| Most of us have heard of the concept of the clean | | | | time. These machines help to maintain the positive air |
| room. We know it's supposed to be a sterile | | | | pressure, which is essential for the close tolerance |
| environment where nothing gets in. We assume its | | | | mechanisms that are found inside storage media. |
| so that covert top secret stuff like inventing super | | | | These filtration systems and air management |
| killer diseases for World War 3 can take place. We | | | | equipment as well as all the other gadgets and |
| probably associate clean rooms with government | | | | machines that keep a clean room clean and running |
| bunkers and secret agent safe houses that have | | | | smoothly must be constantly monitored and |
| something of everything in them, including an arms | | | | maintained in order to meet the standard |
| cache big enough to take down a small European | | | | requirements. There are various classes of |
| country and with enough money to build it back up | | | | requirements and for a class 100 certification there |
| again. Then again perhaps I watch too many action | | | | must be 750 particles per cube foot that measure |
| movies. | | | | 0.2mm. Again I do not know what that means. I just |
| Clean rooms are in fact quite innocuous. They are not | | | | hope that it means something to the people who are |
| the scene of high action, high adrenaline, world | | | | supposed to know. |
| saving, red or blue wire cutting, torn vest hero | | | | A clean room is therefore more complicated than |
| wearing places that we think they are (by which time | | | | vacuum cleaning and dusting once a week. That |
| they have ceased to be clean at all). They do play a | | | | might suffice for your room, or you could just have |
| very important life saving role, however, when it | | | | curled your toes and gone, eeuw, once a week, |
| comes to data recovery after you have accidentally | | | | what kind of slum do you live in? But a clean room |
| formatted your hard drive and wiped out all your | | | | needs something a little bit more, shall we say, |
| bosses holiday photos. Then the old adrenaline is | | | | zealous or particular. It actually does need floors that |
| definitely pumping as you anxiously await some good | | | | are clean enough to eat off of, although goodness |
| news. | | | | knows how many microbes are on the food that you |
| Clean rooms are all about controlling the surrounding | | | | eat and are therefore barred from the clean room's |
| environment and its variables. They control elements | | | | sterile environment. Its surfaces need to be cleaner |
| such as temperature, humidity, airborne contaminates | | | | than merely clean enough to pass the finger test. |
| and light, all of which are harmful during the | | | | And it's not good enough to only rinse the cutlery |
| manufacturing and repairing of sensitive electronic | | | | because it's just you and you only stirred a cup of |
| components. The clean room must be perfectly | | | | tea with it anyway. |
| sealed, absolutely nothing must be able to get in, an | | | | If you use the finger test, if you reuse teaspoons |
| example from one website includes "volatiles from | | | | after a quick rinse and if you vacuum and dust |
| adhesives". If you know what volatiles from | | | | sporadically then perhaps working in a clean room is |
| adhesives are, then you are smarter than I am. I | | | | not for you. Sterile environments and you are |
| would guess ... you know what, I'm not even going | | | | probably not the best work mates. This is not a |
| to hazard a guess. The same site also warns against | | | | judgement. I do all of the above. I could never work |
| "particulate matter". What on this blessed earth is | | | | in a clean room. I would drop an instrument on the |
| particulate matter? Whatever it is, you don't want it | | | | floor, pick it up, wipe it on my sterile pants and carry |
| in a clean room, so it goes under the label "bad". But, | | | | on. I might even blow on it before I wipe it. That's |
| if by some accident (heaven forbid) some particulate | | | | probably not standard operating procedure. You need |
| matter or even worse, some volatiles from | | | | to have a special respect for clean to work in a clean |
| adhesives manage to get into the clean room, heavy | | | | room, or special respect for machines. Maybe one |
| duty air management equipment and filtration | | | | breeds the other. All I know is my clean room would |
| systems should be able to sort the situation out in no | | | | fall way below par. |