A cleanroom or clean room is an engineered space, which maintains a very low concentration of airborne particulates such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, and chemical vapors; and in which other cleanliness-relevant parameters such as temperature, humidity and pressure can be controlled as required. It is well isolated, well-controlled from contamination, and actively cleansed.
A cleanroom is designed to protect whatever material is being handled inside it from particulate matter. The other way around, a cleanroom can also help keep materials escaping from it. This is often the primary aim in hazardous biology and nuclear work, in pharmaceutics and in virology.
A cleanroom with positive air pressure has clean, filtered air pumped into the environment, giving it more pressure than the rooms around it. If the door was opened to the cleanroom accidentally, clean air would be forced out of the cleanroom, blocking any unfiltered air from coming in.
A cleanroom with negative air pressure has a lower pressure than the rooms around it. This is achieved by filtering air out of the cleanroom, rather than pumping air in. Negative air pressure cleanrooms are used in cases where the goal is to keep contamination from escaping the environment. Such as in Containment Labs.
Cleanrooms are classified according to the number and size of particles permitted per volume of air. Large numbers like "class 100" or "class 1000" refer to Federal Standard 209E, and denote the number of particles of size 0.5 μm or larger permitted per cubic foot of air.
Small numbers refer to ISO 14644-1 standards, which specify the decimal logarithm of the number of particles 0.1 μm or larger permitted per m3 of air. So, for example, an ISO class 5 cleanroom has at most 105 particles/m3.
Both FS 209E and ISO 14644-1 assume log-log relationships between particle size and particle concentration. For that reason, there is no such thing as zero particle concentration.
Ordinary room air is approximately class 1,000,000 or ISO 9. In most cases, your industry likely specifies the standards your cleanroom must meet for your application, but you might also consider looking at this bulleted list below for a general reference:
Industries go for a specific class of clean room according to their operations. Some industries are mentioned where our clean rooms are being used or could be used:
The broad variety of pharmaceutical products needs a specific environment in which processing and packaging must be done in order to ensure delivery of refined end products. The clean rooms are prominent in this industry not only for the product, but for the workers as well.
The broad variety of pharmaceutical products needs a specific environment in which processing and packaging must be done in order to ensure delivery of refined end products. The clean rooms are prominent in this industry not only for the product, but for the workers as well.
To ensure the highest level of quality and safety in all food products, clean rooms are considered as the most essential space, as they provide a secure environment in which food is processed in a contaminant free zone.
Medical devices production and packaging requires a high level of control over static, pressure, contamination and humidity. Achieving this is not the only solution, it is vital to ensure continuous elimination of indoor generated particles as well as transmitted particles.
Automotive components are required to meet ISO 9001 or ISO/TS 16949 standards for production. Clean rooms are essential for meeting such an environment level so as to come up with high quality, durable and high-performing components.
Most rigorous protocols are conformed by semiconductor manufacturing facilities. A raw material can go through 200 different steps to achieve exacting quality standards, therefore these facilities are required to have absolutely sterile conditions for production. Our clean rooms deliver such conditions so that no quality is compromised.
Electrical components are sensitive to static electricity and static charge also attracts harmful contamination. The HEPA and ULPA filters are optionally fitted with ionising bars to neutralise the electrical charge in air flow. These types of problems need an uninterrupted process of solution which requires higher accuracy of purging with no chances of faults.
Both positive pressure and negative pressure rooms are required in hospitals as OTs and AIIRs. Clean room plays an important role in limiting the spread of diseases in hospitals. MAPS is a solution for all microbial enemies which provides us a shield from invisible attacks.
A flexible clean room whose parameters could be well monitored and controlled precisely would be highly beneficial to an organization in the defense sector.
When working with Nano-scale sized particles, even the smallest bit of dust can seem like a boulder. Keeping the clean room energy efficient would never be a concern for the Nano-tech industry. The primary concern would always be the efficiency of purity provided. HEPA and ULPA filters along with MAPS deliver the highest possible accuracy of purging in a clean room.
