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    Class II Type A1 and Class II Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets

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    Fahlafi Riza
    Class II Type A biosafety cabinets are the most common type, accounting for about 90% of cabinets worldwide. Type A cabinets are divided into Type A1 and A2, which have identical airflow patterns but a key difference - the contaminated plenum on the A1 is next to ambient air while the A2's contaminated plenum is surrounded by negative pressure. This makes the A1 design dangerous if leaks occur, as contaminants could be pushed outside, whereas the A2 design pulls contaminants back inside if there are leaks. Due to these safety issues, the 2008 NSF/ANSI standard deleted Type A1 cabinets and required all contaminated areas to be under negative pressure.

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    Class II Type A1 and Class II Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets

    Uploaded by

    Fahlafi Riza
    49 views1 page
    Class II Type A biosafety cabinets are the most common type, accounting for about 90% of cabinets worldwide. Type A cabinets are divided into Type A1 and A2, which have identical airflow patterns but a key difference - the contaminated plenum on the A1 is next to ambient air while the A2's contaminated plenum is surrounded by negative pressure. This makes the A1 design dangerous if leaks occur, as contaminants could be pushed outside, whereas the A2 design pulls contaminants back inside if there are leaks. Due to these safety issues, the 2008 NSF/ANSI standard deleted Type A1 cabinets and required all contaminated areas to be under negative pressure.

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    Tecnikal

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    Technical Paper A1A2BSC

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    Class II Type A biosafety cabinets are the most common type, accounting for about 90% of cabinets worldwide. Type A cabinets are divided into Type A1 and A2, which have identical airflow patterns but a key difference - the contaminated plenum on the A1 is next to ambient air while the A2's contaminated plenum is surrounded by negative pressure. This makes the A1 design dangerous if leaks occur, as contaminants could be pushed outside, whereas the A2 design pulls contaminants back inside if there are leaks. Due to these safety issues, the 2008 NSF/ANSI standard deleted Type A1 cabinets and required all contaminated areas to be under negative pressure.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    49 views1 page

    Class II Type A1 and Class II Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets

    Uploaded by

    Fahlafi Riza
    Class II Type A biosafety cabinets are the most common type, accounting for about 90% of cabinets worldwide. Type A cabinets are divided into Type A1 and A2, which have identical airflow patterns but a key difference - the contaminated plenum on the A1 is next to ambient air while the A2's contaminated plenum is surrounded by negative pressure. This makes the A1 design dangerous if leaks occur, as contaminants could be pushed outside, whereas the A2 design pulls contaminants back inside if there are leaks. Due to these safety issues, the 2008 NSF/ANSI standard deleted Type A1 cabinets and required all contaminated areas to be under negative pressure.

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    Class II Type A1 and Class II Type A2 Biosafety Cabinets

    Alexander Atmadi | Esco Micro Pte. Ltd.


    Class II Type A cabinets are the most common biosafety cabinets, which accounts for about 90% of all biosafety
    cabinets in the world. According to the 2002 version of NSF/ANSI 49 standard for biosafety cabinets, Class II
    Type A cabinets are divided into two variants: Type A1 and Type A2, with the airflow pattern as below:

    Legend

    Class II Type A1 Class II Type A2

    Despite the airflow pattern is identical, the important differentiating factor is that on the A1 cabinet, the
    contaminated plenum is bordering ambient air, where on the A2 cabinet, it is surrounded by negative pressure,
    as illustrated below:
    The red color indicates the contaminated
    plenum under positive pressure, which is the
    most dangerous part of the cabinet. The
    blue color indicates the negative pressure
    area created by the blower.

    On the A1 cabinet, if there is a leak on the


    “red” plenum, HEPA filter gasket, or front
    cover, then the contaminants will be pushed
    outside to the room by the positive pressure,
    so this is a dangerous design.

    On the A2 cabinet, the “red” plenum is


    surrounded by the “blue” plenum. If there is
    a leak, the contaminants will be pulled back
    by the negative pressure, back inside the
    Class II Type A1 Class II Type A2 plenum, so this is a safe design.

    The serious danger of the A1 cabinet design is well-recognized by NSF, so in their 2008 version of the
    NSF/ANSI 49 standard, type A1 is deleted from the standard. For the 2008 standard, NSF make it mandatory
    that all biologically contaminated plenums must be under negative pressure or surrounded by negative pressure
    ducts and plenums. Positive pressure exterior plenums (i.e. not surrounded by negative plenum) are no longer
    allowed on any Class II biosafety cabinet, and no longer recognized as a biosafety cabinet.

    References
    NSF International. (2002). Standard No.49 for Class II (Laminar Flow) Biohazard Cabinetry. Ann Arbor, MI, USA
    NSF International. (2008). Standard No.49 for Class II (Laminar Flow) Biohazard Cabinetry. Ann Arbor, MI, USA
    CETA International. (2009). NSF/ANSI Std 49:2008 (Powerpoint Slides). Raleigh, NC, USA.

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