CAT Group qualifies ISO1 cleanroom at Fraunhofer IPA

ISO1 Cleanroom Fraunhofer IPA © Copyright CAT Group

ISO1 Cleanroom Fraunhofer IPA © Copyright CAT Group

The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA has been testing products in the cleanroom industry for over 30 years according to recognized testing procedures and standards for cleanroom suitability. Companies or institutions that can present the certificate "Fraunhofer TESTED DEVICE®" certify the presence of independent measurement results – and thus the verified cleanroom suitability of their processes, materials, or systems.

The unique testing infrastructure of Fraunhofer IPA worldwide consists of several cleanrooms of class 1 according to ISO 14644-1. Recently, a complete initial qualification was required for part of this cleanroom area due to construction activities. The contract for this was awarded to CAT Clean Air Technology GmbH (CAT Group) from Stuttgart, which has been serving the institute as a service provider for many years.

The two-day qualification measurements with a six-person team included parameters such as air velocity, cleanroom class, room pressure, temperature, humidity, filter leak testing, lighting intensity, and sound pressure level. All measurement results met the defined specifications and acceptance criteria.

The cleanroom suitability tests conducted by Fraunhofer IPA now support more than 300 customers worldwide from various industries in product development and quality assurance. It is expected that the importance of independent qualifications will continue to increase. On the one hand, manufacturing under the highest cleanroom requirements is necessary for more and more products, as even minimal contamination by particles can cause severe disruptions or errors in the final product. On the other hand, quality management regulations (ISO, GMP, VDI, DIN EN, VDMA, and others) demand increasingly comprehensive qualifications – from planning to shipment.