Feature Industrial cleaning Keeping cleanrooms compliant
A legal responsibility lies on those responsible for cleaning up dusts in industry, including cleanrooms, to ensure it is done without affecting workers’ health and safety. The legal situation is complex and Rick Hollebon, UK product manager for Nilfisk ALTO and Nilfisk-CFM says it is important for for employers and cleaning companies to understand the legal and technical requirements as well as the solutions available from manufacturers
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odern industry deals with an ever-increasing variety of materials. Some of these materials in dust form are known to be hazardous to health. Cleanrooms provide additional challenges as the environment must have a controlled level of contamina- tion that is specified by the number of particles per cubic metre at a specified particle size. These particles include dust, microbes and chemical vapours. ISO 14644-1 is a cleanroom standard, ISO levels 1 to 9 dictate the level of con- tamination permitted in terms of parti- cle size and number per cubic metre. Air entering a clean room environ- ment from outside is filtered to exclude dust and inside air is con- stantly re-circulated through HEPA and/or ULPA filters to remove inter- nally generated contaminants. Equipment inside the clean room is therefore designed to generate mini- mal air contamination. Vacuum cleaner systems within clean rooms must therefore meet specific
requirements. Volumes of dust are usu- ally small in comparison so container sizes are generally small. More importantly, however, conven- tional vacuum cleaner motors have carbon brushes fitted which emit carbon dust as the brushes in the com- mutator wear down. To overcome this, clean room vacuum cleaners with con- ventional carbon brush motors must be fitted with an additional high level ULPA filter on the vacuum exhaust. More recent technology has seen the introduction of brushless electronic motor drives on some single phase vacuum cleaners.
The motors are therefore free of carbon emissions as they have no carbon brushes and do not need addi- tional filtration on the exhaust side of the vacuum cleaner turbine. Depending on the clean room appli- cation, the vacuum cleaner may need to be thoroughly sterilised. Its compo- nent materials must therefore be suit- able and the manufacturer of the vacuum cleaner should be consulted
Above left: Nilfisk-CFM’s IVT 1000CR complies with all the requirements for ISO cleanrooms
to ensure that the machine can be ster- ilised if required.
Nilfisk-CFM machines complying with all these requirements and suit- able for use in ISO 4 cleanrooms include the Nilfisk IVT 1000CR. The Nilfisk-ALTO ATTIX 50-21PC is suitable for ISO classes 5 to 9 and can be used both wet and dry applications. Anyone unsure about the technical aspects governing the use of industrial vacuum cleaners in clean room envi- ronments can request a consultation and site survey from an expert such as members of Nilfisk-CFM’s sales team. Nilfisk-CFM is a manufacturer of specialist industrial cleaning equipment. From portable industrial vacuums to pneumatic conveyers and centralised vacuum systems Nilfisk- CFM is a specialist in its field and can offer on site consultations, surveys and demonstrations.
Nilfisk-CFM T: 01768 868995
www.nilfisk-cfm.co.uk Enter 329
customised tray washer from Industrial Washing Machines (IWM) is delivering savings of more than £10,000 per year for a poultry products supplier. The new washing machine was necessary because of rapid and sustained growth in Smithfield Murray’s busi- ness, which meant the previous washing processes could no longer handle the volume of trays being used. Smithfield Murray makes extensive use of plastic trays to transport diced and sliced poultry between the processes in its plant and, until recently these trays were washed using a pressure washer. However, as the demand for the company’s products increased, it was clear tray washing was becoming a production bottleneck. Smithfield Murray approached IWM for proposals on how the tray washing process could be streamlined and automated. IWM put forward its T200 tray washer, cus- tomised to suit the application by the incorporation of an overhead tray infeed section.
“This solution appealed to us because of the small size of the T200 machine, which meant we could accommodate it in the limited space available in our
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Tray washer saves thousands for poultry product supplier A
plant,” says Martin Grady, general manager of Smithfield Murray. “The throughput rate of up to 200 trays per hour was also suitable for our purposes. Also important, of course, was the effective washing process used by the machine and its excellent energy efficiency.” Before the order was placed, IWM carried out exten- sive trials at its works using soiled trays supplied by
Smithfield Murray. These trials showed conclusively that, even with the most heavily soiled trays, the T200 would consistently achieve the high standards of clean- liness that are essential in food processing operations. It was important for Smithfield Murray that the dis- ruption to production caused by the installation of the new washing machine should be kept to a minimum. “The service provided by IWM was excellent at every stage,” says Grady, “but even more impressive are the benefits we’re getting from the machine. It has reduced our water usage by 5m3 per day, which translates into a cost saving of £12.30 a day for 260 days each year, and we can now do all of our tray washing in half a shift, so it has freed up 4.5 employee hours a day for us to use in other areas. Overall, the savings add up to more than £10,000 per year, which makes our new T200 washing machine a very good investment indeed.”
Industrial Washing Machines T: 0121 4599511
www.indwash.co.uk Enter 330
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 Factory Equipment
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