Glove Box Isolators

Glove Box Isolators

-The difference between Glove boxes and an Isolators

A glove box (or glovebox), is a sealed container. It allows for the handling of objects where a separate environment is desired. Special gloves are built into the glove box and placed.  So that the user can insert his or her hands into the gloves.

They perform tasks inside the box without breaking containment. For the most part, glove boxes have transparent parts (like clear acrylic). So the transparent parts allow the user to see what is being handled. They are simple structures with minimal filtration. And they only manual handling of the objects.

Similar to glove boxes, glove box isolators allow for easy manipulation.  And they also allow for view of work in progress of a sealed, separate environment. And this explains why the two terms are often confused with each other. But this is where the similarity ends and the difference begins. Several types of glove box isolators exist.

Shielded Glove Box Isolators

These isolators allow a person to work with hazardous or toxic substances, such as radioactive materials. People can use glove box isolators  in nuclear medicine departments in hospitals and laboratories.

Sterile Glove Box Isolators

People can also use these isolators for the manipulation of toxic substances, pharmaceuticals or infectious disease agents. And the hospitals and laboratories also use sterile Glove Box Isolators for fractioning purposes.

Inert Atmosphere Glove Box Isolators

This type of isolator allows for the manipulation of substances. They must contain within a high purity inert atmosphere, such as argon or nitrogen. Many of today’s research disciplines are air sensitive. They  require this kind of isolator rather than a simple glove box . So they provide a maintainable inert atmosphere.

Isolators do much more than simple glove boxes.
Unlike simple glove boxes, glove box isolators are usually built with stainless steel. And they are welded using the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) method

And in certain cases the transparent clear acrylic parts are substituted with tempered glass or other materials. They provide a greater degree of operator safety. And they can have comfortable access ports, environmental controls with precise oxygen and nitrogen mixtures, moisture control, and isolated environmental filtration .

Many of the components researchers can outfit with glove box isolators. And they require to perform their work successfully. They include cold storage freezers, reaction cold wells, O2 and H2O Monitoring, balances. And they also contain PLC control units, safe filter replacing methods such as bag-in/bag-out, vacuum pumps and much more.

Isolator glove boxes also use other terms commonly.
Isolation glove box, containment chambers, cleanroom and glove box isolators, glove box isolation.