Glove Box

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A glove box (or glove box) is a sealed container that is designed to allow one to manipulate objects where a separate atmosphere is desired. Built into the sides of the glove box are gloves arranged in such a way that the user can place their hands into the gloves and perform tasks inside the box without breaking containment. Part or the entire box is usually transparent to allow the user to see what is being manipulated. Two types of glove boxes exist. The first allows a person to work with hazardous substances, such as radioactive materials or infectious disease agents, and the second allows manipulation of substances that must be contained within a very high purity inert atmosphere, such as argon or nitrogen. It is also possible to use a glove box for manipulation of items in a vacuum chamber.

Inert Atmosphere Work

The gas in a glove box is pumped through a series of treatment devices which remove solvents, water and oxygen from the gas. Heated copper metal (or some other finely divided metal) is commonly used to remove oxygen, this oxygen removing column is normally regenerated by passing a hydrogen/nitrogen mixture through it while it is heated: the water formed is passed out of the box with the excess hydrogen and nitrogen. It is common to use molecular sieves to remove water by absorbing it in the molecular sieves’ pores. Such a box is often used by organometallic chemists to transfer dry solids from one container to another container.

Hazardous Material Work

Some glove boxes for radioactive work are under inert conditions, for instance, one nitrogen-filled box contains an argon-filled box. The argon box is fitted with a gas treatment system to keep the gas very pure to enable electrochemical experiments in molten salts.

Glove boxes are also used in the biological sciences when dealing with anaerobes or high-biosafety level pathogens.

Glove boxes used for hazardous materials are generally maintained at a lower pressure than the surrounding atmosphere, so that microscopic leaks result in air intake rather than hazard outflow. Glove boxes used for hazardous materials generally incorporate HEPA filters into the exhaust, to keep the hazard contained.

Negative Pressure Glove Box

This is a glove box with a pressure of gas lower than the outside atmosphere, usually to protect the operator from contamination of some kind. Negative pressure glove box gloves are sunk inward rather than being pushed out, like those of a positive pressure glove box.

Welding Glove Box

This glove box is designed to protect welding processes, using a gas management system. The glove box provides a controlled inert atmosphere for TIG (tungsten inert gas) and resistance welding for industries like electronic packaging, lamp manufacturing, and solar cell production.

Applications of Glove Box

As discussed above that the glove box provides a safe environment for doing work, moreover we can change other parameters like vacuum, temperature, moisture level etc. depending on our application. As it is possible to modify the parameters, glove is being used widely in lab for the material synthesis and many other applications. Following are the main applications of Glove Box.

Additive Manufacturing/ 3D Printing- Additive manufacturers know that inerting the 3D printing process using argon gas and other methods will result in structurally superior parts. The presence of argon gas is a consistent condition that needs management and monitoring to protect the additive manufacturing process.

Organic Light Emitting Diode- Curved screens, increased colour options, and dazzling wall and lighting configurations are just some of the advancements in consumer tech made by organic light emitting diodes. Our customers in the OLED and PLED (polymer-organic light emitting diode) industry use Nitrogen Management Systems and Glove box Enclosures to protect the thin film deposition process and ensure the highest quality result.

Atomic Layer Deposition- Inert designs integrated Glovebox Systems to allow for research & development using ALD technology. Inert partners with many leading manufacturers of ALD development and production equipment to assure that the end product are of the highest quality and performs to our customers’ high standards.

Chemical Synthesis- The synthesis and characterization of air and moisture-sensitive materials is of vital importance in the research and development of new materials for a wide variety of applications. The ability to handle raw materials, perform reactions, work up reaction mixtures and prepare samples for analysis within a continuous oxygen and moisture-free environment greatly increases user throughput.

Laser Welding- Glove boxes provide a controlled inert atmosphere for manufacturing and assembly processes, which is very vital requirement for purity of welding and for stringiness. Lithium Ion Battery Development- High efficiency batteries are a vital component in modern electronic devices. Lithium-ion batteries in particular require moisture-free environments for manufacturing and testing. Inert atmosphere Glove box Systems provide a highly controllable
moisture-free environment.

Organic Photovoltaic- Alternative Energy production is of enormous interest and importance. Organic Photovoltaic devices offer the potential to combine low cost plastic substrates with the flexibility of small organic molecules.

Chemicals and Materials- The weighing, handling and packaging of air and moisture-sensitive chemicals and materials is of vital importance in the processing and manufacturing of new materials for a wide variety of applications. The ability to handle raw materials, perform reactions, work up reaction mixtures and prepare samples for analysis within a continuous oxygen and moisture-free environment greatly increases user throughput.

Semiconductor and Microelectronics- In microelectronics and semiconductor device structures and testing without contamination or exposure to atmospheric conditions is very much required and glove box provides solution for this.

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