Glossary of Lab Furniture Terms

Glossary | lab furniture terms, phrases & acronyms

Acceptance Levels — Acceptance levels describe the expected outcome of each individual test procedure
ADA — Americans with Disabilities Act
ADAG — Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines
Air Volume — Rate of air flow, expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM) or feet per minute (fpm)
ANSI/BIFMA — ANSI is the American National Standards Institute. Approval of an American National Standard requires verification by ANSI that the requirements for due process, consensus, and other criteria for approval have been met by the standards developer. BIFMA is the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association, an association of manufacturers of desk products and the like Apparatus - A machine or group of machines and accessories
Arithmetic Mean — A number obtained by dividing the sum of a set of quantities by the number of quantities in a set; average.
ASHRAE — American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, a professional group that sets industry accepted standards for fume hood testing procedures
ASTM — American Society for Testing and Materials
Auxiliary Air — Supply or make-up air administered externally to the front of the hood to reduce room air consumption

Baffle — Panels located in front of the hoods interior back panel that control the pattern of the air moving through the hood
Base Cabinets — A base cabinet is a storage devise consisting of two ends, a back, and a face. The face may be open, to access the storage area, or may be outfitted with one or more drawers and/or door(s). The base cabinet may or may not include a top. A base cabinet is always mounted on the floor and normally supports a surface. The top surface is normally no more than 42" (1,066.8mm) off the floor surface
Bench-Type — Type of fume hood designed to rest atop a pedestal or base cabinets
Best Practices — When given a choice of grade, the "best practice" is to select one that offers a well defined degree of over the quality of workmanship, materials and installation of a project. SEFA-8 Recommended Practices are written from a view of high quality laboratory furniture
Blower — Air moving device (fan) consisting of motor, impeller and scroll
Bypass — Compensating opening that allows for unobstructed airflow that helps maintain constant volume exhaust from fume hood, regardless of sash position

Cabinet Depth (Deep) — Given a front, bottom, two sides, and a top, the cabinet depth is a measure of the side of the cabinet, in it's normal upright position from the back to the front
Cabinet Height (High) — Given a front, bottom: two sides, and a top, the cabinet height is a measure of the side of the cabinet, in it's normal upright position, from the bottom to the top, excluding any additional surface
Cabinet Width (Wide) — Given a front, bottom, two sides, and a top, the cabinet width is a measure of the front of the cabinet in it's normal upright position from one side to the other
Canopy Hood — Ventilating device typically suspended from the ceiling used to dissipate heat, water vapor, odors, etc.
Casework — Base and wall cabinets, display fixtures, and storage shelves. The generic term for both "boxes" and special desks, reception counters, nurses stations and the like. Generally includes the tops and work surfaces
CFM — Cubic Feet per Minute: unit of air volume measurement
Chase (Plumbing Area) — Space located behind the back of the base cabinet used to house plumbing or electric lines
Cold Rolled Steel — Sometimes referred to as Cold Drawn. Cold Drawn is the process of cold forming steel parts wherein plastic flow occurs over a curved axis
Combination Sash — Horizontal sliding safety glass panels in a vertically rising frame
Combination Unit — A base unit of type that has both door(s) and drawer(s)
Composition Core — A core material using particle board
Constant Volume — Type of fume hood exhaust system that exhausts the same volume of air regardless of the sashes position. Also referred to as Constant Air Volume or CAV
Constant Volume — Type of fume hood exhaust system that exhausts the same volume of air regardless of the sashes position. Also referred to as constant Air Volume or CAV
Containment — Function of fume hood to control fumes within the hoods interior compartment
Counter Mounted Cabinet — A counter mounted cabinet is a wall cabinet that is typically mounted on top of the work surface or shelf to be used as a reagent shelf. A counter mounted cabinet is usually has a height of approximately 48" (1,219.2mm).
Cupboard (Door Unit) — That portion of the cabinet with no drawer(s) and may be enclosed by door(s)

Damper — A device installed within the duct to control the volume of air passing through
Demonstration Hood — Fume hood accessible from two sides with a viewing window in one end used for demonstration purposes - typically in a teaching environment such as a university lab
Drawer — A sliding storage box or receptacle opened by pulling out and closed by pushing in
Duct — Round, square, or rectangular tube used to encapsulate air
Duct Velocity — Speed of air moving through the duct, measured in (FPM)

Exhaust Collar — Place where the exhaust duct connects to the fume hood and passage for all exhausted air from hood
Exhaust Volume — The quantity of air exhausted by the fume hood; the volume of air passing through the duct measured in CFM to maintain a determined face velocity

Face Velocity — Speed of air moving into fume hood through the hoods face opening (sash), measured in (FPM)
FPM — Feet Per Minute; measurement of air velocity
Free Standing — Requiring no support or fastening to other structures
Fume Hood — Five sided ventilated enclosure used in laboratories to control, collect, and exhaust contaminants

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Hardware — Manufactured articles used in producing cabinets. Such articles include items such as screws, pulls, hinges, and drawer slides
High Density Shielding — A barrier made of lead
High Pressure Laminate — Laminated thermosetting decorative sheets for lamination to a selected core for panel, shelf, and top constructions. (See NEMA LD-3, latest edition)

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Laboratory Furniture — Furniture designed and manufactured for installation and used in a laboratory
Laminate — A product made by bonding together two or more layers (laminations) of material or materials
Latch — A piece of hardware designed to hold a door closed
Leveling Screws (Levelers) — Threaded components designed to allow adjustment of the cabinet vertically as needed for leveling
Liner — Fume hood interior sides, back, top, lintel, and baffles
Lintel — Portion of fume hood front located above the hood's face opening (sash)
Louvers — Slit-like openings punched into hood's front panels

Magnahelic — Type of gauge suitable for measuring low air pressure
Manometer — Measures air pressure differential
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) — Wood particles reduced to fibers in a moderate pressure steam vessel combined with a resin, and bonded together under heat and pressure

NFPA — National Fire Protection Association
Nominal Dimensions — Not all cabinet manufacturers produce product to the identical dimensions. All dimensions given in this document are accurate to within five percent, which is considered nominal

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Particleboard — A generic term for a panel manufactured from lignocellulosic materials -commonly wood -essentially in the form of particles (as distinct from fibers). These materials are bonded together with synthetic resin or other suitable binder, under heat and pressure, by a process wherein the interparticle bonds are created wholly by added binder.
Permanent Damage — Destruction to material or joinery that would require repair in order to return to its original state
Permanent Deformation — Deflection that has exceeded the plastic limit, thus changing the original shape of the product
Permanent Deterioration — Erosion or corrosion of material such that the component will never return to it's original
Permanent Failure — See "permanent damage."
Pulls — Articles used to grasp the door or drawer (see also hardware)

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Rack Resistance — The ability of a desk product to resist stresses that tend to make the product distort and the drawers to become misaligned.
Rail — A bar extending from one side of the cabinet to the other
Reagent — A substance used because of its chemical or biological activity
Removable Back — A panel located on the inside back of the base cabinet which is removable in order to gain access to the plumbing area
Restricted Bypass Fume Hood — Fume hood operating type, Designed with limited bypass area; commonly used in conjunction with Variable Air Volume (VAV) exhaust systems and restricted sash openings

Sash — Sliding safety glass panel set in fume hood face that protects the fume hood operator from exposure to chemicals and fumes inside the hood
Service Fitting — Faucets and gas valves mounted to the fume hood
Shelving — A flat surface fastened horizontally to a cabinet interior or a wall used to hold objects
Stainless Steel — Iron based alloys containing more chromium than the 12% necessary to produce passivity (less reactive), but less than 30%
Static Pressure — Air pressure, or resistance, in the hood or duct, expressed in inches of water
Submersion — Covered with water
Superstructure — Portion of the fume hood supported by the base cabinets, pedestals, and the work surface or the floor

Tables — An article of furniture having a flat, horizontal surface supported by one or more support members (legs), and a frame (apron)
Tall Cabinet (Full Height Unit) — A tall cabinet is a storage devise that consists of two ends, a back, and a face. The face may be open to access the storage area or may be outfitted with one or more drawers and/or door(s). A tall cabinet is always mounted on the floor and is nominally 84" (2,133.6mm) high
Torsion — The state of being twisted
Total Pressure — The sum of velocity pressure and static pressure as measured in duct

Uniformly Distributed — The application of forces such that weight is evenly applied to the subject surface even as the surface deflects
Unobstructed Entry — A cabinet is deemed to be unobstructed if access to the entire storage area is completely without obstacle
Upright Position — A cabinet oriented in its intended position

Variable Air Volume (VAV) — Type of fume hood exhaust system that typically maintains a constant face velocity by adjusting the blower motor speed or the use of a balance damper in response to changes in the sash position
Velocity — speed of air, measured in Feet Per Minute (FPM)

Walk-In — Tall in height type of fume hood, designed for tall and large equipment and apparatus
Wall cabinet — A wall cabinet is a storage device consisting of two ends, a back, a top, bottom, and a face. The face may be open to access the storage area or may be outfitted with one or more door(s). The wall cabinet usually does not include a drawer. A wall cabinet is always mounted on a vertical surface such as a wall, a divider, panel or some other vertical structure. A wall cabinet is usually less than 48" (1,219.2mm) high
Water Gauge — Measuring device using the weight of a column of water, calibrated in inches
Welding Station — A type of modular unit designed to allow ventilation and filtration to keep the welder from inhaling fumes
Work Surface — A horizontal surface used to support apparatus at a convenient height off the floor. Work Surfaces are normally positioned atop a base cabinet, a table frame or inside a fume hood

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