What Are My Choices For Cleanroom Doors

Congratulations – you are building a cleanroom. It is important to choose the correct quantity and type of cleanroom doors so your cleanroom will function well.

These cleanroom gown room doors will be the most used doors in the cleanroom. They are typically kept as small as possible (3 ft wide) to limit the amount of contaminated air that can enter the cleanroom. Swing doors should have door closers to make sure the doors close when not in use. The cleanroom gown room doors can be interlocked to electronically make sure that only one door can be open at a time. For high-traffic cleanrooms, motorized sliding doors are often used to provide hands-free operation. However, the high cost of motorized sliding doors ($20k-$30k each) limits their usage.

Cleanroom equipment transfer doors are typically large doors that open directly to the outside to allow large equipment to be brought directly into the cleanrooms. Options for modular cleanrooms include manual cleanroom double swing doors varying from standard 6’x7’ to custom 8’x8’. For larger equipment, motorized roll up doors as large as 16’x16’ can be installed in cleanrooms albeit at high cost.

Manual Sliding doors are sometimes used in cleanrooms due to space restrictions. By installing a sliding door, we avoid using up space for the door swing. Disadvantages of manual sliding doors is they leak significantly more air than cleanroom swing doors and they do not last as long. There also needs to be space for the door to slide into when in open position. Motorized sliding doors are more durable but are very expensive.

Material transfer rooms are airlocks where incoming material can be wiped down prior to bringing material into the cleanroom. These rooms typically have either large cleanroom double doors or motorized roll up doors to allow palleted material to be either forklifted or manually pallet jacked into the room. The motorized rollup doors are sometimes equipped with sensors so they will open automatically for forklifts. When automatic door openers are used then the doors must be equipment with interlocks to ensure that both doors are not open at same time.

Rather than carrying material in and out thru gown rooms, pass thru’s are often installed in cleanrooms. They are typically 2’x2’x2’, though any size is possible with 2 doors. The doors are mechanically interlocked so only one can be opened at a time, thus limiting the amount of contaminants that can enter the cleanroom. The doors are typically clear acrylic or glass so personnel can see if there is something in the pass thru. Pass thru’s are most commonly made from plastic laminate but can also be made from stainless steel (very expensive). Sometimes a HEPA fan filter unit is part of the pass thru to further reduce contaminants entering the cleanroom thru the pass thru. Another type of pass thru is a cart pass thru that sits on the floor and is designed to allow carts of material to be brought into cleanroom.

American Cleanroom Systems design-build modular cleanrooms offer cleanroom swing doors, cleanroom aluminum storefront doors, cleanroom double doors with and without windows, motorized cleanroom sliding doors, motorized cleanroom swing doors, motorized cleanroom roll up doors, air showers, cleanroom pass thrus, cleanroom cart pass thrus, and interlocked cleanroom door systems.