Labconco's Airflow Test Lab
“If a hood can be successfully tested at 40-50 fpm and meet or exceed high performance hood specifications requiring 60 fpm, then we know we have a winner.” That’s a direct quote from one of our engineers here at Labconco. This shared mentality drives our relentless pursuit of the most rigorous product testing in the market. Our goal? Not just to test products to the industry standards but to push them as far as they can physically be pushed, and then, to prove it.
Labconco’s airflow test lab was built with two things in mind: technology and versatility. Technology came first with the ability to control every element of the room including temperature, air quality, humidity, differential pressure between adjacent spaces, supply air volume and location, all from a computer, as well as exhaust air volumes up to 5600 CFM. Second, we knew we needed the versatility to test large fume hoods and equipment, from 2’-16’ ducted benchtop and floor-mounted fume hoods. With the greatest technology and versatility in mind, we’re able to push our product development to the limit.
Our airflow lab is used to test high-performance fume hoods, small enclosures, balance enclosures, glove boxes, ventilation stations, and bulk powder equipment for product development as well as third-party certification testing. Our engineering teams use the room to create, enhance, and precisely test the aerodynamic features to gain High Performance at the lowest operating cost measured in CFM and incoming face velocity. Take our high-performance fume hood’s design for example, they tried over 50 air foils, 2 dozen sash handles, and 50+ baffle combinations before finalizing the design. This attention to detail in product design allowed Labconco to design hoods per National Institute of Health protocol to an ASHRAE 110 as manufactured high performance containment rating of as low as 6.0AM-0.000 ppm tracer gas detected outside the hood, with a lowest detectable limit of 0.001 ppm. Another thing we do differently? Test our products with tracer gas at additional probe locations at the chest to validate our designs throughout the human body. We test our products this way to be certain we have unrivaled containment at the lowest possible energy use.
At Labconco our philosophy on containment is to prove it. That means, we aren’t afraid to take you inside our airflow test lab to see it for yourself. We call it the witness test. Come in and ask questions about face velocity, request adverse conditions, and set your own specific tracer gas release rate, and test conditions. Those that have seen it themselves? Below is just a few of the companies and organizations that we’ve brought into our airflow test lab.
- AbbVie Inc.
- AlliedSignal
- ArchLab Group
- Battelle Memorial Institute
- Black & Veatch
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Children’s Mercy Hospital
- Controlled Environment Testing Associate (CETA) International
- CRB Builders LLC
- Creighton University
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Emporia State University
- EPA - Kansas City
- EPA - Washington D.C.
- Estime’ Group
- Eurofins Scientific
- FMC Corporation
- George Butler Associates Inc.
- Graceland University
- Jacobs
- Kansas Bureau of Investigation
- Kansas Department of Transportation
- Kansas State University
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
- Missouri Highway Patrol
- MRI Global (Midwest Research)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Petronas Global
- Pfizer
- Purdue University
- Research Facilities Design
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research
- United States Geological Survey (USGS)
- University of Arkansas
- University of Kansas, Lawrence
- University of Kansas, Medical Center
- University of Maryland
- University of Missouri
- University of Missouri-Kansas City
- University of Wisconsin
- Xavier University
