Cleanrooms are necessary in industries like pharmaceutical, semi-conductor manufacture, food production and aerospace, where facilities with very low levels of environmental pollutants are needed. Achieving and maintaining the necessary extreme levels of cleanliness, while still operating heavy equipment such as to lift and manoeuvre racks of products, requires a very special level of expertise.
Cleanroom standards are determined by particles mere microns in size and pollution that is measured in parts per million. The ISO standard 14644-1 defines a cleanroom as “a room in which the concentration of airborne particles is controlled, and which is constructed and used in a manner to minimize the introduction, generation, and retention of particles inside the room and in which other relevant parameters, e.g. temperature, humidity, and pressure, are controlled as necessary”.
Minimising the introduction, generation and retention of particles in a cleanroom is achieved in the following 3 ways:
Pharmaceutical applications require stainless steel encased hoists and stainless steel lifting equipment to maintain an uncontaminated and safe operating environment. Hoist UK's pharmaceutical clean room products have either 304 or 316 stainless steel housing.
Food grade hoists and lifting equipment are designed for clean environments such as commercial kitchens and are loaded with stainless steel and corrosion-resistant surfaces, intended for use in a room that is regularly sanitised by chemicals and frequently sprayed with water.
In the aerospace industry, clean room processing is critical for the manufacture of safe and effective components. Even the slightest contamination or particulate presence in sensitive components can completely compromise the required standards, resulting in complete equipment failure.
Clean rooms have strict rules and procedures in place to prevent contamination and are required within semiconductor operations as the tiniest speck of dust can destroy the functionality of an entire chip. Absence of effective control leads to contamination which would damage the product.
Hoist UK's design and manufacturing teams worked closely with BES to design and fabricate a cleanroom hoist entirely bespoke to their unique requirements and application.
Bouygues Energies and Services required a hoist suitable to cleanroom standards with bespoke features, to be built into the ceiling of their Mars Rover simulation room. The hoist had a safe working load of 1,600 kg and a 5.8 meter height of lift so that it could be used to pick up the Mars Rover for general maintenance or in the event it falls over.
Read The Case Study
