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cleanrooms
Over the past 12 months I have walked through many different cleanrooms, both old and new. An
unfortunate common thread with a lot of these facilities are some very poor design choices. They
are not in direct conflict with any standard or regulation, however they can pose a significant risk to
your cleanrooms long term compliance.
So in an effort to start to reverse these recurring trends, here is my take on what is wrong with a lot
of cleanrooms out there.
Surface Issues
Where starting and primary packaging materials, intermediate or bulk products are exposed to the
environment, interior surfaces (walls, floors and ceilings) should be smooth, free from cracks and
open joints, should not shed particulate matter and should permit easy and effective cleaning and,
if necessary, disinfection. Section 3.9 PE009-9 PIC/S Guide to Good Manufacturing Practice Part
1
The internal skin of your cleanroom is your primary barrier that keeps the good things in and the
bad things out. Like your own skin, it should be well maintained and only pierced if absolutely
necessary. In addition holes, bumps, cracks, sharp corners and raised surfaces all create cleaning
headaches. Think of the effort required to clean a large sheet of glass versus a brick wall. The
following will provide common examples where the integrity of the internal skin of your cleanroom
has not been respected.
Rivets
Rivets are used to fix in place coving or window frames or even to join panels. They are necessary
in certain circumstances, but completely unnecessary most of the time. At best they are presented as
a lump with a smear of silicone over the top and at worst a hole directly into a stagnant,
uncontrolled part of your facility. A rivet is fine if it is behind a flashing or coving, but it should
never be seen on the internal surface of an operational cleanroom. There are a number of properly
engineered solutions that are more effective in terms of cost, time of installation and appearance.
Mushroom Bolts
A mushroom bolt is used to hold up a sandwich panel ceiling. A hole is drilled right through the
ceiling panel, a threaded rod is pushed through and is fixed to the roof. On the clean side of the
ceiling a disk shaped like the top of a mushroom is screwed on, holding the sandwich panel in
place. So why dont I like them? Again, because there are perfectly suitable alternative solutions
that dont involve drilling a hole straight through your internal cleanroom skin. Many good
cleanroom contractors have proper, concealed fixings that dont break the cleanroom barrier and
still give you the strength of a mushroom bolt. If you have them already however, I would leave
them as they are; retrofitting a concealed ceiling hanger is simply not possible.
grey conduit and start screwing it into your beautiful, flawless cleanroom wall. I see this a lot, to the
point that it is now a bit of a running joke. To be honest it happened to me once early in my career.
Whether you are working with sandwich panel, stud and plaster/drywall or blockwork, with proper
forethought, all services can and should be concealed. In addition, proper project communications
and a good specification should help to minimize these types of situations.
Practical Considerations
These design features are often considered cleanroom best practice, but often lead to cleanrooms
that are more difficult and or expensive to maintain than they should be.
Appearance is everything
Even though it is a functional industrial space, it is vital that a cleanroom looks good. A good
looking, well finished cleanroom shows that you are under control. It inspires confidence in your
auditor rather than inspiring them to gown up and head into your facility with a magnifying glass.
Basic problems
These are the no-brainer problems that should be obvious, but I keep finding in cleanroom. What it
demonstrates is that the designers have not understood the basic concepts of cleanroom design.
Things that Poke into Clean Environments
If you want to pass material from a Grade C room into a Grade B room through a Pass Thru Box,
into what space should the Pass Thru protrude? The Grade C space should be the obvious answer,
but time and time again I see the Pass Thru protruding into the Grade B space, either half way or
fully. Your critical areas should be as close to a smooth, six sided box as possible. This enhances
airflow, reduces dead zones, coving, joins and sealing and makes the space quicker and easier to
clean.
Smoke Detectors
Cleanrooms are designed to remove particles from the air as they are generated. These particles can
be general dirt, product, raw materials or even smoke. When you consider this, why on earth would
anyone mount a smoke detector for fire protection on a cleanroom ceiling? Yet I continually see
these specified. They are a necessary part of your fire detection arsenal, but should be located in
places where any smoke generated is likely to find them.
What to do next
There are certain things that are simple to fix, such as replacing riveted covings and dodgy silicone
work. Holes in your cleanroom internal skin, particularly if you use a sandwich panel, can be
difficult to fix, unless you are prepared to spend a bit of money.
This highlights the importance of getting it all right first time and using the right people from the
start. There is an easier, cheaper and less risky path on all cleanroom projects. I hope that this
document can give you some of the right directions to follow.