Clean rooms are special facilities with engineering controls to prevent contamination from vectors like airborne pollutants. Clean rooms are important because they ensure the safety and integrity of critical applications and industries like manufacturing quality control, or the production of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. Special industries using cleanrooms include specialized optical devices (ex. cameras and telescopes), production of personal protective equipment, food production, fuel cells, military applications, and academic research or experiments (per Terra Universal). In any cleanroom, purified air is one of the most important parts of meeting the required standards. Recognizing this need, Aeroex provides ceiling mounted fan filter units with the airflow capacity, medical-grade filtration, and flexible configuration options to create a cleanroom air purification system.
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Which Type of Filter Should Be Used to Filter The Air Entering a Clean Room?
Clean rooms are measured and defined by the levels of airborne particles within the controlled environment. Clean rooms have many other considerations like the usage, entry points, design, etc., but these factors all contribute or relate back to the permissible level of contamination. This is recognized by the ISO 14644 series of standards for Cleanrooms and Associated Controlled Environments (some cleanroom users like American industries also reference Federal Standard 209).
Per the International Standards Organization, clean rooms fall into one of nine categories of cleanliness based on the maximum allowable density of sub-micron sized particle contaminants in the cleanroom air. A logarithmic scale is used to delineate cleanliness levels. Different industries may require varying levels of cleanliness – for example, a general pharmaceutical manufacturing cleanroom may require an ISO-8 standard (15–25 air changes per hour and a maximum allowable concentration of 3,520,000 0.5 um particles / cubic meter), whereas a pharmaceutical clinical trial may require an ISO-7 standard (30–60 air changes per hour and a maximum allowable concentration of 352,000 0.5 um particles / cubic meter) (Source: Mecart Clean Rooms). Fan filtration with adequate capacity and performance is critical to meeting these requirements. The highest standards may require additional measures, such as unidirectional flow or an airlock system.
Aeroex understands the unique parameters that define clean rooms that go beyond general standards for air quality referenced by OSHA, the EPA, and other industry bodies. Aeroex’s understanding of cleanrooms is also supported by other standards-related but not captured by ISO 14644, such as standards for the measurement or distribution of airborne particle sizes. Aeroex has designed a fan filter for clean rooms with this technical understanding as the foundation.
How To Make a Clean Room With Air Purification
Clean rooms are not possible without several design factors. The cleanroom also needs to enable the end-user, such as manufacturing. The method of establishing a clean room will depend on the size and configuration of the facility but generally includes a few key items – notably air purification systems. A cleanroom is achieved with the following inputs (Source: Trax Industrial):
- Air purification systems: a cleanroom must be void of dust, aerosols, vapors, smoke, microbes, and other contaminants suspended in the air that could interfere with quality or processes. To achieve ISO standards, air filtration must target particles smaller than one micron, like Aeroex’s fan filter devices.
- Positive air pressure: to promote the flow of air and the proactive extraction of contaminants, positive pressure needs to be enforced. This quality measure ensures that if the cleanroom were compromised, the higher pressure air of the cleanroom would push air towards the breach rather than drawing unpurified air into the cleanroom. This means any air purification system needs sufficient air handling.
- Exfiltration: To sustain a positive air process, the room must be properly sealed. As much as possible, escape from windows, doors, electrical conduits, and other pathways must be eliminated.
- Environmental factors: Humidity, temperature, conductivity, and laminar (smooth) airflow are all required considerations for a proper cleanroom.
Aeroex understands the pivotal role that air purification systems serve in making a clean room, and has designed its fan filter units to provide the necessary performance and filtration specifications to eliminate contaminants while maintaining positive air pressure.
Fan Filter Unit for Clean Room
The Air Fit is a fan filter unit for clean rooms and other facilities providing air purification. Air Fit integrates with your existing mechanical systems to deliver more airflow and clean room air purification simultaneously. The Air Fit is light and compact, fitting onto the ceiling with the existing ventilation. Once installed, it purifies the air with a two-stage filtration system.
Why are HEPA Filters Used in a Cleanroom?
Aeroex HEPA filters meet the highest standards for efficiency and purification. The primary filter removes large particles to minimize impacts to the second stage high-efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA). The secondary HEPA filter provides 99.99% efficiency for particles as low as 0.3 microns – this standard meets or exceeds many of the cleanroom classifications set by ISO 14644. Aeroex provides high-quality filters within this system that lower your operating costs, using large volumes of filter media to extend the service life until an eventual replacement – the primary filter is also designed to reduce wear on the secondary filter.
Ceiling Filters for Clean Room Requirements
Filtration efficiency is only one determinant of a proper cleanroom – systems also need to deliver adequate capacity for positive air pressure and many exchanges per hour. The capacity needed will depend on the size and configuration of the room. To meet different needs, Aeroex provides the Air Fit 500 as an entry point to deliver 500-600 cubic feet per minute of airflow, with the larger Air Fit 1000 Clean Room System delivering up to 1100 cubic feet per minute.
Aeroex understands the specific needs of fan filter units for clean rooms. A larger air exchange volume may be needed to meet higher levels of cleanroom certification. In these situations, there are two general approaches – a larger unit and/or several smaller and supplementary units could be deployed. To ensure you meet ISO certification, Aeroex provides a central control unit with the Air Fit 1000 for operation by an air balancing engineer who will measure and configure airflow. Controlling all units from a single panel creates a safer and more efficient balancing process, rather than working at heights to modify and balance several units individually. This is one example of how Aeroex is committed to the full lifecycle of your cleanroom operation and continued ISO certification.
Trusted Partners in Critical Industries
Building a clean room with air purification is an important investment to service critical customers and industries. Aeroex understands this commitment, and partners with its clients to become fully invested in the protection and quality of cleanroom environments. Aeroex routinely delivers solutions that are depended upon for environmental health and safety. Whether it be a worker handling hazardous materials, a medical facility with vulnerable patients, a public school using Aeroex filters to mitigate airborne contaminants, or a manufacturer with strict specifications (e.g. aerospace), Aeroex is committed to the trust its clients place in our made-in-Canada purification systems. If you want a trusted supplier of fan filters that understands the science and specifications of clean rooms, contact Aeroex to get started today.
