From Gray Area to Clean Room

From Gray Room to Clean Room

Cleanroom example with Miele cleaning robot

The term "High-Purity" refers to the manufacturing process for a range of special requirements regarding design, material selection, and last but not least, the purity of product surfaces. Turned, milled, or e.g., injection-molded parts must be clean, particle-free, or even sterile.

High-Purity products are used, for example, in ultrapure water systems, semiconductor, laser, medical, and vacuum technology. The complete manufacturing process requires special materials, manufacturing expertise, and finally, a fine cleaning before packaging to remove even nearly invisible production residues.

The engineering office ISEDD GmbH from Bielefeld offers demand- and cost-oriented concepts for cleaning and packaging that can also be easily integrated into existing production workflows.

A cost-effective solution is the two-door pass-through cleaning systems from Miele with a cleanroom cell on the removal and packaging side. The cleaning system separates the gray area from the cleanroom and also acts as a sluice.

On the gray area side, the system is loaded with the parts to be cleaned. After the cleaning process, the parts are removed, inspected, and packaged according to requirements under cleanroom conditions. The products protected from contamination can thus be stored or shipped without special effort.

The cleanroom cells manufactured by ISEDD feature a sealed cleanroom ceiling with properly fitted side cleanroom curtains. Fan-filter units (FFUs) and lighting elements are integrated into the ceiling. Based on HEPA or ULPA filters, the FFUs ensure clean and nearly particle-free air. Depending on the work instructions, cleanroom classes up to ISO 2 (according to ISO 14644-1) can be achieved.

The cleanroom furniture, inspection devices, or film welding machines required for final inspection and packaging are grouped within the shielded, clean workspace with ergonomic considerations.

Contamination-minimized packaging materials such as so-called cleanroom bags and cleanroom tubing films are often used. Sealing of the bags is done with film welding machines — possibly under protective gas atmosphere. The design depends on throughput and component size. According to the requirement, options include pass-through sealing machines, bar impulse welders, or handheld sealing tongs.