In a post-pandemic and post-Brexit world, more and more companies are looking at ways to drive economies throughout their operations, without compromising on quality. Cleanrooms kits—such as Connect 2 Cleanrooms’ (C2C) ready-to-ship range of Rapid Room cleanrooms—offer organisations a quick way of adding additional cleanroom space and they are gaining in popularity. Here, Laura Clarke, account manager at C2C, explains what’s behind the demand for cleanroom kits in the plastics and healthcare markets.
Cleanroom kits are fast, pre-engineered, and available in various sizes to help companies that require a cleanroom environment quickly and as cost-effectively as possible.
Cleanroom kits have been available for years. C2C has offered its softwall rapid room range since 2002. But with a recent increase in demand growth and to support diversification within the healthcare and plastics sectors, C2C has developed its range to include hardwall cleanrooms in popular sizes too.
Softwall cleanrooms have PVC strip curtains as the walls. These cleanrooms are not only the most economical type of cleanroom solution, but they can also be supplied with castors. For plastics manufacturers, this means that the cleanrooms can be wheeled over a machine to give full or partial coverage that protects the most critical point of production, then wheeled back to give access for tool changes.
The benefit of only part-covering a machine is that only the mould area and clamp end can be covered by a cleanroom, leaving material conveying equipment external to the controlled environment. The material conveying equipment can create a degree of particulate so separating it from the clean area makes a big difference to the overall cleanliness of the environment.
Hardwall cleanrooms have walls made from transparent PETG. The rigid walls make it easier for them to maintain a higher class. With integral change areas, they are ideal for applications that require operatives to work inside, but change areas can be an optional add-on for the softwall cleanrooms too.
As they are modular by design, cleanroom kits are easy to install and decommission. This has made them a popular choice for R&D applications. The R&D process for a new component might only take one month. A cleanroom can be erected in the kit form and then validated, then as soon as that process is finished, the cleanroom can be taken down and stored away until it is needed again. This saves valuable floor space and widens the options of where the cleanroom is located. Any part of an existing building can be upgraded into a cleanroom space. They can be self-assembled or can be installed by the cleanroom company as an added service.
It's important to note that although they can be used as temporary structures, cleanroom kits are robust enough to be permanent structures. C2C’s rapid room range of cleanroom kits is designed to achieve ISO 14644-1: 2015 Class 7 and 8. This makes them appropriate to produce parts for class I, IIa, and IIb medical devices. Even if the self-assembly option is used to help control costs, we would always recommend that the cleanrooms are validated to prove to auditors that they are operating within the limits of the required ISO classification.
The smallest size of ready-to-ship cleanrooms from C2C is just 3.24m² and the largest is 18m². The comparatively small footprint means that they are ideal for applications such as testing, quality control, packaging, or assembly. The low price point means that plastics manufacturers can cost-effectively add value to their service. For instance, parts can be cleaned and packed in an ISO 7 cleanroom before being shipped to the customers for final assembly.
Connect 2 Cleanrooms offer a ready-to-ship range of Rapid Room cleanroom kits on a next-day delivery service.