A single grain of dust is enough to damage a microprocessor, contaminate a vaccine, or damage the paint of a car with the potential for huge cost implications. Many of the everyday items we depend upon – simply wouldn’t be possible without cleanrooms.
WHAT IS A CLEANROOM?
A cleanroom is a controlled, clean environment made to be ‘clean’. More specifically, it is a room in which the concentration of airborne particles is controlled at nominal levels. The space is built and used in such a way, as to minimise the introduction, production and retention of particles inside.
These particles and contaminates are all around us in our everyday lives. They might be a result of pollution, agriculture, dust from construction. Or even from us – humans are the greatest cleanroom contamination source of all.
Q+ cleanroom consumables are designed, engineered and controlled in Europe and manufactured to ensure minimum contamination. The entire process takes place in-house – this means that our products are both, fully customisable and fully traceable and supplied with a certificate of analysis.
Our cleanroom robot covers, face masks, gloves and protection products help to secure clean environments. We protect the integrity of the cleanroom from sources of potential pollutants and particles brought into the cleanroom environment by human operators.
We provide wipes for cleaning and disinfection procedures. Our mops can be used to clean all of the larger surfaces and our swabs are ideal for cleaning hardly accessible place, or taking samples for biological analysis.
CLEAN BY DESIGN
The design of the cleanroom is key to its ability to reduce contamination – it is clean by design. By containing the cleanroom within another clean environment, particles that are present in the air can be minimised from entering the inner cleanroom space.
All incoming air is filtered to ensure that air entering the cleanroom is free from contaminants. Airlocks with positive pressure also work to push any potential particles and pollutants out into the external environment.
Additionally, the cleanroom is subject to a strict daily cleaning regime, with regular (at least weekly) deep cleaning to safeguard the cleanliness of the space. Our hand wipes are fully customisable, and come in standard dimensions of 9×9” or 12×12”. These are a primary tool in cleaning of equipment and working surfaces (laboratory benches, tables, trolleys/karts).
Our wipes and mop covers (that come in a standard 10×24”, but can be manufactured to any desired specification) are also key in the decontamination of the cleanroom environment itself. The walls and floors of the cleanroom must be mopped as part of a regular agenda.
ELIMINATING MICROORGANISMS
Decontamination and the need to remove particles with thorough cleaning is common to all cleanroom types. But, some life science cleanrooms require higher controls to ensure the elimination of living microorganisms. In these specialist aseptic cleanrooms, everything introduced into the environment must be microorganism free and sterile.
Our sterile wipes undergo a certified irradiation process, which guarantees a sterility assurance level at 10-6 . This means that the chance of finding a microorganism on one of our irradiated wipes is one in a million.
Once any particles have been removed, surfaces must then be disinfected with a solution that can be applied using a wipe. This disinfectant might be ethanol, IPA, or hydrogen peroxide – dependent on the specific application.
Our products are manufactured and treated to protect this clean environment and ensure minimum contamination.
THINKING ABOUT MICROELECTRONICS
Different clean environments and tools and suited to the different cleanroom applications. We produce swabs to enable fine cleaning and manipulation of microelectronics in critical, hard-to-reach areas.
Gekatex Group has over 40 years of experience in developing and manufacturing consumables for surface preparation and protection, from the grinding and polishing process all the way to cleanroom cleanliness.
Find out more about our technical wipes here
Contact us to speak to one of our experts!
