autoclave steam autoclave by priorclave

Front - Loading Autoclave
EH 320L Steam Sterilizer

The Priorclave EH 320 is a high-throughput front-loading steam autoclave, consistently ranking among our most popular models. Its popularity owes to its ease-of-use, efficiency, and speed. 

With its non-jacketed cylindrical chamber, the EH 320 directly competes with any jacketed 20 x 20 x 38 rectangular autoclave on the market, providing unparalleled energy, water, and lifetime cost savings. It’s ideal for sterilizing large vessels of growth media, hundreds of small flasks in a single pass, and bag upon bag of biohazard waste or soil. 

The EH 320 Steam Autoclave Advantage

Most larger sterilizers sold in North America rely on steam-jacketed rectangular pressure chambers. While such a design is required for pharmaceutical production and high-throughput medical applications, it’s not the best fit for most research, education, and industrial tasks.

The EH 320 was designed from the start for education and research (including biomedical and pharmaceutical research). It has a non-jacketed cylindrical sterilization chamber for improved steam circulation and penetration (especially important with laboratory waste loads), and comes standard with in-chamber steam generation (for efficient and cost-effective heating). On an annual basis, a Priorclave cylindrical-vessel front-loading steam autoclave can be expected to use 80% less energy and 90% less water than a comparable “energy/water saving” jacketed steam autoclave. And, thanks to its simple design, it does so with less down-time and lower maintenance costs than jacketed models.

Autoclave Design Differences

  • Steam Source: Electrically generated in-chamber (optional external generator available)
  • Operating Range: Up to 280°F, 34.8psi (138°C, 2.4 Bar)
  • Working Dimensions: 24.8” (630mm) diameter x 40.2” (1020mm) deep
  • Chamber Material: Brushed grade 316L stainless steel, ASME-certified
  • Door Material: Burnished grade 316L stainless steel, ASME-certified
  • Exterior: Biomaster™ Antimicrobial Surfaces

A Steam Autoclave Designed and Built for Research and Development

The EH 320 comes outfitted with the advanced Tactrol control system. This fully programmable controller is optimized for research, testing, and product development. It offers exceptional cycle customization with “one-touch” operation, adjustable freesteaming (gravity), delayed cycle starts, media warming, automatic cycle repeats, precise temperature and pressure ramp control, and more. 

More importantly, this is a “safety-first” design. All of our autoclaves are built to higher EU/UK safe operations expectations, carry the ASME stamp, and are ETL listed to UL and CSA standards. All models are available with a Canadian Registration Number (CRN). (See our full accreditations for details.) The EH 320’s Quickseal Single-Action Interlocking Safety Door has both thermal and mechanical interlocks, so it cannot be opened unsafely. One-touch programmable cycles with safety lock-out mean unauthorized users cannot inadvertently alter cycles. 

EH 320 Pass-Thru Autoclaves

Double-door pass-through autoclaves were once relatively rare. But recent industry trends toward cleanroom operations in everything from biomedical research to semiconductor device fabrication and food and beverage R&D have attracted new equipment suppliers and manufacturers to this once niche area. 

While other laboratory autoclave manufacturers are new to this field, Priorclave has been here all along. Priorclave double-ended steam autoclaves have a decades-long track-record in universities, mobile military facilities, BSL-3 containment suites, and labs dedicated to flu research, pharmaceuticals, entomology, industrial product development, and more.

Our flexible custom-built pass-through autoclaves come with the sophisticated containment and safety features you expect from units twice as expensive—while still offering Priorclave’s celebrated efficiency and reliability. Like its front-loading cousin, the double-ended EH 320 is our highest-throughput pass-thru sterilizer, offering fast processing times and a roomy chamber. It’s ideal for larger loads, busy labs, or large biomedical facilities that require absolute containment.