Abstract
In recent years, there have been numerous reports of “runaway hot plates”. This is to say, hot plates that heat uncontrollably regardless of the temperature setting or whether the controls are in the off position. Some of these events have resulted in injuries to laboratory personnel and damage to research facilities. Investigations into the cause of several of these events have determined that failure of a non-mechanical switch, a “triac”, in the hot plate can result in the circuit failing open, causing uncontrolled heating. The number of events in recent years has led to greater awareness of the issue; however, in spite of this, devices utilizing this technology continue to be sold and used in research laboratories without additional controls to ensure their safety.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4-11 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Chemical Health and Safety |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2019 |
Funding
Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).