Maximum air purity with minimal energy consumption

In 2010, the final energy demand in Germany was around 9,000 petajoules (= 2,500 terawatt-hours). Of this, an estimated 120 terawatt-hours per year were used for air conditioning cleanrooms. The goal of the new research project "EnEff: Reine Räume" at the Department of Building Energy Systems / Hermann Rietschel Institute, led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Kriegel, is to minimize this energy use while maintaining maximum air purity. The project is funded with approximately one million euros by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology (BMWi).

Cleanrooms are needed wherever work and production must be carried out under dust- and germ-free conditions. This is the case, among others, in the pharmaceutical industry, the semiconductor industry, optics and laser technology, or genetic and biotechnology. In a cleanroom, the concentration of airborne particles is as low as necessary or possible.

The current standards impose high requirements on the climate control of these protected areas. "However, knowledge about the behavior of room airflows has not yet been sufficiently researched. In particular, the complex interaction of various airflow patterns in cleanrooms is largely unknown. There are also no scientific studies on how cleanrooms can be ventilated in an energy-saving manner," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Kriegel, outlining the research gaps that the project aims to close.

Martin Kriegel and his team will now investigate various ventilation concepts, such as the placement of supply and exhaust air, air volumes, design of the outlet, choice and size of heating and cooling surfaces regarding their cleanliness, thermal comfort, and energy efficiency. The goal of the research is to define energy-efficient ventilation concepts for cleanrooms in healthcare and industrial production that still meet the high requirements for germ and dust-free conditions, while significantly reducing the required air volumes.

The research laboratory necessary for these investigations will be set up as a multifunctional facility at the Hermann Rietschel Institute of TU Berlin. The room configuration covers about 90 percent of the cases of "cleanrooms" installed in practice. This research cleanroom at TU Berlin is thus unique in Germany.