Softwall Cleanroom Enclosures
Softwall cleanrooms isolate clean processes, or insulate dirty ones. Medical device manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, high particulate processes, paint, automotive, packaging, or injection molding: each application is dynamic with unlimited variables.
Softwall cleanroom installation requires design consideration before reaching the installation site. Customized ceiling filters and HVAC systems prevent contaminants, harmful aerosols, and fine particulate from impeding critical processes. Steel and aluminum support structures bear customized curtain heights, lighting grids, ceilings, and custom hardware for lean temporary structures or permanent manufacturing areas.
A softwall cleanroom designed by CleanPro® guarantees testing and validation that meets your state, federal, and organizational goals for you application. Whether you're limited by budget, downtime, or only by your imagination, you'll get tightly scheduled delivery and guaranteed ISO validation from a single point of contact.
How to Choose a Softwall Cleanroom Frame
Steel Frame Softwall Enclosures
Steel Frame units are made of tubular steel components. The components are cut, formed, welded and powder coated. The frames are bolted together to create the room.
Pros
- Lowest overall cost per square foot
- Standard size units can ship in as little as two weeks.
- Complete units can be bolted together to make larger clean areas.
Cons
- Because raw steel parts must be powder-coated, non-standard sides can take 8 weeks or more to ship.
- Steel components cannot be easily re-purposed.
- Steel frames are heavier, making them more difficult to move.
- Longer assembly time
Aluminum Frame Softwall Enclosures
Aluminum Frame units are made out of Extruded Aluminum profiles with an anodized finish. They are assembled using internal clinch lock fasteners, no additional hardware is required.
Pros
- Typical 4-week lead time for any size. Orders can be expedited for a fee.
- Frames are lighter, allowing for more mobility with up to a 24' clear span interior.*
- Easy assembly requires only a ladder and hex head wrench.
- Universal extrusions allow for easy expansion or re-purposing of components.
Cons
- Higher cost per square foot.
*Number of filters and additional loads must be reviewed by engineering for maximum spans.
Softwall Material Options
Every industry has specific needs when it comes to using a cleanroom, or other types of isolation challenges. Our suppliers do exhaustive testing of their softwall materials to certify that they will perform in the manner you need them to, providing higher product yields, fewer problems from regulatory authorities, and performance unrivaled in the industry.
Test results are available for fire retardancy, ESD, outgassing, sound abatement, chemical resistance and light transmission. Data sheets with complete test results are available upon request for all material.
Standard Vinyl
Standard vinyl strip material is designed and formulated to resist yellowing, curling and cracking, even in the harshest outdoor environments. Available in clear, reinforced, frosted matte finish and scratch resistant raised rib strips.
Solid, Opaque and Tinted Vinyl
Opaque vinyl strips available in black and white. Amber tint is suitable for light blocking. Amber tint 0.080 mil, red tint 0.040 mil and gray smoke 0.120 mil are all certified for welding applications. Gray smoke tint also reduces heat buildup from sunlight. Orange tint can be used for OSHA safety marker strips. Black is excellent for laser and darkroom applications.
PolySim
This non-outgassing material is made from an inherently static dissipative urethane that provides permanent, non-humidity dependent ESD protection for sensitive manufacturing conditions such as computer disc drives, icroelectronics and aerospace. There is no plasticizer used in PolySim, making the volatile condensable contaminants extremely low. Because PolySim is an alloy using high molecular weight materials, the static dissipation properties are permanent. PolySim is also Class 1 fire rated per flame spread and smoke test.
Anti-Static Vinyl
Designed for use in static-sensitive applications such as semi-conductor chip manufacturing, explosive environments and extremely dusty applications. The PVC strips will not hold a charge and attract less dust to their surface.
USDA and Super Low Temperature Vinyl
Designed primarily for low temperature applications such as walk-in freezers, frozen food warehouses, and extremely cold outdoor climate areas, this PVC material is available with reinforced cords to keep these softer formulated vinyl strips from stretching or sagging, a requirement for use in medium temperature areas that require USDA formulations. Scratch resistant ribs are also available.
FlexSim
These fire-resistant transparent PVC curtains meet and exceed the NFPA 701 small scale and ASTM E-84 standards for fire-resistance. FlexSim is the only domestically-made Class 1 fire rated clear vinyl, with the lowest smoke and flame spread ratings available. The proprietary formula of non-phthalate plasticizers meets U.S. and European requirements for an environmentally-friendly material, and it's priced to help you meet fire safety requirements, while staying within your budget.
Soper's Softwall materials can be used to create completely controlled cleanroom enclosures or isolation areas, from non-specified environmental rooms (also known as white rooms or gray rooms), to fully-specified ISO class cleanrooms. Soper's Cleanroom Enclosures are most commonly used to create a positive air pressure environment, and are easily integrated with third-party fan filter modules.
Suspended Isolation Areas
Our turnkey suspended isolation area consists of a ceiling grid, HEPA filters, sealed lights, sealed tiles and a curtain that are suspended from a t-grid. This configuration can achieve cleanliness levels that meet ISO Class 6 (Fed. Class 1,000) standards, or higher.
HEPA filtered air from above pressurizes the clean space, keeping particles out, while downward velocity pushes any particulate generated in the room to the floor and out of the air gap at the base of the curtain.
Isolation areas feature a 2" heavy-duty t-grid, supported from existing ceiling every 4 feet. Easy leveling is achieved with rod and turnbuckle adjustment. This can make a wall or partition within the clean space.
ISO 14644-1 Cleanroom Classifications
To meet requirements of a "clean room" as defined by Federal Standard 209E and the newer ISO 14644-1, all clean rooms must not exceed a particulate count as specified in the air cleanliness class. Learn more.
Which Classification Do You Need?
Your process requirements have a substantial impact on your cleanroom's construction, maintenance, and energy cost. See the recommended classifications for a variety of manufacturing processes.
CleanPro® Cleanroom Products is ISO 9001:2015 Certified.