How to keep a cleanroom clean

How to keep a cleanroom clean

by | Mar 6, 2023 | Cleanroom Standards, Cleanroom Supplies

It can be challenging to keep a cleanroom clean and maintain its ISO class. Everything you introduce will likely release particles into the air — especially people! So, what are the best ways to keep your cleanroom up to the standards you so painstakingly maintained? Here are some basic concepts and helpful suggestions to maintaining the highest level of cleanliness.

Gowning: First and foremost, anyone entering the cleanroom must wear protective clothing. Humans are full of particles: our hair falls out, our skin flakes, and there’s no way to control it. That’s why anyone entering the cleanroom must wear appropriate protective clothing. Depending on your cleanroom’s class, this might be a gown and gloves or a full head-to-toe cleanroom coverall complete with a mask and goggles. You first have to define your standards, but then you should know what your employees should wear in the cleanroom.

Cleaning: Why do you need to clean a cleanroom if it’s already clean? Because of the inevitable introduction, generation, and retention of particles! If you are concerned with bioburden, you don’e just need to clean. You need to clean and disinfect! This is a two-stage process. First, you clean away the dirt (or, as we call it in the cleanroom industry, non-viable contamination), then disinfect the germs (viable contamination).

Cleanroom Furniture: Believe it or not, furniture can give off particles even when it’s just sitting there. And even when furniture doesn’t generate particles, it can accumulate them. That’s why cleanroom furniture has smooth edges and joins. Without dirt traps, particles and dust won’t build up on furniture. You’ll need to invest in this type of furniture to keep your cleanroom clean.

Air Shower: To limit the number of particles brought into your cleanroom, you might consider investing in an air shower. Used in conjunction with the gowning room, it blows off any particles that could easily fall off people entering the cleanroom. It’s a great way to eliminate extra particles before operatives enter the room. The experience can also get operatives into the right mindset of controlling contamination.

Sticky Mats: This is the best way to reduce foot-borne or wheel-borne contaminates. If your cleanroom has a high standard for cleanliness, this is a useful addition to your cleanroom.

Proper Cleanroom Gowning Techniques

The cleanroom gowning process may seem like a hassle, but you spend a lot of money getting the cleanroom installed and maintained, so a few extra minutes gowning properly isn’t a big deal if you’re protecting that asset and keeping your cleanroom as clean as possible. But what, exactly, do you have to do to make sure you and your employees are following proper protocol and protecting the environment of the cleanroom? It starts with a standard procedure. It will be much simpler if everyone follows the exact same process and understands the different areas of the gowning space. Generally, most gowning spaces have a “getting dressed” area and a “cleaner” area. Make sure employees understand these boundaries, and know where to stand at what point in the gowning process. Here’s an example of a standard gowning process. Remember, however, that most gowning processes will vary depending on the standard you’re required to adhere to.

  1. Perfume and Cosmetics – If you’re working in a cleanroom, the gowning process starts before you even get to work. It’s important to remember that products like perfume, make-up, hair gels, etc. give off extra fumes and particles. To keep your cleanroom as clean as possible, it’s necessary that anyone entering the room not wear these types of products.
  2. Remove personal items – Personal items like jewelry also have to come off before you go into your cleanroom. They, just like cosmetics, release extra, unnecessary particles into the air that you’re better off without.
  3. Change Shoes – Shoes pick up all kinds of dirt and dust when you walk around. It’s a good idea to change your shoes once you walk into the building, and then as you enter the gowning area, make sure you step on a sticky mat to remove any excess particles.
  4. Enter Gowning Area – Now you’ll enter the gowning room, and most places have a “getting dressed” area, which is where you’ll start. Make sure to put on a set of “donning gloves” or just a first set of gloves to eliminate particle contamination of gowning clothes. When gowning, remember to dress from head to toe; this eliminates particles from falling onto already gowned parts like coveralls and booties.
  5. Don Bouffant – First, you’ll put on your bouffant, or hair cover. Make sure to only touch the inside of it, and before you move on, ensure that all hair is covered and out of the way. After this, you may also have to don a hood, depending on your cleanroom’s standards.
  6. Don Coverall – If your coverall is one piece, start with the feet and move upwards. If it’s two pieces, start with the top and then sit down to put on the bottom half. Do not let the coverall touch the floor or walls. Make sure you zip all zips, and snap all snaps.
  7. Booties or Shoe Covers – Now, sit on the bench to don booties or shoe covers. Make sure you tuck your pants into the booties or shoe covers, and don’t step in the “getting dressed’ area. Instead, step into the “cleaner” area of the gowning room. If your cleanroom has an automatic shoe cover dispenser, use that for cleanliest practice.
  8. Don Goggles or Shield – If your cleanroom requires them, this is where you put on your goggles or face shield. Some cleanrooms do not require this level of protection, so you may be able to skip this step.
  9. Final Pair of Gloves – Depending on protocol, you may now remove the first pair of gloves and put on a second, or you may put a second pair of gloves over the first. Roll the cuff of the gloves over top of your sleeves.
  10. Enter – Now that you’ve properly gowned, you may enter the cleanroom. Remember that at this point you are as “clean” as you’re going to get, so if you touch anything before you get inside, you’ll have to start over, or at the very least change your gloves.

If you have anymore questions regarding the information provided above, please reach out to one of our experts. The experienced experts at Angstrom Technology can answer any of your questions quickly and efficiently, and would love to hear from you!

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The best wall panels for a dry room for battery manufacturing

The best wall panels for a dry room for battery manufacturing

by | Feb 22, 2023 | Cleanroom Supplies, Filtration

Our recent blog post discussed HVAC systems that deliver low dewpoint air to create a dry room for battery manufacturing. But we can’t overlook the importance of an envelope system in a dehumidification system. A fully sealed panel system with well-sealed doors will insulate and protect a dry room from moisture ingress. The experts at Angstrom Technology can create a stable low dewpoint production environment to meet your requirements. In this blog post, we explain how.

DRY ROOM for battery manufacturing wall PANELS: ROBUST & FLUSH

A critical building envelope decision is the fabric of the panel finish, which must consider cleaning regimes, robustness, and surface resistivity. The latter is often most important within the battery, semiconductor, and microelectronics industries.

A flush cleanroom system eliminates trapping points, allowing for the best particulate control possible. Vision panels and doors should have flush integrations to avoid dead zones in air flows and trapping points for particulate.

STATIC DISSIPATIVE PANELS

Static dissipative plastics have a surface resistance that allows electrical charges to dissipate within milliseconds. The use of static dissipative materials will allow charges to flow to the ground in a slow and controlled way, preventing discharge to or from human contact.

ANTI-STATIC PANELS

Anti-static materials usually have a surface resistivity that inhibits the build-up of electric charges created when two materials rub together. Suppressing initial charges prevents the build-up of static electricity and provides a very slow rate of static charge decay from a hundredth to several seconds. This method can control building envelope charges in micro-electronic facilities.

PANEL CORE

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can cause lithium to catch fire or micro-electronic components to fry, so battery dry rooms must be designed and built to ground charges safely. Panels with PIR or PU cores are highly insulative, so they can trigger ESD, making them inappropriate for these environments. Instead, panels with an aluminum honeycomb core and either anti-static or static dissipative facings will help manage the grounding of charges.

FIRE RISKS

Ultra-low humidity levels combined with highly combustible materials give battery dry rooms a high fire risk, which needs careful management. A low surface spread of flame tested to ASTM E84 is essential.

 

 

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BATTERY DRY ROOM DESIGN & BUILD PROJECTS WITH ANGSTROM TECHNOLOGY

As Angstrom Technology are cleanroom specialists, our dry rooms can also achieve ISO classification. Not only that, but a dry room for battery manufacturing from Angstrom can also meet any applicable international engineering and building standards and regulations.

We’ve developed proven envelope solutions and reliable cleanroom HVAC designs for many applications. The Angstrom Technology group pride ourselves on our in-house expertise and capability to deliver over 100 cleanrooms annually across America, the UK, and Europe.

Tell us about your new dry room project!

 

 

Fan Filter Units and Air Handling Units. What’s the Difference?

Fan Filter Units and Air Handling Units. What’s the Difference?

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Cleanroom Supplies, Filtration

If you’re considering different options for filtering and treating the air in your cleanroom, you’ve likely come across fan filter units (FFUs) and air handling units (AHUs). What’s the difference, and how can you design a cleanroom filtration system that will offer you the control you need with maximum efficiency? Let’s break down fan filter units and air handling units in more detail.

Fan Filter Units and Air Handling Units: What’s the Difference?

Both FFUs and AHUs filter and treat the air in cleanrooms and controlled environments. However, they do this differently. The most significant difference between these systems is their connection to cleanroom HVAC.

Air Handling Units

An air handling unit is synonymous with the HVAC system and acts as a centralized unit for air processing and filtration. When an air handling unit is solely responsible for delivering clean air to the cleanroom, a fan pushes treated air through a filter positioned right before the plenum and into the room.

AHUs can be simple or complex, depending on the needs of the cleanroom. Simple AHUs consist of a HEPA filter, a heating coil, a cooling coil, and a fan to push air through the unit. More complex AHUs can also contain a sound attenuator, return fan, relief air section, humidifier, intakes for outside air, and a discharge plenum.

Fan Filter Units

Fan filter units sit in the cleanroom envelope, and to reach air cleanliness standards, you can increase or decrease the quantity as needed. They are individual units that each deliver filtered air into the cleanroom. The HVAC unit still controls temperature and relative humidity, but air enters the cleanroom after terminal filtration through the separate FFUs.

Fan filter units have a more straightforward construction multiplied across the cleanroom to reach peak effectiveness. They consist of a HEPA filter, a pre-filter, and a fan to push air through the unit. The more stringent the cleanroom classification, the more fan filter units are required to reach particle count requirements. For example, while an ISO Class 8 cleanroom may only need 5-15% of ceiling coverage dedicated to FFUs, ISO Class 3 cleanrooms may require 100% ceiling coverage with these powerful filtration units.

Fan Filter Units and Air Handling Units: Pros and Cons

While one system is not inherently better than the other, fan filter units offer some advantages over an air handling unit alone.

Drawbacks of Relying on an Air Handling Unit

AHUs deliver fresh, filtered air directly into the cleanroom. Because the entire system is in-house, all filters, heating, and cooling coils are maintained in one central location. It may seem like a more straightforward construction, but using AHUs to manage the treatment and filtration of air for an entire cleanroom requires more energy and becomes more inefficient (and expensive) as your ISO class gets lower.

Disadvantages of Relying on an AHU for Filtration

  • Higher Airflow Requires More Power: The entire system pushes air into the cleanroom through one or a few filtered openings. Depending on your cleanroom size and classification, a lot of air is forced through a limited space. Using an AHU to cool and filter the air in a cleanroom takes a lot of power, especially at lower ISO levels.
  • Inefficient Configuration for Low ISO Cleanrooms: As the ISO class gets lower, there’s more reliance on the AHU and filter to provide clean, cool air for the room. When cleanrooms get more complex and house large or sensitive equipment that generates a lot of heat, making it challenging to manage heat and ACH with just an AHU.
  • Vulnerable to Filter Loading: AHUs should run 24/7 to prevent filter loading. This is when particles settle on filter media and are forced through when the system is turned back on. Tears and filter loading can reduce filter performance and are challenging to spot and address.

Why Implement Fan Filter Units in Your Cleanroom

Many cleanrooms opt for modular construction with fan filter units installed in a grid ceiling. Especially those that must support sensitive processes at a lower ISO level. That’s not to say that an air handling system couldn’t do the job just as well. But the easy installation and maintenance of FFUs make them a more widespread, efficient, and cost-effective choice.

Advantages of Using Fan Filter Units

  • Modular and Customizable: Each filter and housing is an independent system mounted in a modular ceiling grid. FFUs are entirely customizable in size, flow rate, and filter options. When designing a cleanroom filtration system with FFUs, you have more flexibility to meet your classification, project, and budget requirements.
  • Thorough and Efficient Cleanroom Filtration: Fan filter units are 99.99% efficient with HEPA filters. Or 99.9995% with ULPA, making them ideal for various sensitive applications. They also produce less noise than a large AHU.
  • Easy to Modify: Fan filter units are ideal for projects that need room to grow. To meet increased cleanliness requirements, you can simply add more FFUs. With AHUs, this would require a certified contractor to reconfigure the system and run extra conduit.
  • Easy to Maintain: FFUs also present an advantage during maintenance. Self-contained units can be accessed and replaced as needed without having to disable the entire system.

To meet productivity demands, a reliable and easily accessible filtration system is a must. And the higher filtering power means that sensitive applications, such as those working with sensors or delicate electronics, are protected from the smallest particles with accuracy and consistency.

CLEANROOM DESIGN & BUILD PROJECTS WITH ANGSTROM TECHNOLOGY

As Angstrom Technology are cleanroom specialists. We’ve developed proven envelope solutions and reliable cleanroom HVAC designs for many applications. The Angstrom Technology group pride ourselves on our in-house expertise and capability to deliver over 100 cleanrooms annually across America, the UK, and Europe.

If you’re interested in designing a cleanroom that runs at peak efficiency to cut unnecessary costs, get in touch with the cleanroom experts at Angstrom Technology. We’re happy to help design the right airflow pattern and install the solutions that will make your cleanroom cleaner.

 

 

 

 

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How to Decide on the Right Wall Material for Your Cleanroom

How to Decide on the Right Wall Material for Your Cleanroom

by | Jan 13, 2023 | Cleanroom Design, Cleanrooms

If you’re working on a technical specification for your new cleanroom design, you’ve likely noticed different types of cleanroom wall materials in the market. Unless you have experience with all the different types of cleanrooms, you might not yet know which cleanroom envelope system is suitable for your project.

Well, we’re here to help you out as best we can. We know it can be tough to find the info you’re looking for when it comes to cleanroom components, so we put together this blog to help you figure out your options for cleanroom walls. First, what essential elements do you need for a successful cleanroom wall that upholds your application’s standards?

When it comes to cleanroom walls, you’re looking for two things: smooth, dust-free surfaces. But finding the perfect surface type for your operation is easier said than done. Here are some considerations to determine what wall material type is best for you:

 

FLEXIBILITY

One of the biggest concerns for any new cleanroom is deciding how flexible your cleanroom should be. If you plan on housing it in the same building for a decade or more, you can probably get by with cheaper wall options.

Drywall coated with epoxy paint was a popular way to create cleanroom walls. You would take your building’s existing walls and paint them with an epoxy coating rated for cleanrooms. But one of the main problems with painted drywall is that those will be the walls you’re stuck with now and forever. When it comes to stick-built cleanrooms, there’s minimal scope for rearranging or expanding the space you started with, and providing the required extraction levels is challenging.

If you think your cleanroom is likely to expand once operations get underway, then a modular cleanroom with moveable wall panels would be a much better option. The materials might cost a bit more upfront, but you’ll also want to consider what you’d be getting for that additional fee.

Modular cleanroom wall panels are typically manufactured out of scratch and damage-resistant materials. This is helpful because if something runs into one of your modular wall panels, you don’t have to worry about drywall particulate below an epoxy coating seeping out and contaminating your cleanroom. If a modular wall panel gets a scratch, there’s very little cause for concern, and in most cases, you can return to business as usual. Worst case scenario: if the damage is substantial, you can arrange for a replacement panel to be easily fit into your existing system in no time.

 

STANDARDS

SoftWall cleanroom walls are the most economical type of modular cleanroom wall construction. Clear and flexible panels are mounted onto a robust steel frame, enclosing the clean area. As the panels overlap, the walls remain an effective barrier to create an ISO class 7-8 cleanroom, but with a higher volume of air required to achieve a higher level of cleanliness, you may need a solid wall panel.

RigidWall cleanroom construction can withstand the high airflow required for ultra-clean environments such as ISO class 5-6 clean zones. But the bright and durable finish makes them an attractive option for ISO class 7-8 cleanrooms.

HardWall cleanroom panels create a flush finish to a cleanroom wall. They are perfect for high-performance cleanroom applications with a range of proprietary features, such as raceway trunking to supply services, flush glazing, doors, and wall and ceiling panels.

 

CLEANING AGENTS

Once you’ve decided on modular cleanroom walls, it’s time to consider the cleaning agents you’ll be using on those walls. Every cleanroom classification is different and requires different levels of cleaning and disinfection. Pharmaceutical cleanrooms, for example, must be disinfected regularly with very harsh chemicals to prevent microbial buildup. In this situation, you need a HardWall cleanroom wall finish that can hold up to those chemicals without warping, corroding, or melting. Walls made from stainless steel with a cleanroom-specific coating are typically suitable for applications that use super-strong cleaning materials.

On the other side of the coin, if you plan on cleaning your cleanroom regularly but don’t need to use the highest-grade disinfectants, RigidWall cleanrooms wall options like acrylic, static dissipative PVC, or polycarbonate wall panels are a more cost-effective choice. When using lower-grade cleaning materials, you need a wall panel that prevents bacteria and particulate from sticking to it. You won’t have to worry about harsh chemicals eating through coatings and materials, causing a lot of particulate buildup within your cleanroom.

 

DURABILITY

As mentioned before, durability can play a significant role in choosing cleanroom wall material. Depending on your application, you’ll need varying levels of material durability. Some materials, like lightweight vinyl modular wall panels, or epoxy-coated drywall, can easily scratch. When the protective coating is breached, the material underneath is exposed and can give off dangerous particulate that can interfere with your processes. Moreover, some wall materials not certified for cleanroom use could outgas or start to give off particulate as they age.

Cleanrooms with more intensive standards are typically best served by walls made primarily of aluminum structure. Aluminum is lightweight, durable, and, best of all, doesn’t give off particulate as it ages. That said, it is a more costly option. So if your cleanroom doesn’t need quite that level of cleanliness, you might choose a less expensive option.

 

COST

Perhaps the most significant consideration for your cleanroom wall material decision is that you have to stick to a specific budget. With cleanrooms, particulate control is the most critical factor, so it stands to reason that a large part of the investment goes into the airflow, the expensive filtration systems, and the energy you use to keep your cleanroom functioning correctly. Because of this, many cleanrooms don’t look as expensive as they are.

Your cleanroom walls can be one of the least costly aspects of your cleanroom as they are relatively low-tech. So, if you’re looking for an area of the project where you can save money, this could be it.

That said, a few companies want their cleanrooms to reflect the expense put into them, so they spend more on their walls. A high cosmetic finish can be achieved if you have extra room in the budget and want to build a cleanroom that looks like a high-tech, cutting-edge facility. But know that you don’t have to have the highest specification of walls to meet your cleanroom standards.

 

When designing a new cleanroom, deciding which cleanroom wall material will work best for your application and convey the image you’re looking for can be difficult. If you have more questions about choosing a suitable wall material for your cleanroom, call the experts at Angstrom! We’re here to help you, and we’d love to provide you with any cleanroom information you want to make the best, informed choice for your company. Call our office at 888-768-6900, or request a quote online today!

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Building a battery dry room

Building a battery dry room

by | Dec 16, 2022 | Air Circulation, Cleanroom Design, Cleanrooms

Many materials and processes used in battery production are susceptible to moisture damage. For that reason, humidity control is critical in a battery dry room. The experts at Angstrom Technology can create a stable low dewpoint production environment to meet your requirements. In this blog post, we explain how.

 

Battery dry room construction

Battery dry rooms require a constant supply of ultra-dry air to create and maintain low-humidity conditions for the R&D and production of solid-state and lithium-ion batteries.

We can develop an energy-efficient dry room to protect your critical process in any of the following applications. We do this by combining airtight envelope systems, dehumidification systems, and HVAC design.

Small-scale battery research

Pilot plants

Mega / Giga-factory

Single-zone facilities for testing the chemicals and processes during battery R&D.Multi-zoned facilities for scaling up production to manufacture at volume.Large-scale battery production facilities for high-volume battery production.

 

Battery dry room manufacturers

As battery dry room facility manufacturers, we deliver complete dry room systems. Working with specialist humidity control partners, we provide bespoke solutions that include industry-leading energy-efficient HVAC systems.

A typical clean room environment operates at 20.0°Cdb, 50% Relative Humidity — which is a dewpoint of 9.3°Cdp. Due to the materials’ sensitivity in the process, solid-state battery dry rooms can require control to minus 40.0°Cdp at the room’s exit point. A lower dewpoint of minus 50.0°Cdp is required for Lithium-ion battery dry rooms, and the next generation may have even tighter requirements. The battery chemistry may need the environment to reach minus 80.0°Cdp at the point of supply into critical areas, such as Electrolyte Fill.

Look at how we can custom-build your perfect battery dry room.

 

Footprint & zones

Establish a suitable layout for your process, featuring multiple zones, each with the optimum dew point temperature and ISO class.

 

Dehumidification systems

Single or multi-rotor low dewpoint AHU options to suit your budget, space, and specification needs.

 

Internal airflow distribution methods

Horizontal unidirectional airflow with a supply and return air plenum or a high-level distribution system with uni or non-unidirectional airflow.

 

Airflow modelling

Using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies to verify HVAC design with equipment and furniture layouts.

 

Scalable HVAC designs

With specialist AHUs designed for deployment in battery facilities, airflows range from 2,000 m³h to 50,000 m³

 

Energy-efficient design

Airtight envelope systems and recirculated air manage energy efficiency.

 

Battery dry room design & build projects with Angstrom Technology

As Angstrom Technology are cleanroom specialists, our dry rooms can also achieve ISO classification. Not only that, but they can also meet any applicable international engineering and building standards and regulations.

We’ve developed proven envelope solutions and reliable cleanroom HVAC designs for many applications. The Angstrom Technology group pride ourselves on our in-house expertise and capability to deliver over 100 cleanrooms annually across America, the UK, and Europe.

Tell us about your new dry room project!

Whitepaper: Dry room design guide for lithium battery manufacturing

DOWNLOAD OUR HANDY GUIDE:

 

 

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