What is a laboratory oven?
A laboratory oven is an instrument designed for drying within a laboratory. A laboratory oven typically uses electrical heating elements to heat the chamber from 4 sides. Temperature is measured by an accurate Pt sensor inside the chamber. Temperature range typically goes up to 300°C.
What is the difference between a laboratory oven and a laboratory incubator?
From a technology point of view these 2 instruments are very similar. They both use electrical heating elements in 4 sides to control the temperature. A laboratory incubator is designed to have a better temperature performance around incubation temperatures (for example 37°C). A laboratory oven focusses more on having a larger temperature range (up to 300°C). Although these are very similar instruments from a technology point of view, the applications are very different. A laboratory oven is in general more used for drying applications (like glassware drying or moisture determination). An incubator is more used for applications at lower incubation temperatures (like microbiology).
What is the difference between a natural convection oven and a forced convection oven?
Natural convection ovens will use natural convection as the main heat transfer method. This means that air will mix naturally by the rising of hot air. Forced convection ovens will have a ventilator in the chamber that will actively mix the air to speed up the air mixing and heat transfer. In general, natural convection ovens are preferred when working with powder samples. For other sample types in general forced convection ovens are preferred because of the better temperature performance and drying time.