A cleanroom is a plant or laboratory area where airborne particulate matter, microorganisms, gases, or other solids are minimized to ensure a sterile production environment. In addition to purifying the air, modern cleanrooms also keep temperature and humidity within strict limits.
Why is this beneficial?
Products used today are increasingly precise and undergo stringent quality assurance systems. Just think of a phone, how much smarter the device in your hand is today than it was 10 years ago. For production processes that are sensitive to contamination (such as the assembly of a smartphone screen in our example), we need to ensure a sterile environment to minimize manufacturing waste.
Watch the Hűtőépítő Ltd.’s tour of an ISO 7 and ISO 8 cleanroom
What industries are clean rooms used by?
Cleanrooms exist thanks to the pharmaceutical and research sectors. However, due to the industrial revolution of the last decade, cleanrooms have appeared in almost every major sector. Today, production or research and development of automotive components, IT hardware, nanotechnology, optics and many other industries requiring precision would be unimaginable without them.
Standards
Perfectly pollution-free air quality is unattainable, which is why ISO classifications have been introduced, with cleanrooms being classified according to the number of particles per cubic meter. If you are interested in more information on cleanroom standards, you should consult Hűtőépítő Ltd.’s profile on the subject.
Air handling equipment
Of course, we can conclude that one of the most important elements of the system is the air handling unit. The air is extracted through ventilation grilles close to the floor and then returned through the ceiling after being cleaned by HEPA filters.
Walls, corners
Curved profiles are placed where the walls meet to prevent dust from settling in sharp corners and to facilitate cleaning.
How do products leave the cleanroom if the door cannot be opened?
Cleanroom doors are a very important part of the overall system. Most goods produced in the cleanroom exit not through doors but through material transfer boxes.
Transfer boxes allow the flow of goods in and out of the cleanroom without contaminating the cleanroom
Transfer boxes also have doors on both sides with a latch controlling that only one side is open at a time, thus avoiding the cleanroom coming into contact with the outside world, but more often with a less clean cleanroom.
