Cleanrooms
With over 25 years of experience, SCHILLING ENGINEERING is one of the leading specialists in the development and realization of cleanrooms. With our modular cleanroom systems from the CleanCell series, you can achieve a controlled and qualified environment in accordance with ISO-14644 or GMP that is precisely tailored to your requirements. Our cleanroom systems are extremely reliable, equipped with the latest air circulation and air conditioning technology and ensure absolute safety for your sensitive production in your cleanroom.
Whether cleanrooms for GMP production, cleanrooms for medical technology or classic industrial production – we develop the ideal solution for every area of application.
With a cleanroom from SCHILLING ENGINEERING, you get exactly what you need for your production process. We plan your suitable cleanroom system in accordance with your requirements.
Request an individual Cleanroom
What is a cleanroom?
Simply put, a cleanroom is a closed room into which virtually dust-free and germ-free air is admitted via a filter system. Targeted air flows keep suspended particles away from critical objects and direct them to the outside. Quality is measured by the number of particles per cubic meter of air. The aim of a cleanroom is to reduce this concentration to a low, non-critical level. The controlled elimination of the damaging influence of particles and microorganisms ensures significantly higher quality and safety. Many processes can only be carried out under cleanroom conditions.
- Benefits of cleanrooms: Cleanrooms offer protection against contamination, ensure product safety, employee protection and prevent the spread of toxic substances into the environment.
- Cleanroom classes and standardsCleanroom classes are defined in the ISO 14644-1 and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards. The ISO classes range from 5 to 9, with ISO 1 being the cleanest and ISO 9 the least clean. For GMP classes, the scale ranges from A to D, with class A offering the highest purity and D the lowest.
- Specific areas of applicationCleanrooms are used, for example, in medical technology, the pharmaceutical industry, microelectronics, semiconductor production and optics manufacturing.
- Important components of a cleanroomThe most important components of a cleanroom are highly efficient air filters, wall and ceiling elements made of smooth materials, airlocks to control access, cleanroom furniture and cleanroom workstations.
- Size of the cleanroomTo determine how much cleanroom is required, the need is analyzed based on the specific production steps and protection requirements.
- Monitoring in cleanroomsCleanroom monitoring continuously monitors parameters such as pressure, temperature and particle concentration to ensure cleanroom quality.
- Costs of a cleanroomThe cost of a cleanroom depends heavily on the specific requirements. As a rule, prices are between 1,000 and 5,000 euros per square meter.
Our cleanrooms in practice
Cleanroom for injection molding, ISO 7
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Cleanroom for catheters and stents, ISO 8
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Cleanroom for injection molding, ISO 7
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Cleanroom for microassembly, ISO 7
Cleanroom for optical components, ISO 6
Clean room laboratory for cytostatics, GMP B
Cleanroom for medical technology, ISO 8
Cleanroom for Semiconductor, ISO 8
Cleanroom for injection molding, ISO 7
Cleanroom for blistering surgical materials, ISO 8
Cleanroom for injection molding of microimplants, GMP C
Cleanroom for pharmaceutical packaging systems, GMP C
Clean room laboratory for cytostatics, GMP C
Test train cabin, GMP D
Construction of a cleanroom.
We accompanied the construction of a cleanroom system with time lapse and drone. In 2.5 minutes, you can see how a cleanroom system measuring over 500 m² is delivered in individual elements and assembled, including air conditioning. In this example, the cleanroom was planned with 16-meter-long trusses to create a self-supporting surface over the entire length.
What makes our cleanroom special?
Everything from a single source
Everything from a single source
Filigree design
Filigree design
High efficiency
High efficiency
Cleanroom CleanCell - At a glance
Self-supporting basic structure
Our CleanCell system is adapted precisely to your location and your requirements. Thanks to the self-supporting structure of the cleanroom, you do not need a steel structure or load-bearing ceiling for your "room within a room".
Modular, flexible cleanroom design
The cleanrooms from SCHILLING ENGINEERING have a modular design. This means you can convert or expand your cleanroom at any time and also bring in larger machines. It is even possible to upgrade to a better cleanroom class, for example in GMP production.
Cleanroom classes ISO 5 - 9 and GMP B, C, D
With our cleanrooms you can achieve cleanroom classes up to ISO 5. The CleanSteriCell systems are classified according to GMP and achieve cleanroom classes up to GMP B and GMP A in B.
Fully glazed air circulation walls
Thanks to our fully glazed recirculation walls, you always have a view of your production within the cleanroom. Your employees will love the open feeling of space and the natural light. Your cleanroom will be a real eye-catcher!
Lock concepts with furnishings
We would be happy to design your cleanroom with the right airlock equipment. We plan and manufacture airlock furniture and cleanroom furniture in various materials.
Doors with LED visualization
When are employees allowed to enter the airlock and cleanroom? Our integrated LED door lighting intuitively indicates the status of the airlock and cleanroom. Green: entry possible - Blue: rinsing process - Red: one door is open.
Cleanrooms for every application
The CleanCell® cleanroom systems
With a cleanroom from SCHILLING ENGINEERING, you get a customized cleanroom system for your safe process.
Send us a non-binding inquiry or give us a call.
What benefits do cleanrooms offer?
Cleanrooms offer the benefits of protecting products from contamination, ensuring the safety of personnel and at the same time shielding the environment from hazardous substances. Essentially, cleanrooms therefore offer three main advantages:
- Product protection: They ensure the quality of sensitive products and protect them from particles, germs and microorganisms.
- Personal protection: Employees are protected from toxic substances, germs and microorganisms.
- Environmental protection: Clean rooms with negative pressure prevent hazardous substances and dust from escaping.
However, the complexity increases considerably as soon as multiple objectives have to be met simultaneously. A striking example of this is the production of cytostatics, essential active ingredients in cancer therapy. Three critical requirements converge in the manufacture of these medicines: Ensuring product sterility, protecting personnel and preventing environmental contamination. In order to meet these high standards, the implementation of a high-quality Cleanroom or sterile laboratory is essential in addition to a safety cabinet.
Digression on sterility: Products are considered “sterile” if they are free of microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, prions and plasmids, or if their contamination level is demonstrably below a defined threshold value.
What are the cleanroom classes and what standards do they regulate?
Cleanroom classes are regulated by the standards ISO 14644-1 (ISO 1-9, focus on particle purity) and GMP Annex 1 (classes A-D, additional microbiological control) and define the requirements for air purity, air exchange and contamination protection depending on the sensitivity of the process.
- Cleanroom classes are differentiated according to the ISO 14644-1 and GMP standards. In ISO cleanrooms, the main focus is on the removal of airborne particles, which must not be deposited on sensitive products. With GMP cleaning, microbiological contamination by germs and spores must also be prevented.
- The cleanroom classifications in accordance with ISO standard 14644-1 or GMP guideline Annex 1 determine the overall design of the cleanroom. The more sensitive the processes, the stricter the requirements for cleanroom cleanliness. The cleanroom classes range from ISO 1- ISO 9 and from GMP A- D, with the lower numbers indicating higher particle removal standards.
- Depending on the cleanroom class, the air in the cleanroom must be completely replaced at different intervals. This is achieved by laminar air currents that guide clean air into the Cleanroom and force airborne particles out of the Cleanroom.
The use of cleanroom technology is increasingly becoming the key to reliability and cost-effectiveness for products with high quality requirements. Without controlled production processes under cleanroom conditions, many sensitive products cannot be manufactured today. Particularly in the semiconductor industry, microtechnology and medical technology, the smallest particle deposits render the end product unusable.
What are the areas of application for cleanrooms?
Cleanrooms are used in areas such as semiconductor, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, medical technology, aerospace, nanotechnology, the optical industry and the food industry to ensure the quality, safety and reliability of sensitive products under controlled conditions.
Cleanrooms play a central role in numerous industries where freedom from contamination and precise environmental control are crucial. The use of
The highly specialized environments in cleanrooms are used in a wide variety of sectors:
- Semiconductor industry
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Biotechnology
- Medical technology
- Aerospace
- Nanotechnology
- Optical industry
- Food industry
What are the most important components of a cleanroom?
The most important components of a cleanroom are highly efficient air filtration systems, specialized cleanroom laminar flow cabinets, material and personnel airlocks, cleanroom-compatible furniture and special, easy-to-clean and chemical-resistant floor coverings, which together ensure a contamination-free environment.
The efficiency and functionality of a cleanroom are based on these components, which together create a controlled and contamination-free environment. The key elements of a modern cleanroom are explained in more detail below.
Highly efficient air filter systems
Filter fan units are one of the most important components in a cleanroom. They remove particles down to a size of 0.3 micrometers with an efficiency of 99.9995% or higher.
Cleanroom workstations
Laminar flow cabinets in cleanrooms consist of so-called laminar flow boxes or laminar flow cabinets. They have controlled air flow systems, antistatic surfaces and are made of easy-to-clean materials to prevent the accumulation of particles and microorganisms.
Material and personnel airlock
Material and personnel airlocks are crucial for the safe transfer of materials and people in and out of cleanrooms without compromising the cleanliness of the controlled environment. They require specially adapted airlock equipment that uses separate doors, decontamination procedures and controlled pressure conditions to prevent contamination from entering the cleanroom. Material pass-trhoughs ensure the sterile transfer of objects, while personnel airlocks allow employees to enter the cleanroom safely through hygiene steps and changing zones.
Cleanroom furniture
Cleanroom furniture, such as chairs, tables, tool trolleys and cabinets, are specially designed furnishings made of antistatic, easy-to-clean and antimicrobial materials. They are designed so that they do not accumulate particles or germs and allow efficient cleaning to meet the strict cleanroom requirements.
Floor covering
The flooring is made of special materials that are not only easy to clean, but also abrasion-resistant and resistant to chemical cleaning agents. It helps to maintain cleanroom classification by preventing dust or particles from being stirred up and ensures a safe, contamination-free environment.
With a cleanroom from SCHILLING ENGINEERING, you get a customized cleanroom system for your safe process.
Send us a non-binding inquiry or give us a call.
How big does a cleanroom need to be?
The size of a cleanroom depends on the necessary cleanliness requirements and can be reduced to the necessary minimum by means of targeted enclosures or the use of laminar flow modules to ensure efficiency and cost savings while maintaining the same quality.
When considering how large the Cleanroom needs to be, the first step is to determine the exact level of purity required for production processes. It is often not necessary to equip an entire room as Cleanroom. Specific enclosures, for example around machines, may be sufficient to meet the necessary cleanliness requirements. The use of laminar flow modules is also a possible solution. Customized planning allows the cleanroom area to be reduced to what is necessary, resulting in an efficient and cost-saving solution without compromising quality and safety.
How do you check the cleanliness in a cleanroom?
The cleanliness in a cleanroom is controlled by continuously monitoring parameters such as particle concentration, temperature, humidity and pressure differences, with modern systems recording deviations in real time and documenting them in a tamper-proof manner, particularly in accordance with GMP guidelines.
Monitoring in cleanrooms is crucial in order to continuously maintain the cleanroom class. This involves monitoring parameters such as particle concentration, temperature, humidity and pressure differences to ensure that the environment meets the prescribed standards.
Particularly in the pharmaceutical sector, where GMP guidelines apply, monitoring must be documented in a tamper-proof manner. Modern systems record and store the data in real time so that deviations can be detected immediately and measures can be taken. This ensures seamless monitoring and safeguards the quality and success of production at Cleanroom.
How much does a cleanroom cost?
A serious salesperson can only answer the question about the cost of a cleanroom with “That depends” and many counter-questions.
Therefore, here is just a very rough indication in advance: A cleanroom costs between 1,000 and 5,000 euros per square meter.
To be honest, we can’t really answer the price of a cleanroom concretely in a first phone call. And not because we don’t stand behind our prices or want to hide anything. Quite the opposite. It’s simply because we need a whole range of information before we can offer solutions for cleanroom production – often at different prices.
Deswegen haben wir bei einer Frage nach den Kosten eine ganze Reihe von Gegenfragen:
- Which cleanroom class is required?
- How big and how high should the room be?
- Can the ceiling be suspended or should it be self-supporting?
- Is air conditioning required?
- What heat loads are generated?
- Are there GMP specifications?
- How many people will be working in the cleanroom?
These are just some of the parameters that go into a calculation. After all, a cleanroom is not an off-the-shelf product. It must be precisely tailored to the cleanliness requirements and the needs of production.
Only then can we decide together with our customers whether, metaphorically speaking, a Porsche is necessary or whether a Polo will suffice.
In addition to the investment in the building, ongoing energy costs and maintenance should also be taken into account in order to ensure cleanroom quality in the long term. Tailor-made planning makes it possible to optimize costs and meet the requirements at the same time.
CLEANROOM FAQ
What is a cleanroom system?
The term cleanroom system describes the composition of various components for keeping a specific environment clean. Similar to a work process, each component fulfills a specific task so that absolute cleanliness is guaranteed at all times. A cleanroom system includes, for example
- Monitoring elements: These show how many particles there are per m³ of air in the cleanroom and warn you in good time as soon as a certain limit is exceeded. Our precise measuring devices ensure absolute cleanliness at all times.
- Filter systems: They transport “dirty air” outside, while the clean air remains in the cleanroom.
- Cleanroom plenum: This cleanroom ceiling connects different components of the cleanroom system and, above all, ensures smooth return air flow. They transport impure air out of the building.
- Doors, windows, airlocks: our high-quality equipment ensures problem-free working in the cleanroom and consistently high cleanroom air quality.
- Cleanroom furniture: The cleanroom furniture supports efficient work within the cleanroom.
WHICH CLEANROOM SYSTEM SUITS MY PROCESS?
Our modular cleanroom systems CleanCell, CleanFlowCell and CleanEasyCell offer flexible solutions for a wide range of applications in industry, research and production. All systems are designed as cleanrooms in accordance with ISO 14644 and are used for reliable particle control – from simple cleanroom applications to demanding cleanroom processes. However, they differ in their design, their range of functions and their regulatory and technical application options.
In practice, the individual systems cannot be strictly separated from one another. Depending on the application, process requirements and environment, areas of use may overlap. The choice of the right cleanroom system therefore depends largely on an individual risk analysis, which takes into account product requirements, environmental conditions, regulatory requirements, process stability, service life and future expansion options.
The following comparison table provides an initial guide to the scope of our cleanroom solutions. It shows which system is suitable for which requirements:
How much cleanroom is needed?
Every square meter of cleanroom is not only expensive to set up, but also to run. Specifying a larger area or a higher cleanroom class ultimately means more filter systems, more “air” and more costs.
The first questions we ask our customers are therefore usually:
- Are you sure you need this cleanroom class?
- Are you sure you need this size of cleanroom?
- Are you sure that you need air conditioning, especially humidity control?
Quite apart from the investment, energy costs play a significant role in question 3. Only when we understand the process can we help the customer to avoid incurring unnecessary costs for cleanroom technology and to avoid “shooting guns at sparrows”. The goal is maximum customer benefit, not maximum turnover.
It does not always have to be a permanently installed cleanroom, but an enclosure or a cleanroom tent is often completely sufficient for manual activities – for example in combination with a table-top device (laminar flow bench). For clean production, a CNC Cleanroom or a combination with laminar flow benches may even be sufficient. This can also achieve the cleanliness class of the controlled environment very well in parts without having to build an entire cleanroom. For mechanical processes, machines can also be installed and encapsulated outside the cleanroom. This involves working with wall openings or conveyor belts into the cleanroom. There are many ways to reduce costs here without compromising on safety.
So how much cleanroom is needed? – As much as necessary and as little as possible.
Which industries are the cleanrooms suitable for according to their classification?
The classification for which industry a cleanroom class is suitable differs depending on the process and requirements. Therefore, the required cleanroom class is determined individually for each cleanroom so that the requirements for the subsequent process are met exactly. Typical areas of application for each cleanroom class are
- Cleanroom class ISO 8 for the automotive industry
- ISO 7 cleanroom class for medical technology
- Cleanroom class ISO 6 for the optical industry
- Cleanroom class ISO 5 for electronics and semiconductor technology
But here too, it always depends on the specific process and the purity requirements of the end product. It is not possible to make a general classification for each industry!
What standard do Schilling Engineering's cleanrooms meet?
Schilling Engineering’s cleanrooms can be designed for different cleanroom classes so that we can cater specifically to your needs. The cleanroom systems comply with the international standard ISO-14644-1 and the EU GMP guidelines / Annex 1.