Clean Room

What is a Clean Room?

A clean room is an environment that is controlled wherein factors such as room pressure, humidity, temperature, dust, airborne particles, and air distribution and supply are regulated. These regulated factors have to meet the pre-specified standards so that the environment can be classified as a clean room environment.

These cleanliness standards are accepted internationally and are extremely stringent. Clean rooms have high degree air filtration systems that clean the air inside the clean at the rate of 10 times per minute. These high cleanliness standards ensure that no environmental or human contamination creeps into the sensitive systems that are present in the clean room.

The clean rooms have to be also maintained in a way that no contaminants from the outside environment are able to enter the clean room. The equipment inside the clean room also has to be appropriate. Imagine investing heavily in the clean room environment but having a set of machinery that dispels contaminants. This could spell disaster for the company using the clean room.

Therefore, the apparatus within the clean room must not generate or give rise to any type of contaminant. In addition, special precautions have to be taken inside the clean room to ensure that no contaminant is allowed to build up in the clean room. The clean room technology ensures that any existing contaminant is eliminated as soon as possible and to the greatest possible extent.

Clean Room Classifications

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has specified the clean room standards. The clean room standards classify the clean room according to the number of contaminants found in the air inside the clean room. Clean room specifications for particulate contaminants are defined according to the maximum permissible particle diameter and according to the maximum permissible number of particles per cubic metre.

The maximum permissible density specification for non-particulate contaminants is specified in terms of microbes or molecules per cubic metre. Therefore, a Class 100 clean room means that there are 100 particles in each cubic foot of air space within the clean room premises.

How is the Air Inside the Clean Room Kept Clean?

The air inside the clean room has to be kept free of environmental and human contamination. To achieve this objective, stringent contamination control procedures have to be adopted. One of the tools used to keep the air free of contaminants is a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter. These filters are crucial in keeping the air inside the clean room premises free of contamination. The filters have the capability to filter particles as small as 0.3 micros.

In addition, there are other filters besides the HEPA filters that help in removing contaminants from liquids and gases, The air inside the clean room is also kept clean by the way the clean rooms are designed. Clean rooms are designed in such a way that the air within the clean room premises moves with uniform velocity along parallel flow lines. The way this air moves is called laminar flow.

Laminar flow ensures that the contaminated particles within the clean room premises are dispelled effectively and the existing clean room air remains clean. If you thought cleaning the clean room is a child’s play, think again! Cleaning these clean rooms is the most important way of controlling the contamination within the clean room. Special tools and equipment is used to clean the clean rooms and the cleaning staff has to wear special clothing to ensure that do not contribute towards any contamination within the clean room facility.

When Were the Clean Rooms Invented?

Willis Whitfield invented the laminar flow clean room in the early 1960s. Prior to his invention, clean rooms were merely airtight rooms that were cleaned on periodic basis and kept locked to ensure that no dust or other contamination enters the room. However, the concept of laminar flow brought about a radical change in how people used and benefited from the use of clean room technology.

The invention stemmed from the need of a manufacturer of mechanical weapon timers who complained of the dust on the mechanical equipment every morning. This complaint led Willis Whitfield to explore the clean room technology further thereby leading to the invention of the first laminar clean room in the early 1960s.

Use of Clean Rooms in the Data Recovery Business

Data recovery entails recovering the data from fragile pieces of equipment such as hard disks. These hard disks are very prone to damage and can be easily ruined when exposed to contaminants. For this reason, they can only be worked upon in a controlled environment such as a clean room. The clean room technology has enabled the data recovery companies to successfully recover their client’s data while minimising on the damage caused to the data due to environmental or human contamination.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

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