The FFU is widely used in various clean environments due to its modular design, high efficiency, and flexibility. It has become the preferred terminal purification device in many industries with strict air cleanliness requirements. The application scope of FFU is very broad, mainly covering the following fields:
I. Electronics and Semiconductor Industry (Core Application Field)
This is the field where FFU is most widely used and has the strictest requirements. Even the slightest dust can cause short circuits or damage to the circuits of integrated circuits and chips, leading to a decrease in product yield.
Typical Scenarios:
- Semiconductor wafer manufacturing: photolithography area, etching area, diffusion area, CVD area, etc.; integrated circuit packaging and testing; micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing; liquid crystal display (LCD/OLED) panels: array, cell, and module processes; hard disk manufacturing.
- Cleanliness Requirements: Typically ISO Class 4 (Class 10) to ISO Class 6 (Class 1000), with critical areas usually requiring ISO 4-5 levels.
### II. Biopharmaceutical and Medical Device Industry
This industry not only requires the control of dust particles but also emphasizes the control of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses) to prevent drug contamination and ensure patient safety.
- Typical Scenarios:
- Aseptic drug production: aseptic filling lines, mixing areas, critical operation areas; vaccine production workshops; biosafety laboratories: BSL-3/ABSL-3, BSL-4/ABSL-4 laboratories (usually using bag-in/bag-out or fully enclosed FFU designs); aseptic production of medical devices: such as heart stents, syringes, implants, etc., production workshops; hospital aseptic operating rooms (especially hundred-level and thousand-level laminar flow operating rooms).
- Cleanliness Requirements: Grade A and B clean areas (corresponding to ISO 4.8, 5 levels), as well as C/D grade areas.
III. Healthcare and Life Sciences
This field is directly related to human health and has extremely high requirements for sterile environments.
- Typical Scenarios:
- Laminar flow operating rooms: provide a locally ultra-clean surgical environment to reduce the risk of postoperative infection;
- Bone marrow transplant wards, burn wards: provide protective isolation environments for patients with low immunity.
- Reproductive centers (IVF laboratories): provide highly stable and clean environments for gamete and embryo operations.
- PCR laboratories, cell therapy laboratories.
IV. Food and Beverage Industry
This industry mainly uses FFU to prevent products from being contaminated by microorganisms, extend shelf life, and ensure food safety.
- Typical Scenarios:
- Sterile filling workshops for dairy products, yogurt, beer, and juice. Production and packaging areas for health foods and infant formula. Cooling and packaging areas for ready-to-eat meals and meat products.
- Note: This field usually more often adopts traditional clean air conditioning systems, but in key high-cleanliness operation areas, the application of FFU is also becoming more and more common.
V. Precision Manufacturing and Optics Industry
FFU is used to prevent products from being scratched or contaminated during the manufacturing process, which could affect their precision performance and appearance.
- Typical Scenarios:
- Aerospace: manufacturing of precision parts, gyroscopic assembly.
- Optical lenses: grinding, coating, and assembly of lenses for cameras, microscopes, and photolithography machines.
- Research and production of nanomaterials and powder materials.
VI. Research Institutions and Laboratories
FFU provides highly controlled experimental environments for various cutting-edge scientific research.
- Typical Scenarios:
- Nanotechnology laboratories; microfluidic chip laboratories; animal experimental facilities (SPF level) breeding rooms and operating rooms; any experimental operation tables with strict control requirements for particles and microorganisms in the environment.
VII. Other Emerging Fields
- Data Centers: Provide clean cooling air for servers to prevent dust accumulation from causing equipment overheating and failure.
- New Energy: Such as electrode manufacturing and separator production in lithium-ion batteries.
Summary
The characteristics of environments where FFU is applicable are as follows:
1. High cleanliness requirements: Need to reach ISO Class 5 (Class 100) or higher standards.
2. Large area coverage: Need hundreds or thousands of supply air outlets, where the modular advantage of FFU is evident.
3. Flexible and changeable processes: Production lines may need to be frequently adjusted or upgraded, and FFU is easy to move and re-layout.
4. Height restrictions: Buildings cannot provide huge technical interstitial spaces to install traditional ducts and plenums.
5. Energy-saving requirements: Need to flexibly adjust air velocity according to actual conditions to save the huge energy consumption of long-term operation.
6. Safety isolation requirements: For example, in biosafety laboratories, units that are airtight, under negative pressure, and convenient for in-situ disinfection or replacement are needed.
In summary, FFU is the cornerstone of modern ultra-high cleanliness environment construction, especially suitable for cutting-edge manufacturing industries and research fields such as electronics, semiconductors, and biopharmaceuticals, which have strict requirements for production environments.