Laboratories Industries
Laborotories majority of cases, the specified conditions are suitable not only for the materials being tested, but also for the comfort and efficiency of the laboratory personnel. Although the majority of the specified conditions may vary slightly from a standard laboratory condition of 23 C (73.4 F) and 50 per cent relative humidity, the same type of air conditioning equipment with slight variations would be applicable to all. There are, however, several types of laboratories with varying fundamental air conditioning requirements.
These may be divided as follows :
- The control laboratory
- The research laboratory
- The development laboratory
Each of these has special problems from an air conditioning standpoint. Production control laboratories are standardized throughout. Day after day, the same procedures must be carried out on the same material in the same way. Everything possible is standardized. The same number of lights, the same number of personnel, the same heat-producing equipment, and in some cases the same number of exhaust hoods removing the same volume of conditioned air from the laboratory, are all constant. This is ideal from the standpoint of air conditioning, as the function of an air conditioning system is to absorb heat from all sources, maintain constant temperature, and humidity conditions, and supply ample ventilation to protect the health of the laboratory technicians. The more nearly constant the heat sources are, the simpler will be the control of temperature and humidity.