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- and
the number one question we get asked is...
Does Lasco Services clean rooms or sell household products to clean
rooms?
- No!
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- What
is a cleanroom or critical environment?
- It's
a room in which the number of particles in the air is controlled and
kept within specific limits as defined by Federal Standard 209E. These
rooms might be used to make microchips or to study space dust, anywhere
airborne particulate contamination must be controlled and kept below
a certain level.
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- What
is Federal Standard 209E?
- Simply,
it's an official document that outlines the classes of air cleanliness.
You can read it here. This
document is in Adobe's Acrobat PDF format. If you do not have the
FREE Acrobat Reader program you may download
it here.
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- How
is cleanroom cleanliness measured?
- Cleanroom
cleanliness is measured by how many micron sized particles pass through
one cubic foot of air per minute (cfm). This is how a cleanroom's
classification is determined.
-
- What
do the classifications mean?
- A Class
10 cleanroom has no more than ten micron sized particles passing through
each cubic foot of air per minute. That's really clean. A Class 100,000
may have up to one hundred thousand particles per cubic foot. For
comparison, your home has around 300,000 and a hospital operating
room has about 1,000.
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- How
big is a micron?
- A micron
is a millionth of a meter. Tiny, even compared to a human hair which
is about 100 microns.
-
- Where
do all these tiny particles come from?
- Most
particulate contamination comes from people. We are shedding particulate
matter every minute, even by breathing.
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- How
do cleanrooms stay clean?
- In
several ways. Cleanroom technicians wear special clothing that's designed
not to shed or let particles escape. Often before entering the cleanroom,
personnel will walk through an airshower which blows off any particles
using high velocity air. And, in the cleanroom, places where dust
could settle like ledges and moldings are minimized. We also create
an airflow pattern called laminar flow that constantly cleans the
air by directing and re-circulating it through special filters.
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- What
is laminar flow?
- It's
when all of the air in a cleanroom is forced to move in the same direction
and speed to a filter. One common example of laminar flow is when
the air moves from the ceiling through the floor, is forced up through
the walls to be filtered above the ceiling and then reenters the room
and continues the cycle.
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- What
does HEPA stand for?
- High
Efficiency Particulate Air. These replaceable filters will catch almost
100% of particles as small as .3 microns. You might find them in your
own home or office as part of an air conditioner filtering system
or a vacuum filter.
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- What
does ULPA stand for?
- Ultra
Low Penetration Air. These filters can remove almost 100% of particles
as small as .1 micron from circulating air.
-
- What
exactly is an airshower?
- It's
a hallway or room leading to the entrance of the cleanroom. Often
there is an airshower between the dressing room or gowning area and
the main entrance to the cleanroom. In the airshower, high velocity
air blows off debris that could contaminate the cleanroom environment.
Sometimes de-ionizers are used to remove static thereby increasing
the effectiveness of removing hair and lint. Learn more by examining Lasco's airshower.
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- What
is a pass-through?
- A pass-through
(pass-thru) is a chamber that allows items to be moved between cleanrooms
or between cleanroom and non-cleanroom areas. Less traffic in and
out of the cleanroom means fewer chances for contaminants to enter.
Pass-throughs can also be designed so that only one door will open
at a time. This, in conjunction with higher air pressure inside the
cleanroom, forces particles out when the inner door opens. View some
examples of Lasco's pass-throughs.
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