection), noise <65dB (A), work surface wind speed ≥0.5m/s, illumination ≥650Lx, net amplitude of the geometric center of the operating table ≤5μm, the work table is equipped with more equipment and robotic arms, the work table is resistant to deformation (rated load capacity without permanent deformation), voltage, current, resistance, etc. meet the corresponding electrical requirements, etc.
Case implementation: The customer has strict requirements, high standards, and precise control of various parameters. AIRKEY customizes non-standard sizes according to the customer's actual requirements and the various equipment that needs to be installed on the customer's countertop. The work surface reserves the installation holes for various equipment required by the customer. The box frame and work surface are made of high-strength SUS316 stainless steel. The work surface and the equipment box are designed in a separate modular manner because the customer has extremely high requirements for the vibration of the work surface (the separate design can effectively avoid the impact of the box vibration on the work surface). At the same time, the workbench uses a low-noise and high-efficiency backward-inclined centrifugal fan, a liquid-tank sealed pleated H14 HEPA filter, and is equipped with UV lamps, differential pressure gauges, polymer airflow damping equalizing membranes, and non-stroboscopic eye-protection LED clean light strips. The airflow organization and return air channels are reasonably optimized and designed. Finally, all parameters fully meet customer needs and are successfully delivered to customers for use, greatly improving the accuracy and success rate of customer cell experiments.

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