Cleanrooms are a highly effective way of creating an environment that conforms to very individually tailored specifications. They are a staple of the aerospace industry but also have a much broader range of applications. Thanks to the fact that they can be created to precision specifications and to certain industry standards, aerospace cleanrooms can also be used across many other industries.
Lens manufacturing
Whether it’s lenses for smartphones or professional cameras, all need to be manufactured in an environment that can be completely controlled. A cleanroom provides options when it comes to vibration isolation, as well as humidity and temperature control and ensuring that particle contamination is completely minimised. There are few other ways in which this could be achieved so effectively.
Nanotech
Nanotech has applications in many different industries, including making electronics and semiconductors as well as fuel cells and food or even sustainable technology, such as nanotech fuel cells. Whatever the context, nanotech projects always require a controlled environment and the cleanroom is ideal.
Creating safe environments in science
Cleanroom environments help to keep safe those who are working with challenging substances, including harmful biological agents. For example, the process of creating a new drug may involve handling dangerous bacteria or a virus that the drug needs to be tested on and a cleanroom environment can provide a safe space in which innovation can be achieved without posing a danger to those doing the work. Cleanrooms can be designed with specific interior equipment in this context, such as biological safety cabinets.
Experiments in labs and research facilities
The process of research is incredibly finely tuned and the presence of one wrong particle can overturn months of careful preparation and work. Accurate results require every part of an experiment to be completely clean and this can be tricky to achieve in research facilities and university labs. This is where cleanrooms can come in very useful as they are a contaminant-free environment where experiments can be carried out effectively.
Military technology
From tech devices to the gadgets of the future the military has many uses for technology and developing this requires a space where specialists can work with new and innovative materials on cutting edge ideas to help create new opportunities for the military. One example of a project that has benefitted from cleanrooms is the creation of an innovative substance that acts as a barrier to help protect training pilots from excessive noise exposure.
Aerospace
Finally, the aerospace industry of course relies constantly on cleanrooms, whether that is to carry out vital experiments or to create key tools, such as technology that uses lasers. For example space flight lasers require absolute accuracy and must be created in an environment without any potential for contamination that could knock this accuracy off even a little. The precision specifications of a cleanroom environment ensure that this doesn’t happen.
Cleanrooms are vital to aerospace but also essential in many other industries too, from research and science through to military technology and manufacturing products such as lenses.
