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Ductless Fume Hood

Ductless fume hoods are stand-alone air filtration cabinets that use activated carbon filters and/or HEPA/ULPA filters to capture harmful vapors and particulates generated on the work surface. Depending on design, ductless fume hoods can protect the process, the operator, and/or the environment. Ductless fume hoods are used in a variety of industries, such as scientific research, pharmaceutical production, manufacturing, forensics, histology, microscopy, and education.

Description

A ductless fume hood is a type of containment enclosure that surrounds a process or article on five sides. An internal fan draws air into the enclosure and through a filtration system, capturing harmful vapors and particulates created on the work surface in the filter and exhausting clean air into the surrounding room.

The main function of a ductless fume hood is to filter contaminated air, however secondary functions such as explosion protection and spill containment are possible under certain circumstances.

Ductless fume hoods come in a wide variety of sizes and configurations, but generally look the same as ducted fume hoods save for one major factor: no ductwork. Ductless fume hoods are complete standalone units and often are designed to fit on desktops or set on mobile carts that can be installed in nearly any location in a laboratory. Filtered air is returned to the room, so no extra demands are required of facility HVAC capacity for make-up air. Essentially, a ductless fume hood can be placed in any laboratory space without consideration of additional ductwork or moving major utilities.

Ductless fume hoods are good options for processes that have relatively controlled release of chemical vapors or particulates. Processes that release a large amount of fumes or particulates are best suited for a ducted fume hood, as the filters of the ductless fume hoods can become saturated and lose their effectiveness.

See Also

Ducted Fume Hoods

Filtration

Laminar Flow Cabinet

Vented Balance Safety Enclosure

External Links

Filtco Filters – Carbon, ULPA, and HEPA filters for ductless and ducted fume hoods.

Air Science – Manufacturer of ductless fume hoods and other ductless filtration products.

Ductless.com – Informative website focused on ductless filtration technology.