Tailored for use in cleanrooms

New handling solution for cleanroom technology: With the lift2move cleanroom, EXPRESSO offers its first mobile lifting and transport system, certified according to ISO 14644.

The control unit of the lift2move cleanroom offers the user the ability to precisely and automatically move to up to eight freely selectable heights with up to eight different lifting speeds, while manual operation remains always possible.

The lift2move cleanroom from EXPRESSO features a tip-resistant, low-profile stability chassis for comfortable maneuvering, as well as silent-running, trace-free polyurethane rollers in accordance with ESD standards.

Oliver Stauch-Vaupel: "With our ISO 14644-certified new development, we are expanding our lift2move model series with a lifting and transportation technical special solution that makes life easier for many manufacturers of electronic, microelectronic, and optical components."

With the new lift2move cleanroom, the intralogistics specialist EXPRESSO is offering for the first time a mobile lifting and transportation system certified according to ISO 14644. This makes the German company part of a small circle of manufacturers capable of implementing such cleanroom-compatible material flow solutions. The new feed device expands the lift2move model series and is designed for use in electronics and semiconductor manufacturing, optical industry, and research departments in many other sectors.

Semiconductors and insulators, mechatronic and fine mechanical precision components, sensitive optics, and many measurement components cannot be manufactured with quality assurance without strict adherence to cleanliness standards. Many manufacturers in these industries have therefore established enclosed areas within their facilities, equipped according to various cleanroom classes according to ISO 14644. However, when it comes to setting up efficient material flow paths in these spaces, the same problem repeatedly arises: the higher the cleanroom classification, the fewer suitable lifting devices, transport systems, and conveying systems are available on the market. As a solution to this dilemma, the German intralogistics specialist EXPRESSO now presents its first cleanroom-compatible lifting and transport system: the lift2move cleanroom, a mobile feed device with an electrically driven lifting mast that meets the conditions of ISO 14644 class 5 cleanroom standards. The new lifting system received the corresponding certification from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation (IPA) just a few days ago. “With this ISO 14644-certified innovation, we are expanding our lift2move model series with a lifting and transport solution that makes life easier for many manufacturers of electronic, microelectronic, and optical components,” says Oliver Stauch-Vaupel, head of the powered handling and transport equipment division at EXPRESSO.

High stability and precise material guidance

The lift2move cleanroom is designed as a system solution with an electrically powered lifting mast and an arm for accommodating workpiece carriers, components, or containers. It can handle payloads of up to 180 kg and can move its load freely in space, lifting and lowering over a stroke of 1,600 mm. Its basic equipment is based on the premium version of the lift2move, which EXPRESSO offers under the name Solution. This includes, among other features: a tip-over-proof, low-profile stability chassis for easy and comfortable maneuvering, noiseless and trackless polyurethane wheels that meet ESD standards, and a three-stage operating brake that allows the rear steering wheels to be either locked, braked, or freely rotating and swiveling. Additionally – and this is a highlight – the engineers at EXPRESSO equipped it with the intelligent VPC position control. It offers the user the ability to precisely and automatically approach up to eight freely selectable heights with up to eight different lifting speeds, while manual operation remains always possible. This way, the lift2move cleanroom supports the realization of handling processes that require exact and repeatable feeding, positioning, and removal of workpieces or carriers,” emphasizes Oliver Stauch-Vaupel.

Thoughtful and ergonomic design

As a cleanroom-certified lifting and lowering device, the new lift2move cleanroom from EXPRESSO is made almost entirely of stainless steel and aluminum. All surfaces are glass bead blasted, electropolished, or anodized. This also applies to the control cabinet mounted at waist height on the back of the lifting mast, which houses, alongside the lead fleece batteries (18 Ah BV at 24 V), an integrated unit for wireless operation. On the outside of the housing are the emergency stop switch and a charge status indicator. Above the compact control cabinet is the ergonomically shaped two-hand maneuvering grip, which allows the 550 mm wide and overall 2,335 mm high lift2move cleanroom to be moved safely, easily, and precisely.

ISO 14644 cleanroom-certified lifting and conveying equipment like the lift2move cleanroom are not mass-produced products and belong to the top class of modern handling technology. Their development and production impose the highest demands on the manufacturer. It is advantageous for EXPRESSO that the company consistently relies on Made in Germany, has many decades of practical experience from numerous industry projects, and always aims to incorporate the latest ergonomic insights into its system solutions. “This is especially evident when we develop customized load handling solutions for specific handling tasks. In the future, our engineering team will also pay increased attention to the special requirements of cleanroom and ultra-cleanroom technology,” says Oliver Stauch-Vaupel.