Vacuum drying can dehydrate materials further than dry heat methods, while protecting sensitive materials from thermal degradation. Many industries have shifted to vacuum drying as cost- or time-saving measures. Small-scale vacuum drying, however, has been limited by the high costs of specialty scientific tools. To make vacuum drying more accessible, this study provides design and performance information for a small-scale open source vacuum oven, which can be fabricated from off-the-shelf and 3-D printed components. The oven is tested for drying speed and effectiveness on both waste plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a consortium of bacteria developed for bioprocessing of terephthalate wastes to assist in distributed recycling of PET for both additive manufacturing as well as potential food. Both materials can be damaged when exposed to high temperatures, making vacuum drying a desirable solution. The results showed that the open source vacuum oven was effective at drying both plastic and biomaterials, drying at a higher rate than a hot-air dryer for small samples or for low volumes of water. The system can be constructed for less than 20% of commercial vacuum dryer costs for several laboratory-scale applications, including dehydration of bio-organisms, drying plastic for distributed recycling and additive manufacturing, and chemical processing.
- Open source dryer SOP
- OSF Repository contains all source code of designs, paper contains instructions for assembly and use
- Quick download of [ STLs]
- Open Source Digitally Replicable Lab-Grade Scales
Keywords[edit | edit source]
open source hardware; drying; materials processing; vacuum oven; small-scale; lab equipment; air-powered; open hardware; open source; digital manufacturing; dehydration; 3-D printing; additive manufacturing; distributed manufacturing; laboratory equipment
Media[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Open Source Digitally Replicable Lab-Grade Scales
- Open Source Lab
- Building research equipment with free, open-source hardware
- Open source science
- Open-source hardware
- Open-source syringe pump
- Open Source 3-D Printed Nutating Mixer
- Open Source Laboratory Sample Rotator Mixer and Shaker
- 3-D printable open source dual axis gimbal system for optoelectronic measurements
- Open Source 3-D Printed ISO 8655 Compliant Multichannel Pipette