Highly efficient lighting technology reduces operating costs in cleanrooms

Saving energy is becoming increasingly important even in cleanrooms. OCTANORM®-Sales GmbH for building components from Filderstadt near Stuttgart, a specialist for ceilings and walls in cleanrooms, is therefore offering a new lighting system in which LEDs are directly integrated into the ceiling profile.

"The advantage for our customers is that significantly more ceiling surface remains free than with large-format luminaires, allowing almost full-surface coverage with filter fan units," explains Achim Leins, head of the cleanroom systems department at OCTANORM®.

In the LEDs, the engineer sees the lighting technology of the future. Even if the initial investments are higher than with conventional lighting, the modern systems pay off quickly. The manufacturers of the light-emitting diodes guarantee, according to Leins, a minimum lifespan of 40,000 hours. "That’s about ten years for a company working in two shifts, with 250 working days a year." With conventional T5 or T8 tubes, an average of 20,000 operating hours is expected, although these tubes already lose part of their luminous intensity long before that, making the rooms increasingly darker.

Regarding cost savings through LED lighting, Leins points to two aspects: Firstly, the power consumption, which is 17 to 60% lower compared to a T5 luminaire. In a 500-square-meter cleanroom, this can amount to up to 1,800 euros per year. "Additionally, LEDs emit significantly less heat than conventional lamps, which can also save on cooling the cleanrooms. Furthermore, the costs for more frequent replacement of the luminaires and the associated production downtime are eliminated." "Often, the ceiling luminaires in cleanrooms are not easily accessible due to machinery or technical installations, so replacing the tubes is usually not straightforward," explains the engineer. Besides cost considerations, he also emphasizes the quality of the lighting. "LEDs, especially when they run across the entire ceiling profile like ours, provide very uniform, glare-free light."

The reactions of customers to the new system are, according to Leins, "consistently positive." Since the market launch last year, more and more customers have been choosing the LED luminaires integrated into the ceiling profile. For example, Freiberg/Saxony-based Freiberger Compound Materials GmbH (FCM). The company produces semiconductor material from gallium arsenide, whose surface is treated in the cleanroom. For FCM project manager Jens Wunderwald, several reasons speak in favor of OCTANORM®'s LED luminaires: "Firstly, the uniform illumination and the clear, bright light; secondly, the cost savings and the high flexibility when we need to change the layout of the cleanroom."

OCTANORM® department head Leins is convinced that many customers will opt for the new system in the future when planning new cleanrooms or renovating existing ones, thus strengthening their position in the cleanroom sector. Over the past eleven years, the medium-sized company, founded around 40 years ago as a system supplier for trade fair construction, has supplied ceilings and walls for around 500 cleanrooms worldwide.