The history of the Clean Room first started inside hospitals. The works of Pasteur, Koch, Lister and other pioneering surgeons were responsible for what today is a Clean Room.
By discovering which bacteria would cause infections, Lister substantially reduced this risk by operating in the Royal Infirmary room.
He used a solution of phenic acid as an antiseptic on the instruments, in the hands of the surgeons and also in the air, using a spray bottle.
While the structure has been the same throughout the cleanroom's history, the main difference was in positive ventilation, which deals with cleaning the air.
Over the years, the use of outside air has proved to be very important, considerably reducing the concentration of contaminants.
It took years of experiments and studies to arrive at the method we know today.
History of the Clean Room: Key facts
1) In 1946 Bourdillon and Colebrook implemented the use of rooms with positive pressure in relation to adjacent ones.
2) Between 1961 and 1962, the unidirectional system, or laminar flow, was created, which is the concept of ventilation with filters in laminar flow. Several projects were carried out considering the human being as a source of bacteria and disperser of skin particles and other sources, such as breathing.
3) In 1964, airflow was used as a way to remove contaminants in hospitals. John Charnley, decided to introduce the technique of an artificial basin-like joint, which is extremely effective in the operation, although its asepsis rates in the joints were almost 9%, in the cases studied. This method was a disaster for the patients and over time the artificial joint had to be removed.
4) In 1966, the use of laminar flow during operations reduced infections during operations from 9% to 1,3%.
5) In 1980, Ultraclean was created with a laminar flow system and, for the first time, the cleaning of production environments was carried out, for the manufacture of precision systems. From there, the concept “Bacteria Free” was created.
6) After the war with the development of nuclear storage and the use of chemical and biological weapons, High Effciency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters were produced, which were sorely needed to contain dangerous microbes and radioactive contaminants.
Creation of the Clean Room concept
Knowledge about cleaning and sanitizing is quite old. Drug manufacturers very early on recognized the importance of microbiological cleanliness and, within that context, it was called “hygiene”.
In modern times, the first approaches in scientific cleaning technology, carried out by doctors Semmelweis and Lister, introduced disinfection methods in hospitals and operating rooms that dramatically reduced infection and patient mortality rate.
For science, the recognition of this work has resulted in the awareness that critical invisible contamination exists and that these contaminants must be controlled.
In the early history of Clean Rooms, the method was primarily applied to ensure human health.
In the first half of the XNUMXth century, this knowledge expanded and was used in the production of contamination-sensitive products, components and systems.
Gradually, other items and methods were considered in this impurity control method, such as integrated circuits, flat-panel displays, hard disk drives, photovoltaic modules, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive turbo compressors. and several others.
In this way, the daily increase in the use of Clean Room methodologies was highly diversified and its fields of application were gaining ground.
By definition, Clean Room technology currently means the chain of all activities to control and reduce harmful contamination to the product as well as human health.
In other words, a Clean Room is one that contains an indoor air quality maintenance system, presents levels of contaminants and particles within the limits established by the established Norms, according to the activity carried out by it.
Know here more about Clean Room products, in addition to the services we offer, our main differentiators and customers served.
