| A laboratory oven is, as the name suggests, an | | | | piece of equipment based on their heating or |
| oven used not for preparing foodstuffs, but for a | | | | drying needs. |
| variety of applications in the laboratory or | | | | Other than the smaller benchtop and cabinet |
| industrial research and development environment | | | | ovens which are perhaps the most commonly |
| where the thermal convection provided by these | | | | seen varieties of laboratory oven, there are other |
| ovens are necessary. These applications include | | | | configurations available including continuous ovens |
| sterilizing, drying, annealing, baking polyimides and | | | | for batch heating or drying and tube ovens which |
| many others. A lab oven may vary greatly in size | | | | use indirect heating; a refractory container |
| as well as maximum temperatures, from | | | | containing the material to be heated is warmed |
| benchtop models with capacities of a single cubic | | | | from the outside with these ovens. |
| foot (the equivalent of just over 28 liters of liquid | | | | Vertical ovens (with the name referring to the |
| volume) to 32 cubic feet and above and | | | | shape of the oven rather than the air flow) are a |
| temperatures as high as 340 Celsius/650 | | | | space-saving option for laboratories where space |
| Fahrenheit. | | | | is at a premium. For especially high volume |
| Some of the many common styles of laboratory | | | | environments or for applications where extremely |
| oven include horizontal airflow, forced or natural | | | | large samples or materials need to be heated or |
| convection and pass-through ovens. In the medical | | | | dried, there are even walk-in (and truck-in) styles |
| sector, ovens are especially common as a | | | | of lab oven. |
| method of drying and sterilizing laboratory | | | | A laboratory oven may be controlled through a |
| glassware; though there are quite a few other | | | | set point system or as is now increasingly |
| purposes for which a lab oven is used in both | | | | common, feature programmable controls. |
| medical and research laboratory settings. | | | | Programmable controls allow the operator a much |
| Due to the relatively low temperatures at which | | | | greater degree of flexibility, since a temperature |
| they operate (at least compared to kilns, | | | | may be set along with a specific length of time; |
| incinerators and other industrial ovens), most | | | | generally, these controls support multiple |
| ovens in use in the laboratory do not feature | | | | programs for one-touch operation once routines |
| refractory insulation. However, this insulation is | | | | have been programmed. |
| included in some higher temperature models of | | | | Many different types of accessories and optional |
| laboratory oven in order to provide the user with | | | | components are available either as integrated |
| a safer operating environment. | | | | features or as adjuncts for these ovens, including |
| The type of heat produced by lab ovens is | | | | alarms, cooling systems, air purification systems |
| something which can affect their pattern of | | | | and logging and reporting features. There are also |
| usage. Common heat sources and/or thermal | | | | a wide variety of different types of shelving and |
| transfer include induction, propane, electric, | | | | sample holders on the market for use with |
| dielectric, microwave, oil, natural gas or radio | | | | virtually any laboratory oven as well as other |
| frequency. Each type of lab oven is better suited | | | | optional accessories which are designed to |
| to a specific set of applications, with laboratories, | | | | streamline the workflow of specific heating or |
| clinics and other facilities choosing this important | | | | drying applications in the laboratory. |