What is Laminar Flow?
Laminar Flow cleanroom equipment is used to remove particulate airborne
contamination in the environment. High process technology manufacturing areas
such as microelectronics,
aerospace, pharmaceutical,
medical devices, and food
processing plants; often require
an almost totally dust-free or
germ-free environment in order
to achieve an economical
process yield. Typically,
uncontrolled environments in
urban areas may contain several
million harmful particles per
cubic foot of the air sampled. In addition, the production working and the production
process itself may produce ever larger quantities of harmful airborne contamination.
Laminar Flow cleanroom equipment is designed to remove this contamination from
the air so that it is not transferred onto sensitive product surfaces.
Laminar Flow cleanrooms utilize three basic principles to create a super clean
working environment. The principles which may be used to control a complete room
or a small bench area are:
1. All outside air brought into the clean area is filled with High Efficiency Particulate
Air (HEPA) filters. These filters will remove 99.99% of all particles as small as 0.3
microns in size from a large volume air stream.
2. The HEPA filters are installed to cover one entire surface of the enclosure, i.e.,
ceiling or side wall, so that the entire air mass within the enclosure is uniformly
displayed with the highly filtered air. The average velocity is typically about 90 feet
per minute or 1.5 miles per hour. Although imperceptible to the working, this mass
airflow quickly flushes away any contamination generated in the room by the activity.
3. All access openings and non-clean activities are kept downstream in the moving
airflow. Clean activities are placed upstream as close to the filters as possible.
Thus, the clean airflow itself is used to isolate and protect the clean product.
Laminar flow cleanrooms utilize a
high air volume (as much as 50 to
100 cubic feet per minute per
square foot of area) and low air
velocity (50 to 100 feet per
minute). The air may be
recirculated back to the HEPA
filters in a closed system with air
added only as required for
ventilation. Cleanroom
environments are rated by the
number of particles, 0.5 microns
and larger per cubic foot of air
sampled from the room while the work is in process. The best Laminar Flow rooms
are rated as Class 100(ISO 5), i.e., less than 100 particles per cubic foot of air.
Pure Aire Laminar Flow products are designed and manufactured to provide Class
100 (ISO 5) or better clean air for any activity requiring a dust-free, aseptic, sterile or
germ-free environment. Pure Aire has a reputation of quality and excellence. A
complete line of factory assembled, tested, and certified clean benches and
modular systems is available to create virtually any size cleanroom environment.
“The ultimate in contamination control requires the
ultimate in dedication to minute detail.”