Cleanrooms

Cleanroom selection is a critical decision for a company. The wrong design choice may result in procedural inefficiency, cross contamination, or certification failure. Let’s discuss common questions Terra customers have when specifying and purchasing a cleanroom.

Terra Universal is a manufacturer and supplier of various cleanroom pass-through chambers and pass-through transfer windows that readily support healthcare, hospitals, and surgical environments.

Laminar flow air and positive pressure cleanroom design are ideal for non-hazardous, ultra-clean applications. Positive pressure mitigates dirt from entering the cleanroom when opening doors or pass-through chambers. Laminar airflow design ensures that air maintains a singular, uniform direction and velocity from intake to exhaust port. Terra's positive pressure cleanrooms include HEPA filtration systems capable of ISO Class 3 - ISO Class 8 air quality conditions. ULPA filtration units are available for the most sensitive ISO 3 - ISO 5 product applications including pharmaceutical compounding, semiconductor wafer processing, sterile packaging, and micro-nanofabrication.

Check out our list of Dos and Don’ts in a cleanroom, a summary of cleanroom best practices for making the controlled environment function at peak performance. These are good resources for new cleanroom operators or those unsure about what steps to take in a cleanroom environment.

A HEPA fan filter unit (FFU) is a crucial component of every cleanroom environment. Making the correct decision as to which type of FFU is the most appropriate for your application is not something to simply gloss over. There are two main categories of motorized fan filter units: permanent split capacitors (PSC) and electronically commutated motors (ECM). Both types of fan filter modules provide a perfunctory standard for any cleanroom, but differ by way of efficiency, durability and cost. PSC systems save you money upfront and are ideal for small, consistent projects. However, when considering longer endeavors, especially those with ever-changing circumstances, the ECM will pay for itself with energy savings. For instance, in California at an average of 14.47 cents per kilowatt hour, you would make the difference between the higher upfront costs of the ECM over the PSC bac

In addition to face masks, properly maintained air filters remain crucial in confined indoor spaces to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 virus). Both HEPA filters and ULPA filters reduce the number of microscopic particles in the air, which can keep air safe to breathe in places it’s needed most like hospitals, isolation rooms and crowded indoor areas.

COVID-19 virus spreads through the air on respiratory droplets created from talking, coughing, sneezing, and even breathing. When these activities occur in a populated space with stale air, the likelihood of transmission can significantly increase, as COVID-19 has been proven to remain viable for at least 3 hours lingering in the air or on surfaces up to four meters away from its last host.

Masks and social distancing significantly re

The last thing you need is your lab equipment rusting out on you. When considering your specific application needs for new stainless steel equipment, a recurring question in the market remains—what’s the difference between 304 and 316? When should you consider 316? In scenarios demanding the utmost vigilance, you may discover you require 316L stainless steel.

304 Stainless steel is composed of 18% chromium and 8% nickel. 316 Stainless steel is made up of chromium and nickel at 16% and 10% respectively, but also includes molybdenum—a silvery-white metal that’s highly resistant to corrosion.

316L Stainless steel contains the same corrosion-resistant materials as 316, but includes the added benefit of a lower carbon content—eliminating the opportunity for excessive metallic contamination and making cracking less likely. Both 316 and 316L are able to withstand chlorides and chlorinated solutions, such as Spor-Klenz® and Isopropyl Acetate

Air showers are chambers or tunnels used to decontaminate personnel via air jets as they enter or exit a cleanroom. By using pressurized jet nozzle air streams, air showers blow contaminating particles away from people or items that enter, then filter pollutants and redirect the clean air out of the chamber. The showers are placed at the entrances of cleanrooms or other controlled environments to secure the biggest potential containment breach, minimizing the danger to workers or products.