Air Shower: The Hidden Force Behind Contamination Management
Enter any cleanroom and you will see something peculiar even before you come across any workbenches or machines – the air shower. This is an air shower, and it does more than meets the eye. Ever wonder how it is that pharmaceutical laboratories, semiconductor factories, and food processing facilities prevent airborne particles and dust from interfering with their process? This is often where it begins.
What Is an Air Shower?
The term air shower refers to an engineering structure that is fitted into a clean room at its entrance. When a person or equipment goes through the entrance point, a stream of high-speed filtered air cleans off dust particles, hair fibers, and any other contaminations attached to their body or clothing. The air shower is different from an air curtain, as the latter is simply a stream of moving air but not a process of cleaning and disinfection. The nozzles are fitted in such a way to cover all the parts of the body. An air shower takes about ten to fifteen seconds.
How HEPA Filtration is the Real Hero
Regardless of the type of air shower system you are considering, its effectiveness hinges on a certain component – HEPA filters. They filter out particles as small as 0.3 microns with over 99.97% efficiency, exactly what is required in order to meet ISO cleanroom criteria. Ambient air is sucked into the system, filtered by the HEPA filter and blown through the nozzles at such high pressure that they dislodge particulates stuck anywhere in the room. If there were no filtration step, an air shower would only transfer contaminated air from one place to another.
Where Air Showers Make All the Difference
One might regard air showers as an unnecessary formality, but for some industries, it is anything but. Air shower systems accompanied by gowning rooms are indispensable in semiconductor manufacturing industry, where even a single particle is enough to ruin a microchip. Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies utilize air showers to prevent contamination by either particulates or microorganisms of sterile production environments. Hospitals and biotech research facilities have also started using air showers in order to reduce cross contamination of separate work spaces.
The Human Factor That Gets No Attention at All
There is a factor that does not receive enough attention when using an air shower. It is the fact that the efficiency of the system highly depends on the user's behavior. The process will be less effective if people rush through it, stand closer to one of the sides, and wear loose clothing that can trap particles. Facilities which train people about the proper use of the equipment will show better results in contamination prevention.
The Best Choice for Your Facility
Not all cleanrooms have the same requirements for an air shower. There are such factors as the classification of the room, the level of traffic, and contaminants which affect such criteria as the number of nozzles, airflow rate, and the size of the chamber. Single-person shower will be more suitable for laboratory cleanrooms, while high-traffic industrial facilities require the tunnel-type unit with several access points.
Conclusion
An air shower may not seem to be such a big thing in the overall design of the facility, but it is very important in terms of contamination control and ensuring product integrity and employee safety.
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