Purity Technology Award presented

At the trade fair parts2clean in Stuttgart, the winners presented their contributions and received their awards from the judges Dr. Lothar Gail and Prof. Arnold Brunner.

To honor outstanding developments in the industry, Fraunhofer IPA awarded the CLEAN! Purity Technology Prize for the third time on June 10, 2015, at the trade fair parts2clean in Stuttgart. The jury was convinced this year by two contributions: an innovative system for particle cleaning and integrated photodynamic disinfection of cleanroom clothing, as well as a cleanliness measuring device that detects filmic contaminants on component surfaces through vacuum-induced desorption. The award winners presented their contributions in the technical forum and received their awards from experts and jurors Dr. Lothar Gail and Prof. Arnold Brunner.

1st Prize: Disinfection of Cleanroom Clothing Using Light – dastex Cleanroom Equipment GmbH & Co. KG

The research and development community has made an innovative step into the future of cleanrooms with the system "Disinfection of Cleanroom Clothing Using Light" for production and research areas where biological contamination plays a significant role. The idea of using a specific textile dye to generate light-induced oxygen as a disinfectant at the "point of use," i.e., in immediate proximity to microorganisms, is promising. To turn this into a "ready-to-wear" product that withstands the rigors of industrial everyday life, collaboration between the cleanroom textile specialist dastex, the dye manufacturer M. Dohmen, the equipment manufacturer Ortner Reinraumtechnik, as well as research from TU Graz and RCPE Graz was essential.

Prof. Arnold Brunner from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences describes the result in his laudation as exemplary. "The collaboration has produced an innovative and industry-ready clothing system that, based on sustainable technology, can control and kill any microbial load on the textile surface. The jury considers this sluice and clothing system suitable for use in biological laboratories, C- and D-classified pharmaceutical cleanrooms, but also in the packaging area of the convenience food industry. The features of the new system – industrially suitable, sustainable, and interdisciplinary – make it an exemplary CleanTec innovation."

2nd Prize: VIDAM – A New In-House Cleanliness Measurement System – VACOM Vacuum Components & Measurement Technology GmbH

In many industries, cleanliness is an important quality feature for reproducible processes. Knowing the cleanliness of components is a fundamental prerequisite for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the cleaning process and thus guaranteeing high and stable quality of the final product. VIDAM automatically detects filmic contaminants – i.e., on the entire surface of the component. The spectral measurement method allows for clear identification of surface contaminants and attribution of their causes. Furthermore, VIDAM provides absolute, quantitative measurement values that enable the setting of appropriate limit values. This allows the manufacturing and cleaning process to be optimized so that sufficient component cleanliness is guaranteed for all subsequent processes. This is the basic requirement for controllable, reproducible, and guaranteed quality.

Dr. Lothar Gail praises in his laudation: "The measurement of airborne particles using scattered light has significantly advanced modern cleanroom technology. For film-like contamination, which plays no lesser role in cleanroom technology, there are currently no comparable standards. The stricter the cleanliness requirements, the more diverse the possible interfering interactions that cause contamination. Therefore, the presented VIDAM method can be considered an important progress to cover a broad spectrum of contamination control needs, from troubleshooting and process control to incoming material inspection."

Technical Contact:

Dr. Udo Gommel, Phone +49 711 970-1633, udo.gommel@ipa.fraunhofer.de