adequately utilize directional airflow through engineering controls as a primary means of regulating cage-to-cage airflow balance, at both the ventilated cage and ventilated rack level, with any number of cages present on a ventilated rack.

• Seals are subject to fatigue and eventual failure.

For nearly 20 years we’ve been successfully confirming and reconfirming the performance of our ventilated housing systems with independent verification/certification testing, including cage level performance – without cage seals.

The Lab Products, llc. individually ventilated cage (IVC) airflow technology does not require gaskets and locks to provide the individual cage-level barriers that are sought by researchers.

The Lab Products, llc. RAIR HD Ventilated Housing Systems are designed to operate in a “Positive Cage Pressure” mode with the rack operating in a “Negative Pressure” mode in respect to the room. The Lab Products, llc. ventilated housing unit design offers the benefits of both positive (bio-exclusion) and negative (bio-containment) pressurization at the same time, offering environmental protection to both research animals and the animal care technicians at the same time, all of the time. No adjustment for either positive pressure or negative pressure is required by the operator based upon the Lab Products, llc. exclusive patented AllerZone™ canopy exhaust air collection design. This eliminates the need for operators to make the complicated and often confusing decision of when to adjust/set the rack to either a positive cage (protects animals only) or negative cage (protects people only) operational mode.

In contrast, regarding other system designs that require seals between cages and lids, the seals are subject to wear and may fail over time. Therefore the protection may be illusory in practice and allergens may escape into the room unobserved. Seals can be classified as potentially dangerous because animals may become stressed if the cage air supply fails and there isn’t timely intervention.

Additional questions or comments related to this posting? Please contact us and we’ll be happy to respond.

© 2015 Bio Medic Corporation. IVC FAQ and AllerZone are trademarks of Lab Products, llc.

 

Our next question:

5. What are the benefits of a cage filter top having a large filter area compared to a cage filter top that has a small filter area?

The larger the (exposed) filter media area of a cage filter top is, the more freely gas exchanges through the filter. The smaller the filter area, the more restricted the airflow becomes. Smaller cage filters fill with particulate faster, …

Come back next for the answer to this question.