Admittedly, the headline is a bit bold. But it fits very well with the new cleanroom project that we were allowed to realise at our long-standing customer Diamond SA.

The Swiss company specialises in the production of fibre optic cables. The optical fibres bundled into cables are also known as fibre optic cables and play an important role in high-speed data transmission. Some fibre optic solutions for sensitive applications require special cleaning, drying, inspection and packaging processes that must be carried out in a clean room. Diamond SA has expanded its production in a controlled environment and set up an ISO 6 class clean room of over 200 m2 where, among other things, dark tests are carried out.

The special test procedures required a cleanroom facility that is specially adapted to the needs of the sensitive products.

Since, among other things, ESD-sensitive assemblies are also processed, a general dissipative capability had to be guaranteed in the clean room. Dissipative cleanroom chairs enable ESD-compatible final inspection of the optical fibres. A special requirement even applied to a special outgassing-free sealant without silicones, which was used in the fillets. The table tops were designed in high-contrast black so that the work steps for processing the white optical fibres are easily recognisable. 

For dark testing and cleaning of the cable harnesses, a separate UV area was to be set up within the cleanroom, which could also be used as a normal cleanroom area without any problems. A partition with a black curtain, which is guided around the corner on a rail, was a functional solution here. The resulting dark area was equipped with a separate lighting group that can be controlled independently. In this area, the products are cleaned with sharper means on stainless steel tables. One of the two large material locks was also equipped with its own light group and opaque sliding doors to enable UV inspections here.

Despite some delivery bottlenecks due to the special equipment, the cleanroom was built and qualified on schedule.