Front Loading Pass-Through Autoclaves

Every laboratory is unique in what processes and procedures take place – some requiring a more sterile working environment than others, there may even be air locks for staff to pass through, extracting, cleansing and renewing the air, a system in operation where high risk conditions are the norm. In a similar manner, some laboratories need to have a secure, clean exit path for its waste media so that it can be safely discarded.

To satisfy this requirement specialist laboratory autoclave manufacturer Priorclave produces Pass-Through laboratory or research grade autoclaves to satisfy sterilising requirements with a sterile path in and out of sealed laboratories.  The build will also create a unique bulk head arrangement enabling the autoclave to be built into a dividing wall separating the lab from the outside world.

Priorclave currently offers a wide choice of designs including cylindrical and rectangular chambers up to 700 litre capacity.

All sterilising processes are controlled by the latest Tactrol^® microprocessor system which provides simple yet variable settings of process time and temperature, all supported by graphic indication of cycle status. Just set the temperature and time required, select any options needed and press start, operation is fully automatic once the cycle has started.  The tough, clear control panel displays continuously process status.

Depending on application Priorclave will configure layout of the Tactrol^® controller to suit lab requirements.  A typical set-up could be that only one side of the double door steriliser has access to the full control system, the other side of the autoclave equipped with just a screen to show process status so that staff are aware when a job is complete and it is safe to remove the media or waste.

The overall design and build of these Pass-Through autoclaves takes place in its UK manufacturing centre where Priorclave introduces a bulkhead mount at a correct position to facilitate a strong structural fix into a dividing wall between the sterile lab and non-sterile areas.  Once installed the Double-Door, Pass-Through Priorclave is the perfect partner working as an interface between sterile and non-sterile areas.

Typically, if your requirement is for a clean room application the autoclave is used for the sterilisation of equipment entering a clean or aseptic area such as a pharmaceutical production environment.  In a containment application the autoclave is used for the de-contamination of material prior to its release from the containment suite which would typically be a laboratory handling high-risk hazardous material.

In both cases isolation of both ends of the autoclave is required.  Safety interlocks ensure that the integrity of the clean room or containment area is not compromised by both doors being opened at the same time.  Generally, these autoclaves are set up for loads to pass through in one direction but the versatility of the Priorclave’s dedicate design and build enable them to create an autoclave where the direction of flow can be securely reversed or even so that the autoclave can be used like a conventional autoclave from one door only.

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