Washing - Drying - Disinfection
In Turkey, the awareness for protection against occupational diseases or damages have not yet reached the desired level, and this can also be observed in this sector. One of the most important reasons of this problem is that washing, drying and disinfection processes are not fully known and their benefits are not taught.
Another problem is the higher cost of these processes compared to other cleaning systems, which results in these processes not being preferred.
Lab Materials
Lab materials can be classified as plastic, glass and metal. These materials have different washing processes. The washing process for labs without washing machines is as follows:
Containers used in all chemical analyzes must be clean. Even if containers are barely dirty, the results of analysis will be incorrect. For this purpose, all kinds of glass materials should be thoroughly washed, rinsed and dried before starting the analysis.
The dirtiness of the containers may not be noticeable. Therefore, this should be checked by putting pure water in containers.
If pure water drops remain on the walls of the container, the container is clean; if the water flows in a form of thin film, the container is dirty. The containers can be cleaned with water, soap, detergent, strong bases, strong acids, king water, alkaline solutions of permanganate or chromic acid solutions.
During the cleaning process, it is important not to scratch the walls of container and to ensure no cleaning agents remain in the container. If necessary, dirty container is first washed with tap water using a brush. It is then cleaned with one of the cleaners.
Finally, it is rinsed with fist tap water and then pure water. The physical and chemical properties of contamination in laboratory equipment is very important in terms of the flow of cleaning processes and the choice of cleaning agent.
The physical and chemical properties of the contamination include, for example, acidity, solubility in water in natural or alkaline conditions, chemical transformation from hydrolysis or oxidation, melting or softening point, emulsion possibility, suspension or spreading.
In certain applications, disinfection of laboratory tools is essential. Disinfection prevents the probes and slides in medical laboratories, hygiene institutes, pharmaceutical laboratories, food and cosmetic industry laboratories from carrying germs, while ensuring the protection of personnel in laboratories with contagious infections.
In the application of these processes, along with problems caused by individuals, there are also problems caused by inadequate water, disinfectant or cleaning agent. In addition, different conditions such as narrow neck, length, etc. of the washed glass material also affect the efficiency of cleaning.
Laboratory personnel are exposed to a serious risk of danger in every contact with laboratory glassware. Broken glass can cause injury, and contamination of toxic substances can pose a health risk. The cleaning agents used are also corrosive and damaging due to being strong acids and bases.
As a result, due to the high number of factors affecting the efficiency of washing and the difficulty of controlling the process, nowadays, washing, disinfection and drying processes are performed with devices.
With the introduction of these devices, first of all, serious improvements were made in laboratory personnel’s health, washing efficiency and time saving.
The standardization of washing process of laboratory equipment can be achieved by washing machines, moreover dangers for the personnel will be minimized by the fully automated process.
SMEG Brand Laboratory Type Glass Material Washing Drying and Disinfection Equipment
Founded in Guastalla in 1948, today the Smeg Group represents the excellence in Italian products with nearly 2000 employees and 12 branches worldwide.
Smeg has earned a well-deserved reputation among manufacturers of home and industrial devices thanks to its well-established corporate culture that places great importance on quality, technology and design.
Smeg has been committed to these values for design and manufacture of glassware washing machines for laboratory use, for more than twenty years, with the knowledge gained through the cooperation with professional users in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Smeg offers the most advanced washing and disinfection products, customer-specific solutions, flexible and effective services to the laboratory world with its integrated structure from design stage to after-sale services.
Washing devices are generally divided into two groups as with drying and without drying. These groups are subdivided according to customer type. The sub-groups are diversified according to the number of programs of the washing machine, the ability to connect hot water, and the detergent storage chamber.
How to Choose a Washing Machine?
After the decision to acquire a washing machine, a user who is aware of all the questions and problems above will have to do some evaluations and will have some questions to answer. In general, we can list these questions as follows:
1.Is drying required?
2.Do you want to rinse with pure water?
3.Is there pure water flowing between 2-5 bar?
4.Do you have hot water flowing between 2-5 bar? (4090-3060 models)
5.Please give details for the types of glass materials to be washed. (Pipette, tube, balloon cap, erlen, etc.)
6.For glass materials to be washed max. What is the max. height?
7.Is a detergent storage container required?
For the user who answered all these questions, the next step is the selection of baskets to be placed in the device according to the glass material to be washed. These baskets are produced differently for balloon joiner, erlen, beaker, pipette, tube, reagent bottle, spatula, spoon and so on.
The user selects the baskets according to the number of glass materials to be washed and then selects the detergent and neutralizer for the washing process.
After all of these steps, the user is now able to select the washing, drying and disinfection machine as a fully equipped product, and may now purchase the machine.
Cost analysis is one of the points that should be taken into consideration when making a price performance evaluation in the procurement stage. Washing using a washing machine logic is generally close to home machines, but varies in cost.
The first priority in the selection of washing machine is human health. A user who does not internalize this and who cannot explain this to his/her manager will not be successful in the purchase of devices.
The user, who internalizes this, should perform water, detergent and workforce analysis during the washing time and analyze the washing process. After all these steps, the washing machine procurement will be successful.
Gökhan Aslıbay
MSc. Chemist
Sales Engineer
An-ka Analiz & Kalite Kontrol Cihazları
