Development Status of Glove Box Industry(2)

As a sealed chamber type equipment, glove boxes not only protect materials sensitive to water and oxygen from external environmental interference, but also ensure the safety of operators when handling hazardous substances. With the advancement of technology and the increasing demand for industrial production, the glove box industry has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities.

The development of the glove box industry can be roughly divided into three stages: exploration period, growth period, and development period. During World War II, early glove box products emerged due to the need for research on radioactive military materials. Although these products can meet basic scientific research needs, they have problems such as unstable water and oxygen content and high usage costs, which limit their application and promotion.

Entering the growth phase, the performance of the glove box has been significantly improved. German engineers invented a glove box consisting of a glove box body, a transition chamber, gloves, and a gas purification system, laying the foundation for modern glove box equipment. At the same time, the application of glove boxes with large windows greatly expands the operator's field of vision, improves the precision and production efficiency of experiments.

Entering the development phase, the application areas of glove boxes have further expanded. Glove boxes have become indispensable protective equipment in industries such as new materials, nuclear technology, biomedicine, lithium batteries, and solar cells. With the rapid development of science and technology, the performance and intelligence level of glove boxes are constantly improving, meeting the needs of more industries for high-quality production environments.

Compared to European and American countries, China's glove box industry started relatively late. However, driven by the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and the dividends of new energy transformation in recent years, the glove box industry in China has risen rapidly, and the market is showing a trend of rapid growth. The manufacturing technology of glove boxes in China has basically synchronized with the world's advanced level, and has reached the international advanced level in the manufacturing of high-performance, complex and large glove boxes.

The rapid growth of China's glove box market is attributed to the rapid development of industries such as lithium batteries and photovoltaics. The demand for high-quality production environments in these industries has driven the expansion of the glove box market. At the same time, with the construction of new production lines and automation upgrades in these industries, the procurement demand for glove box intelligent equipment is also constantly increasing.

The increase in experimental requirements, research and development expenditures in various industries, and the demand for industrial intelligent production have jointly driven the rapid expansion of the global and Chinese glove box markets. The global glove box market has grown from RMB 3.5 billion in 2018 to RMB 4.78 billion in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 8.1%. With the commercial application of new technologies such as solid-state batteries and thin-film solar cells in the semiconductor and lithium battery industries, it is expected that the global glove box market will experience explosive growth.

In the Chinese market, the glove box industry is also showing a rapid growth trend. With the increasing support from the government for strategic emerging industries such as new energy and new materials, the glove box industry will usher in more development opportunities. At the same time, with the integration and application of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the market share of customized equipment and intelligent automated glove boxes will gradually increase, leading new industrial development trends.

Mikrouna glove boxes have achieved a transition from standalone equipment to fully automated high-end intelligent equipment by combining automation and intelligent technologies. These intelligent devices can not only achieve full process atmosphere control in the production process, eliminate the influence of external environment on the production process, but also improve the production efficiency and product yield of the production line.