A clean room is specially designed to prevent the introduction of dust and contaminants into the room. Many industries use clean rooms, including most pharmaceutical and life sciences product manufacturers, which must adhere to stringent regulations and manufacture within very specific clean room conditions.
The first step to ensuring a safe and clean environment is a high-performance door. Many doors are specifically engineered to ensure the highest levels of purity and quality in clean rooms to meet regulatory compliance and product quality needs. They help maintain hygienic environments with a range of features seamlessly integrated into their design.
Specialized Clean Room Features
Speed. High-performance doors open and quickly – up to 50 inches per second – to minimize air incursion and contaminant ingress.
Quality Seals. Tight seals on high-performance doors minimize the air exchange between clean room and non-clean room areas. They help keep contaminants out and maintain cleanliness levels, ensuring high-quality production.
Clean Materials. Many high-performance doors are engineered with corrosion- and chemical-resistant composite materials or stainless steel components that can withstand frequent cleaning and disinfection. These materials resist bacteria growth and allow for easy wipe-down or full washdown cleaning to virtually eliminate potential sites for bacteria growth.
Touchless Activation. High-performance clean room doors offer a wide range of touchless activation options not typically found on traditional doors. Hands-free operation minimizes manual touch zones to help control the spread of germs and viruses, reduce the risk of chemical contamination, ensure staff safety, and improve productivity with efficient traffic flow.
Safety Features. High-performance doors offer advanced features that help ensure the safety of people and equipment in the clean room. Rytec’s doors offer a full array of safety features and signaling options to increase awareness of pedestrians and equipment operators and decrease safety-related incidents.
Durable Construction. Specifically engineered for high-traffic, high-cycle environments and designed for day-in and day-out use, high-performance doors keep operations moving without expensive ongoing maintenance.
Advantages of High-Performance Doors in Clean Rooms
Regulatory Compliance. High-performance clean room doors meet applicable USDA, FDA, NSF and ISO standards for food applications and more. In addition, some doors meet the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) regulations that ensure a product is safe for use and has the ingredients and strength it claims to have.
Controlled Temperatures. Even small fluctuations in clean room temperatures can cause issues for people and products. When cleaning staff or technicians shiver or sweat, they release more particles into the air, which could contaminate the environment and compromise production standards.
In general, the temperature of a clean room should be maintained at 69.8°F (21°C). A high-performance door helps regulate this temperature to keep employees comfortable and maintain product integrity.
Proper Humidity Levels. High humidity levels can cause many problems in a clean room, such as bacteria growth, product degradation or damage, and corrosion. It can lead to static electricity, which can interfere with the movement of particles inside the clean room. Standard clean room guidelines state that Relative Humidity (RH) levels in clean rooms should remain between 30-40% RH year-round. A high-performance door can help easily maintain these humidity levels.
Pressure Differential Control. A high-performance door helps maintain the correct pressurization within a clean room to prevent cross-contamination between environments and block contaminants from entering production areas. Some models can withstand pharmaceutical industry standard 0.10″ W.C. of room pressurization.
High-Performance Doors for Clean Room Applications
- Clean-Roll® doors feature stainless steel, removable side columns that can be completely washed down and a hinged drip guard for easy cleaning and reduced bacteria build-up. It’s the only UL-listed, high-speed door designed to meet USDA, FDA, NSF and ISO standards.
- PredaClean® doors feature stainless steel components that allow a complete wipe-down of all surfaces, with full-height weatherseals and a loop seal on the bottom bar to help maintain pressure differentials. They can be manufactured with optional 2- or 3-ply Rylon® or USDA/FDA-compliant door panels.
- Pharma-Seal® are tight-sealing, cGMP-compliant roll-up doors. The fully enclosed 304 stainless steel hood and side frame ensure compatibility with clean room standards. It comes with two-ply USDA/FDA-compliant panels, making it ideal for cGMP and class-rated facilities.
- Plexline® Clean doors are made with strong composite materials that feature a 2-ply USDA/FDA-compliant panel with USDA door components, making it ideal for cGMP applications.
Keep It Clean
Rytec high-performance doors for clean rooms provide the confidence that your clean room environment is protected. No matter your application or compliance guidelines, there’s a Rytec door to meet your needs.
Contact us today to review your high-performance door options that will help control the environment in your clean room.
