The drying oven is an equipment used to dry and sterilize the glass and metal containers in the laboratory. It is also identified by the name of the drying oven. Manufacturers have basically developed two types of overalls: those that operate by natural convection and those that operate by forced convection. The ovens work, usually between room temperature and 350 ° C.
It is used to sterilize or dry glass and metal material used in examinations or tests, which is converted to the laboratory and which comes from the washing section, where it is sent after being used in a procedure. Sterilization carried out in the oven is called dry heat and is carried out at 180 ° C for 2 hours; Glassware, when heated by high temperature air, absorbs moisture and eliminates the possibility of sustaining any biological activity due to high temperatures and times used.
Quality control in ovens is a bit difficult to achieve because dry heat sterilization technique has critical temperature and time settings. In general, the spores of Bacillus Subtilis, the Niger variety, which must be incubated for several hours after the sterilization process use as biological indicators. The initial load of the biological indicator spores varies between 5 x 105 and 1 x 106. Its effectiveness depends on the diffusion of heat, the amount of heat available and the loss of heat. The action of the microbicide is conditioned by the presence of organic matter or dirt in the article. Dry heat sterilization should be limited to materials that cannot be sterilized in autoclaves.