In recent years, customers have become more and more conscious of the price per square foot of storage space, energy efficiency, and the ease of installation.  As engineering firms have become more involved with environmental chamber purchases, these issues have become critical to the review of options.

When a situation arises where the chamber is small, i.e. a ‘step-in’ chamber less than 8’ x 8’ in footprint, ES recommends consideration of a large reach-in chamber in lieu of the step-in.  For information on both products, refer to the website tabs on walk-in chambers and reach-in chambers.

For a specific comparison, let’s consider the following step-in chamber scenario:

-          Overall size:  7’ wide x 6’-6” deep x 8’-6” high, 4” insulated panels; 345 cu ft interior

-          Left and right wall shelving (usable):  41.5” long x 17.5” deep x 6 tiers spaced at 12”

-          Back wall shelving (usable):  71.5” long x 17.5” deep x 6 tiers spaced at 12”

-          Overall shelving area:  ( 41.5” x 17.5” x 6 ) x 2  +  71.5” x 17.5” x 6 = 16,222 sq in. = 113 sq ft.

Notes:

- Usable shelving is slightly smaller than nominal size due to end posts and shelf edging.

- There is an allowance of approximately 38” width x 48” depth for the user to enter the room and move product into place.

Let’s compare this to a triplewide reach-in chamber:

-          Overall size:  10’-3” wide x 3’ deep x 7’-8” high, 2.5” insulated walls; 114 cu ft interior (usable)

-          Shelving (usable):  116” long x 28” deep x 5 tiers spaced at 12”

-          Overall shelving area:  ( 116” x 28” x 5 ) = 16,240 sq in. = 113 sq ft.

This example shows that a triplewide reach-in chamber, at a nominal 114 cu ft, can provide the same shelf storage area as a step-in chamber, at a nominal 345 cu ft. 

Note that the step-in chamber requires field erection, meaning that site construction and site start-up and testing is required.  The reach-in chamber, on the other hand, is factory assembled, factory tested, then shipped to site. 

Between the two options, the triplewide reach-in chamber is considerably less overall cost (materials and labor), and is a much faster installation (simply unload and roll into the final location).  Both options are energy efficient, but the cost and installation considerations make the triplewide reach-in chamber a highly favorable choice for small to medium volume storage needs.

Environmental Specialties has supplied hundreds of ‘standard’ cold rooms, warm rooms, and freezers over the past 30 years.  While this still represents a large part of the business, a growing part of the business in recent years has included cold cleanrooms and ultra low freezers.  As a Product Engineer, I find these types of rooms most interesting, and a good fit for a company such as ours with depth in engineering and project management resources.

The cold cleanrooms (40 F +/-) are a niche market for environmental chambers companies such as Environmental Specialties, understanding that standard temperature (70 F +/- range) cleanrooms are generally provided by typical cleanroom builders.  Environmental Specialties provides Class 100 to Class 100,000 cleanrooms, with internal stainless steel conditioning units or external air handlers.  Of important note, ES offers the custom internal conditioning units in order to provide a more energy efficient, cost efficient, and space efficient method of cooling and air circulation.  This unique approach has gained popularity over the years with major pharmaceutical companies, using such an approach versus the more traditional (and more expensive) air handler approach.

Ultra-low freezers have been a part of the product line for many years, but have gained more interest in the recent years as biorepository designers have become aware of, and even promote, the revolutionary designs of Environmental Specialties.  Traditional biorepositories rely upon numerous, individual reach-in chambers.  While this is easy to order through a catalog, it is not energy efficient, not cost efficient, and not space efficient.  ES offers multiple solutions for biorepositories, including multiple reach-in units operated by singular (or redundant) cooling systems, multiple chest units operated by similar cooling systems, or the popular walk-in style with multiple ultra-low compartments, operated by similar cooling systems.  The walk-in approach is extremely attractive considering that multiple storage compartments (10, 20, or more) are offered within (1) walk-in system.

Contact the Sales Department at Environmental Specialties to discuss cleanrooms, ultra-low freezers, or any other special design chambers you may require.

Brian Philbeck, PE

Senior Product Engineer