UV Cabinets Overview
bringing convenience and safety to your observing or imaging session
Since 1932 UVP has been involved in developing solutions for those who work in the ultraviolet portions of the spectrum. Our UVP products line include numerous lamp source of ultraviolet, we also sell the UVP Chromato-Vue® Observing Cabinets that bring convenience and safety to an ultraviolet observing or imaging session. The cabinets are self contained ultraviolet laboratories where a sample may be introduced through the curtain flap at the front and into the enclosure for visual observing or for imaging with a camera through the safe transparent window. This is similar in concept to the photographic light box, but optimized for ultraviolet applicatons.
These cabinets can be used as portable document verification or forensics stations, for studies of non-destructive testing, for evaluation of contaminants (lubricants, paints, etc.) and for mineralogy. Since ultraviolet light in the UV-C portion of the spectrum is over time lethal to many living organisms, any cabinet with a 254nm lamp becomes a portable germicidal/sterilization facility!
Right: UVP UV Observing Cabinet (37,638 bytes).
Click on image to see enlarged view (328,751 bytes).
The lightweight yet sturdy walls of the cabinet keep out undesired light (ambient visible, infrared from the Sun, etc.) while also protecting the observer from the ultraviolet energy. For comfort and safety there is a rubberized face guard at the observing port that allows one to peer into the chamber through a Contrast Control Filter, a window that appears clear and is transparent to visible light but that simultaneously blocks the ultraviolet portions of the spectrum. Of course one could close oneself in a darkened room and make the adjustments to best direct the ultraviolet source onto the target, but this can be time consuming and there remains some risk of exposure by the observer(s) to the ultraviolet light. But even with the appropriate personal ultraviolet safety gear this can be inconvenient; the purpose-built UV observing cabinet solves this for you!
The larger cabinets typically incorporate an AC powered white light to illuminate the object inside, and with either a built-in ultraviolet lamps or the capability to attach an optional UVP ultraviolet lamp onto a port. Some cabinets are compact and built to be field portable; these accept an optional battery or AC powered UVP portable ultraviolet lamp.
Among the design features of these cabinets is the capability to remove the floor panel and place the cabinet onto a suitable UVP Transilluminator. The Transilluminator is an illuminating platform that incorporates a flat window below which are ultraviolet and or other lamps. These AC powered devices were originally developed to provide backlighting for DNA gels however, the Transilluminator can be used for studies of any transparent subject, or to backlight opaque objects so that their perimeter areas between the front and rear of a sample may be more clearly studied.
Any of these cabinets can be used just as well in a laboratory setting or at home.
What Is Going On Inside?
When some materials (fabrics, minerals, biological) are bathed in ultraviolet light then they fluoresce or phosphoresce, appearing to glow - giving off light and usually doing so in colors that will surprise and amaze the observer. The intensity of the returning visible color(s) from the sample depends on:
- the degree of responsiveness of the sample to ultraviolet energy: longwave (UV-A), or midwave (UV-B), or shortwave (UV-C),
- the spectrum of the ultraviolet source (UV-A, UV-B, UV-C),
- the intensity of the ultraviolet source,
- the distance between the ultraviolet source and the subject of study,
- contrast and clarity are improved by eliminating stray light from sources other than the desired band of ultraviolet.
Right: visual port of UVP Mini Chromato-Vue® C-10P Observing Cabinet at Company Seven with UVLS-26P lamp on and set to 365nm (63,639 bytes).
Here the cabinet housed only a white sheet of paper, hence a bright deep blue reflectance through the visual port.
Click on image to see enlarged view (173,142 bytes).
These cabinets can be used as portable document verification or forensics stations, for studies of non-destructive testing, for mineralogy. Since ultraviolet light in the UV-C portion of the spectrum is lethal over time to many living organisms, any cabinet provided with 254nm becomes a portable germicidal/sterilization facility!
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