Design of "dry box" 1

[ymstandard]

I am currently working on designing a chamber capable of maintaining an oxygen free environment for a laboratory experiment.

I need to have some idea of how long it will take to purge a given volume chamber, probably using cylinders of compressed nitrogen or argon. This is important as a lengthy purge process might delay things, and a vacuum method might be better.

Also, is there a particularly good way designing such a system? Free flowing? Closed loop? Pressurized?

The atmosphere need not be perfect. We are merely trying to reduce the effects of an oxidation reaction that happens to occur in our experiment.

Any advice or resources would be appreciated.

 

[MikeHalloran]

A welding supply house can provide all the hardware you would need to establish and maintain a small scale anoxic environment. They can also provide the cautionary signs and training materials that you should have.

Be careful with this stuff. "Inert" does not mean "not dangerous". It's easy to fill a room with nitrogen or argon and just go to sleep and never wake up.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rcooper]

Far a quick method of purging the atmosphere of oxygen reliably, how about filling the chamber with water, then using nitrogen or argon to push the water out. That way you can be sure you have purged the chamber of oxygen, much more reliably than if you rely on a certain number of air changes.