Assembly for reducing energy costs and restricting the entry of contaminants into a controlled environment room

An assembly designed to control the introduction of contaminants into and restrict the escape of air from a controlled environment enclosure having a plurality of work product openings formed therein, said assembly comprising:

• a) a plurality of air chambers equal in number to that of the work product openings, each of said air chambers mounted adjacent to the enclosure and in fluid communication with an interior of the enclosure through a different one of said openings,
• b) each of said air chambers including a first passage and a second passage each being dimensioned and configured to allow work product to pass therethrough,
• c) said first passage of each air chamber disposed in fluid communication between an interior of said air chamber and an exterior of the enclosure and said second passage of each air passage disposed in fluid communication between said air chamber interior and the interior of the enclosure,
• d) an air supply assembly communicating with said plurality of air chambers and structured to supply sufficient air thereto to define a predetermined positive air pressure within each of said plurality of air chambers, and
• e) said predetermined positive air pressure being at least minimally greater than the air pressure within the enclosure and sufficient to allow air to flow from each of said plurality of air chambers into the enclosure.

An assembly designed to control the introduction of contaminants into and restrict the exiting of air from a controlled environment enclosure having a plurality of work product openings formed therein, said assembly comprising:

• a) a plurality of air chambers equal in number to that of the work product openings, each of said air chambers mounted exteriorly of the enclosure and in fluid communication with the enclosure interior through a different one of said openings,
• b) each of said air chambers including a first passage and a second passage each being dimensioned and configured to allow work product to pass therethrough,
• c) said first passage disposed in fluid communication between an interior of said chamber and an exterior of the enclosure and said second passage disposed in fluid communication between said air chamber interior and the interior of the enclosure,
• d) said second passage of each air chamber further disposed and dimensioned in contiguous, surrounding relation to a different one of the work product openings,
• e) an air supply assembly communicating with each of said plurality of air chambers and structured to supply sufficient air thereto to define a predetermined positive air pressure within each of said plurality of air chambers,
• f) each of said plurality of air chambers disposed and dimensioned to define concurrent paths of air flow therefrom to both the interior and exterior of the enclosure,
• g) said concurrent paths of said air flow of each of said plurality of air chambers comprising a first and a second paths of air flow from said chamber interior through said first and second passages respectively, and
• h) said predetermined positive air pressure being at least minimally greater than the air pressure within the enclosure to allow air to flow from each of said plurality of air chamber interior into the enclosure along said second paths of air flow.