Cleanrooms offer sterile and safe environments for areas containing sensitive equipment, laboratory materials, and similar settings. These carefully designed environments are required to meet clean room construction standards, which are based on certain factors, such as particle size. Keep the following in mind when building a new cleanroom.
Room Size
One of the most basic factors to consider when building a cleanroom is the size of this area. Builders should keep in mind that size requirements for a cleanroom may change over time. Ensuring that there will be enough space to accommodate potential changes is a crucial part of cleanroom design.
Flexibility
In cleanrooms where equipment and other components change often, flexibility is an important part of the design process. Cleanrooms offering flexible setups make it easy and more cost-effective to change equipment as often as needed. Using customized insulated panels, such as Isowall panels, can help builders ensure room flexibility in these areas. Other features that might be used for flexibility include bulkheads that allow equipment or other items to be transferred safely.
Room Temperature and Humidity Levels
Cleanrooms must maintain the right temperature and humidity levels at all times in order to keep sensitive equipment and other materials safe. Temperature and humidity control help reduce the risk of damage to materials and equipment while also lowering the risk of encountering static electricity. Providing temperature and humidity control also helps maintain a comfortable environment for employees who work in cleanrooms.
Air Filters
Air filters for cleanrooms are an important part of preventing contamination in medical environments, areas containing delicate equipment, and other areas that must remain sterile. Cleanrooms should have air filters that offer high efficiency at removing small particles, such as HEPA filters. Using these filters helps reduce the risk of having tiny particles contaminate or affect equipment and materials.
Electrostatic Discharge
Cleanrooms containing delicate electronic equipment or other sensitive materials should be protected from electrostatic charges. These charges can end up causing severe damage to these items. Builders should take steps to lower the risk of this damage by using ionization technology as needed.
Atmospheric and Static Pressure
Ensuring that a cleanroom has the right pressurization is essential to prevent wind from entering the area. Balancing pressure in cleanrooms also helps ensure that air inside them flows from sterile areas to areas that are not as clean. The use of airlocks in cleanrooms can help balance pressure and prevent changes from occurring that could affect or damage equipment and materials, such as having dust particles blow around.
Clean Room Construction Standards
Building a cleanroom involves meeting clean room construction standards. These standards, which come from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), are part of ISO section 14644. They set standards for various components of cleanroom design and construction, such as surface particle and air cleanliness. These standards take certain factors into consideration, such as particle amounts and sizes. Isowall insulated panels are made with these standards in mind.
Structural Panels Inc. provides a wide range of Isowall panels that are designed to keep indoor environments in laboratories and similar areas as clean as possible. These panels are made with clean room construction standards in mind. Please contact us for more details on these cleanroom products.