You have heard about them many times. Those rooms in the movies where people go in special, decontaminated suits. Discover the reality of these sauces!
What are clean rooms?
A Clean Room is a closed space that allows for really low contamination levels. The environment is under rigorous control systems. They must control, among other things, lighting, air particles, temperature, humidity… These rooms are also called «controlled environment.»
This type of room includes, in addition to clean rooms, spaces with sensitive machinery such as X-ray rooms or high-voltage wiring rooms.
When did they first appear?
The beginning of these rooms was a medical cause, at that time they were known as “clean rooms”. At the end of the 19th century, surgeons realized that infections were considerably reduced with intense ventilation in operating rooms.
The first modern clean room was designed by an American physicist in 1960. His main innovation was to integrate a constant and highly filtered air flow. Thus, it expelled the impurities from within.
What are they for?
These special rooms are used in processes that require air without impurities. That is, to develop microelectronic products, medicines, foods… The food industry, for example, needs particle containment and bacteriological containment to exceed the product quality guarantee.
What is controlled in them?
- Airflow in a clean room: highly filtered airflow. There are two types of air flow. On the one hand, the multidirectional, which dilutes pollution by providing clean air. On the other hand, the unidirectional crosses the room uniformly in a way that eliminates contamination without the option of it spreading.
- Personal contamination: The users of the room themselves are the main source of microorganisms. Hence the exhaustive control and decontamination prior to entering it. The clothing with which you enter the room is removed and decontaminated immediately upon leaving, as well as upon entering. Air showers are a resource used in these cases. They use jets to direct the air flow at high speed and retain dirt in their filters. Thanks to them, a thorough cleaning of the personnel and the material to be introduced into the room is carried out.
- Humidity and static electricity levels: Zero condensation and a constant humidity level between 40-60%. This prevents static electricity. Finally, a ground network different from that of the rest of the building with a very low resistance is needed.
- Temperature: Varies depending on the activity carried out inside.
- Lighting: The quality of the light must be amazing. Keep in mind that the processes carried out in these rooms require great precision. The difficulty in achieving this is that the ventilation system usually occupies 90% of the surface of the room. Adaptability and the quality of the LED light makes it the best option for these rooms.< /li>
Doubts cleared, or do you have any left? Don’t hesitate to comment.
