5 Advantages Of Using Modular Clean Room Panels

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A cleanroom is a specialized space controlled for particles in the environment that can impact your application, such as pollutants, contaminants, dust and microbes. It is used primarily for manufacturing, technology, military and scientific applications where contamination could be detrimental.

These spaces have features like a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter to trap unwanted particles and remove them from the space. They also have climate control and other cleanroom environment features to maintain the needed cleanliness requirements.

You can invest in a permanent clean room built into your floor plan, but a more portable and cost-effective solution is available. A modular cleanroom, also called a softwall clean room, provides this alternative. This type of space, which features cleanroom wall panels, is free-standing and lightweight, and you can assemble it almost anywhere.

Portable cleanrooms meet ISO clean room standards just like hardwall clean rooms and can hold fume hoods, workbenches and equipment, as needed. Since a portable clean room cost is much less than traditional cleanrooms, it can be a good option when you need a confirmable clean space.

There are five advantages of using modular clean room panels:

• Versatility
• Reconfiguration
• Cleanliness Control
• Cost.
• Lead Time

Versatility

A modular clean room can be assembled, disassembled or relocated at any time. This is especially important as businesses grow and change. While you may meet current cleanliness standards now, you anticipate that those standards will change in the future.

You may also expect growth in the size of your operation, but constructing a new, permanent cleanroom each time you move into a larger workspace is cost prohibitive.

There is also versatility in the design of your clean room panels. Some feature windows, while others can feature cutouts or openings for lighting, filters, an HVAC system and other necessary tools for your workspace. Even the color of your wall panels can signify something important in your space, such as the various applications you may perform in your lab.

You can also customize clean room design to meet your industry's standards whether you need to adhere to ISO 9 or the strict ISO 1. When designing your space, like any room, you can add a variety of features to meet your needs, such as:

• Ducted and ductless fume hoods
• Cabinets
• Workbenches
• Countertops
• Storage tools
• Other pieces of furniture

It's always important to make sure these elements comply with cleanliness standards for the room or the workspace may not meet the appropriate specifications.

Reconfiguration

Modular systems are comparatively inexpensive to start, but you can also make them larger, smaller, changeadvantages of using modular clean room panels shapes or move entry points as needed ... saving you substantial costs in the long run. 

If you were to build a permanent clean room to lower ISO specifications and later need to meet more stringent specifications, you'll likely face significant costs to address these new requirements. Since standards can specify details like how close the door is to the workstation, changing the simple placement of a door can be extremely costly in a permanent structure.

However, because clean room modular wall systems are versatile and can be reconfigured, you can change the placement of the room panels and doorways to meet the new standards more easily and with fewer costs. 

Cleanliness Control

Clean room procedures are critical to follow since they help to ensure the room is actually clean and that your application is less likely to be contaminated. Clean rooms are easy to retrofit as specifications and other requirements change to meet new cleanliness standards or to correct a previous misunderstanding of standards.

It's important to know your ISO classification before you install a clean room, though if your classification level changes, it's often easier to make adjustments in a modular clean room versus a permanent structure.

Within your modular clean room, several features are available to help you maintain your standard. You may have air samplers or settle plates to measure the level of contamination in the room. Your fume hood removes toxic vapors quickly, so technicians do not breathe them in. HEPA filters are there to trap particles as little as .3 micron in size. If you need to meet higher standards, Ultra Low Particulate Air (ULPA) is also an option.

Cost

Building a cleanroom the old-fashioned way can cost as much as $1,500 per square foot, so a small 10' x 10' clean room could cost $150,000. Why is a traditional clean room so expensive? There are several factors.

You need multiple specialized contractors to work a clean room into the blueprints and build it to the clean room standards. Ductwork specialists will need to design and run separate ductwork for the room to manage airflow, and doors and windows may need to be moved, removed or replaced. Time is money in most cases, and it can take months to build a traditional clean room. Once it is built, it often can serve no other purpose than for what it was intended and may even cease to be a clean room.

A modular clean room provides you with a customized, clean environment at a fraction of the cost. The average portable clean room cost for a 10&#; x 10&#; portable clean room panel system is $10,000 to $15,000, depending on the controls and specifications needed.

The exact price you pay depends mostly on the level of standards you need to meet. ISO 1 rooms tend to cost more than ISO 4 and so on. However, you'd see this same rise in cost for a permanent clean room, the difference being that the costs would go up much more for each level.

Time is money in the case of a modular clean room that uses panels as well, but this time, in a positive way. Each modular cleanroom wall is pre-fabricated to meet cleanroom requirements, so a team can have the wall system up within a few days. And you can bring in your regular employees or contract labor to follow easy-to-follow manufacturer instructions.

You may also need industrial furniture, custom cabinets, workbenches, anti-static mats, electrical outlets and other clean room accessories. It's important to keep these in mind when determining how much you will pay when considering your options.

Lead Time

While building a regular cleanroom takes significant planning, considerable financial considerations and time, an experienced clean room manufacturer can deliver an ISO-compliant modular system in a fraction of the time that it takes to build a conventional cleanroom.

Because modular clean room construction can occur in as little as a few days to a few weeks for more complex rooms, softwall cleanrooms are perfect for companies who need to get a controlled space up quickly.

This has especially been the case of the past year when many companies have needed to switch gears to meet the high demand of supplies during COVID. Modular clean rooms provide the perfect sterile space in which to produce these often highly-regulated supplies.

Keep in mind that there are several factors that influence how quickly modular clean room panels can be installed and your lab can be up and running, including the furniture and materials used inside. For example, some lab countertop orders take longer to fulfill because certain materials aren't available as quickly as others. While a highly effective material to withstand the harsh conditions of a lab, epoxy resin is one of these materials since very few manufacturers make it.

Our article, How Long Does Modular Clean Room Construction Take? explains in more detail about how long you can expect construction of your modular clean room to take.

An Important Choice

Choosing between a modular clean room panel system and a more permanent structure often comes down to your application's needs, cost and construction timeline. The good news is, if your budget is tight or you anticipate application changes down the road, a modular clean room fit with versatile and customizable panels can be a great fit and get your lab up and running in a matter of weeks.

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The Basics of Pharmaceutical Cleanroom Design

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In order to protect consumers, United States pharmaceuticals are one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. The FDA creates a number of standards and tests for Pharma companies to comply with in order to create new drugs and manufacture current ones to reduce side effects and ultimately mitigate the risks to their customers. And creating a highly controlled, uncontaminated manufacturing and packaging environments is a high priority. Pharmaceutical cleanrooms are specially designed to produce this environment.

However, designing, setting up, and installing the appropriate cleanroom environment for your application can be a daunting undertaking in and of itself. Designing a cleanroom involves a variety of rules, jargon, and products that can be overwhelming, especially for those new to the space.

But we have developed this handy guide that should hopefully provide a solid jumping-off point and help with the basics of modular cleanroom design.  

Pharmaceutical Cleanroom Design Basics: What Exactly Makes a Cleanroom

Clean

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Cleanrooms are categorized based upon the number of particles or contaminants in a given cubic space air. The International Organization for Standardization (or ISO) has developed a series of Cleanroom classifications in which most Pharmaceutical cleanroom environments in the US are designed to meet. As we have talked about previously in What Are Cleanroom Classifications?, 

ISO cleanroom classifications range from ISO 1 to ISO 9 with ISO 1 being the cleanest and ISO 9 being the least clean. These classifications organized based on a logarithmic scale, meaning that each increase in class will increase the maximum allowable particles in the air by a factor of 10. For example, ISO 1 is the most strict and highest controlled cleanroom environment available. In an ISO 1 cleanroom, there can be no more than 10 particles (of a size less than or equal to .1 micrometers) in a cubic meter. For the next level, ISO 2, there can be no more than 100 particles (of a size less than or equal to .1 micrometers) in a cubic meter, and so on.

There are a variety of factors that go into creating a well-controlled cleanroom environment, but these factors will generally boil down to one of three main categories: 1. The Operations, 2. The Surfaces, & 3. The Air Quality.

Operations Within a Cleanroom

Within every cleanroom (or regular room) the number one source of contamination is always the same... the people inside it.  That's why the operations, layout, and protocols within a cleanroom design will typically be the first step in the design process. Cleanrooms must be laid out in the order in which people enter it from the outside, "contaminated" air. Generally, as a person moves from room to room, the cleanroom can only increase one ISO level at a time.  

As an extreme example, a person cannot simply walk into a high-level, Class 100 cleanroom from the regular, outside air. All of the dirt and debris on their skin and clothing would be carried into the room. 

Simply opening the door would introduce countless contaminants, entirely ruining the cleanroom environment. For this reason, employees entering a cleanroom from the outside will typically first enter a Class 100,000, then a Class 10,000, then 1,000 and so on. However, there are also a couple of room types within a cleanroom that are used to accomplish this. 

Airlocks, Transition Rooms, & Ante-Rooms 

Airlocks, Transition Rooms, & Ante-Rooms all generally serve the same purpose within a cleanroom assembly, which is to create a buffer zone among the different levels of cleanliness. Airlocks and Anterooms will generally be found at the entrance of these systems, and transition rooms will be used internally. One of the main tools used in Airlocks and transitions is the use of pressurization within the room.  

Placing these transition rooms under positive air pressure is one of the primary techniques used to keep contaminants out. This means at any opening in the room's envelope, air will be pushing out, rather than coming in, keeping out foreign particles. The higher the classification of cleanroom, the more positive pressure that will be used within the room. (Note: In some cases, a negative pressure room may be implemented in order to keep a contaminant inside a particular room. This will be used when toxic chemicals are in use or even in hospitals wards treating communicable viruses.)

  Gowning Rooms

As we stated earlier, the people within the cleanroom create the largest risk factor in terms of contamination. Gowning rooms are designed to combat this problem, and even can act as a transition zone as well. Cleanroom gowns allow people to enclose the contaminants on their person within the gown, before entering a high-level cleanroom environment. With the gowns kept in a clean environment, this will greatly reduce the risk of carrying new contaminants into the next room, especially when used in combination with an air shower. Cleanroom gowns may or may not be required depending on the classification of the cleanroom environment. Generally, when the rated for ISO 6 (Class 1,000) or greater, a gown will be required, including gloves, masks, and shoe covers. 

Surfaces Within a Cleanroom

Next, there are a few characteristics that the surfaces within a cleanroom must have. These characteristics follow the same rule of reducing the number of contaminants as much as possible, and the higher the cleanroom classification, the more strict they become. First, the cleanroom walls should offer a non-shedding facing. This means that the walls inside the cleanroom should not be able to introduce any contaminants themselves. Anything that could potentially crumble, peel, collect dust, flake, etc. should not be used. Next, the surface should also be non-porous so that it does not allow for the congregation of micro-organisms. Finally, the surface should be easy to clean. This requirement can go beyond the materials used in the wall panel. The system itself should be designed to eliminate recesses, ledges, nooks, crannies, and any other hard to reach spaces. These are spots in which particles can collect and can be difficult to clean. Because of this, high-level cleanrooms may require fully-flush doors, windows, lighting, pass-throughs, etc. 

Despite the different characteristics these surfaces must have, there a variety of different wall systems and materials that will work. For Panel Built, we use a few different wall panel types to create a modular hardwall cleanroom environment. FRP, or Fiber-Reinforced Plastic, is the most popular interior wall facing for Panel Built cleanrooms. Panel Built utilizes a FRP sandwich panel that is non-porous and offers a high resistance to chemicals, making it easy to clean and maintain. The FRP panels come in both stucco-embossed and smooth facings. For low-level cleanrooms, Panel Built's standard vinyl-covered gypsum wall panels can be used; however, Panel Built's sales specialists will be able to recommend the appropriate facing for your project. 

Cleanrooms come in both softwall and hardwall versions. Softwall cleanrooms are typically a more temporary option that are suspended from an existing structure. They will typically be used in smaller applications with less stringent cleanroom levels or may even be incorporated into a hardwall envelope.

Air Quality Within a Cleanroom

A cleanroom's air quality will be dependent on how well the air is filtered through the system. Typically, cleanroom envelopes will have a fan-filter unit incorporated into the ceiling design. Fan-filter units (FFUs) are the main form of air filtration within a cleanroom. Cleanroom FFUs will generally contain a pre-filter and either HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) or ULPA (ultra-low particulate air) filters. In addition to FFU's, cleanroom walls will also incorporate an air-return chase, creating a closed system of filtered air. The air in the cleanroom is constantly being cycled through this system to filter out any contaminants or particles that are introduced.  

Depending on the Class of cleanroom required, the FFUs will have an average airflow velocity from 1ft/min to 100 ft/min and 5 to 600 air changes per hour. In order to reach higher airflow velocities and air changes per hour, cleanrooms can increase the percentage of the ceiling covered with FFUs with some applications requiring 100% ceiling coverage.

Specialized FFU/lighting products have been developed in order to provide sufficient lighting to these particular systems. These FFUs help create the positive pressure rooms were mentioned previously. Higher cleanroom levels have more FFUs which equals more air cycles per hour, higher airflow velocity, and a higher positive pressure than lower levels. 

These are some of the basic concepts to understand when looking at your own pharmaceutical cleanroom design. There's still plenty more products and design aspects that can go into creating the perfect cleanroom for you and your facility.  If you have any questions about our modular cleanroom systems, if you're wondering which ISO level would best fit your application, or if you're interested in getting a quote for your own pharmaceutical cleanroom, give us a call at 800.636., send us an to , or just let us know in our LiveChat feature in the bottom-right of the page! We're more than happy to help with any questions or concerns that you may have.

• Glass Hardwall Cleanroom
• Exterior Cleanroom Pass Through
• Cleanroom View from Above
• Interior of a Cleanroom Anteroom

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