A person walking across a room can generate up to 10 million particles of skin, dirt, and hair per minute. This makes human beings the greatest source of contamination to a cleanroom. Cleanrooms are enclosed spaces in which contamination levels are reduced by controlling temperature, humidity, air pressure, airflow patterns, motion, vibration, noise, and lighting. Cleanrooms are essential to pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic, and medical applications requiring a specific and superior quality of air for the work performed.
Cleanroom Occupants
Cleanroom occupants reduce the spread of particles by wearing special garments, such as hoods, coveralls, gloves, and booties. There are, however, other sources of contamination: raw materials, the equipment and tools used to process materials, and even the process itself. Cleanroom classification systems exist and are based upon the measurement of the number of particles present in the air. An earlier Federal Standard 209D classification system has been slowly phased out for the globally accepted ISO classification system.
Mechanical systems are relied upon to ensure the filtration of contaminants and protect the integrity of cleanroom air:
- Increased air supply: a cleanroom would require anywhere from 10 to 600 air changes per hour in an effort to decrease the likelihood that particles may settle. To fully grasp the increase in frequency, consider that your home system is probably designed for up to 2 air changes per hour.
- High efficiency filters: high efficiency filters remove small particles from supply air. Filters in a cleanroom are installed at the point of air discharge.
- Room pressurization: cleanrooms are positively pressurized with respect to the adjacent areas. Positive pressure maintains air flow out of the room while negative pressure would encourage air flow into a room.
BCH Is Your Cleanroom Mechanical Contractor
Cleanrooms have become an important niche for BCH due to our ability to guarantee the delivery of specific air quality requirements on projects such as Burnham Institute, Plasmatherm, Transitions Optical, and Draper Laboratory.
To learn more about cleanroom design and maintenance, contact a member of the BCH estimation team.
BCH Mechanical has been a trusted name in Florida construction since 1976, delivering innovative design, high quality craftsmanship and excellent customer service. BCH capabilities include HVAC, plumbing, medical gas, piping, sheet metal, LEED, Design/Build, 3D-CAD/BIM coordination, and HVAC service. Visit BCH on the web: www.bchmechanical.com.