When you think of a clean room, spotless floors, dustless surfaces and streak-free windows probably come to mind. While all of this makes for a nice living environment, some types of cleaning take a little more than elbow grease.
Many industries require settings that take our normal definition of clean to the next level. Commercial clean rooms provide environmental control which is a fundamental component in the creation of certain sensitive products. Temperature, humidity, air quality and flow are just some of the factors that must meet stringent requirements for a room to qualify as commercially clean. Medical facilities, electronic manufacturers, dairy farms, ball bearing assemblies and data recovery centers all rely on clean rooms, but the requirements placed upon them vary.
Clean rooms are broken down into classes based on the maximum number of particles per cubic foot of air, according to particle size. Federal standards have been established to break down clean rooms into classes. For example, a class 100 clean room never permits more than 100 particles (0.5 microns or bigger) per cubic foot of air, while class 10,000 clean rooms limit particles of the same size to 10,000. Not to worry anyone, but I did find it fascinating that photo labs are class 100 and hospital operating rooms are class 10,000 (no, that is not a typo).
Burkholder’s recently built a clean room for a local pharmaceutical company that develops and creates diagnostic devices. For that particular project, we created a customized HVAC system because the relative humidity had to be lower than 25 percent. I really enjoy these kinds of projects because it’s up to us to put the pieces together to meet the client’s goals and produce a successful outcome.
Constructing and establishing a commercial clean room is an extensive process, but our careful planning and monitoring throughout the building process ensures smooth sailing for our clients down the road. And that’s just another way we serve you.
For more information on clean rooms, contact us or give us a call at (610) 816-6889.
All the best,
Bob
Bob Burkholder
President
Burkholder’s HVAC
