Why do we need cleanroom products for hygienic environments?
The media is littered with words such as “cleanroom products”, “hygienic”, “cleanroom” and “protecting”. These words can strike fear into the calmest and most composed person, especially at this time however, these words do not need to have negative connotations. igus® develops products that are needed for such environments. Products that protect and guide cables and hoses whilst being designed to be able to stand up to the chemicals, the wash-downs and the temperature parameters.
Environments requiring this include:
- Medical and pharmaceutical research and manufacturing
- Aerospace research and development
- Food processing
- Medical device manufacturers
- Electronics manufacturing
- Life science facilities
What does “Cleanroom” actually mean?
All of these spaces require absolute purity, it is essential. If there is any contamination, any dust particles or pollutants established within any of the above environments, the results can be disastrous. This could end up in expensive downtime and a massive clean-up procedure being put into place. Far from ideal.
Which cleanroom products does igus® offer?
Our cleanroom products require no lubrication, which means no contaminating, no negative impact on highly sensitive products, which, as mentioned, could result in costing the manufacturer thousands in downtime costs.
So, all our products are dry running. They are perfect for hygienic, cleanroom environments. Not only that, but igus® products are predictable. With the lifetime calculators we can predict the lifetime, thus aiding planning at the design stage and also once the products are on the machines.
Which products should I be using in a cleanroom or hygienic environment?
drylin®
All of our drylin® products are clean-room compatible, ESD compatible and RoHS making them the ideal fit for applications within these climates. We also have a variety of e-chains® that can protect machines carrying data, media and energy cables that are constructed using specific materials, manufactured to be able to withstand these high specifications of cleanliness.
TH3 chain
TH3, the first hygienic design e-chain® was created to be FDA compliant, it is blue in colour, has been designed without pin and bore a connection to avoid material shedding, is chemically resistant and due to the rounded edge concept, ensures that there are no dead spaces for germs to form. This design comes in 4 different widths which allow plenty of options depending on the application.
e-skin®
We also have the e-skin®. This chain is a fully enclosed tube that consists of an upper and lower shell. This is a simple chain which is easy to install and has a flexible design to allow easy opening despite, being completely enclosed. This ensures no abrasion and shedding on the outside of the chain. Unlike corrugated hoses, this system is self-supporting for short stroke moving applications. This enables easy inspection of the enclosed cables.
e-skin® soft
Another member of the e-skin® family is the e-skin® soft. Being manufactured out of a soft material allows this chain to bend down to very tight bend radii. Again, the compact, modular design allows easy access to inspect the cables it is protecting, without compromising the durability of the product (example image possibly)
e-skin® flat
The e-skin® flat has profiles which are clipped together to create chambers. These can, in turn, be clipped together to form multiple chambers. The e-skin® flat is one of the many great cleanroom products and are great in cleanroom environments, quiet and perfect for space-saving applications, as the compact chain only requires approx. 80mm for installation space and 12mm height.
This video will show you how this works:
Now more than ever is this industry vital and we could not be more grateful to every individual working tirelessly to win this battle. We are tremendously proud to be able to support them with igus® cleanroom products, in whatever capacity they need.
For more blogs on cleanroom products visit https://blog.igus.co.uk/?s=cleanroom
