Clean Room Conlok

Published: October 3, 2022

Clean Room Conlok®

 

With our brand new ‘Clean Room Conlok®’ range now officially launched and the term, ‘Clean Room’ slowly becoming one of the main talking points of the industry, we wanted to give an overview on exactly what this is all about, and why Demon Cato (A Metpro® Group Brand) have brought this offering to the market

So, what does ’Clean Room’ even mean? How important is it? And what is the need for “Clean Room environment’’ products? Well here at Demon Cato, we have you covered.

What is a Clean Room?

When discussing this type of environment, we typically think of high hygiene areas, for example hospitals or food processing plants. However, with aggressive digitalisation occurring around the globe, the requirement for clean rooms has expanded quite significantly. Today we can find data centres, microtechnology plants and biotechnology plants all requiring a different product specification.

As with any installation, choosing the correct finish is paramount; a fact it could be argued is even more important when procuring product for clean rooms.

But before we dive into the technicalities of how we manufacture our Clean Room range, we should really discover why this is even necessary.

Hot Dip Galvanising: Why it’s great, but not for Clean Rooms

During the manufacturing process of our standard hot dip galvanised steel conduit range, the product is covered and protected with a layer of galvanising. Providing a highly anti-corrosive Class 4 finish, this allows it to be installed both internally and externally. You may be wondering why this has any bearing on our Clean Room Range, which will undoubtedly only see internal installations. In fact, it is the very chemistry of the galvanised coating which makes it unsuitable.

Galvanising contains zinc which itself is sacrificial. Whilst it does an incredible job of preventing corrosion, due to the compressive stress it is under, the zinc relieves this by expanding or ‘growing’ outwards; this leads to the formation of “zinc whiskers”.

These tiny flakes, microscopic in size, sit on the outer coating of a protected component, and can come loose from the main body of the conduit installation. In a normal environment this makes little to no impact on the performance of the product, or anything within the space. However, in a Clean Room Environment, these “zinc whiskers” can cause a myriad of issues, particularly where sensitive equipment is installed;.  Once airborne, whether by snapping off by their own accord or following being handled, even the smallest particles in the air can have drastic effects. The most common of these being whiskers slipping through filter systems and resting on exposed areas of computer circuitry, causing shorts or even systems failures in the most extreme cases.

Why Clean Room Conlok®?

As the need for these specialised environments continues to grow, our Product Development team have developed a clean room ready system specifically designed for these installations. With our Conlok® conduit accessories featuring a bespoke finish that effectively encapsulates zinc whiskers, and Conlok® steel tube manufactured from clean room ready material, this ensures the conduit system can be installed without concern. As with our standard Conlok® range, there is no need to thread the tube meaning quick installations and our new Clean Room Conlok® can being installed at up 5 times the pace of a standard conduit system. No threading also provides even less risk to the area, offering even greater confidence to the contractor, and the end-user customer.

To find out more about our clean room offering or to discuss your requirements, please contact us on [email protected] or give us a call on 0121 552 2100 and one of our sales team will be happy to help you.

 

Demon Cato | Innovations for the Built Environment