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NEW ARTICLE: Walking the tightrope: a look at cleanroom air change rates Learn More
In this episode of “The Cleanroom Expert Series,” join Alex as he shares his remarkable career journey—from working on the floor at Subzero to his role in Simplex Production Support over the last 5 years.
Don’t miss this enlightening episode featuring Alex Hernandez!
Join Aaron Marin, Production Assistant Manager at Subzero Engineering, in this episode of “The Expert Series” as he discusses team collaboration within manufacturing at Subzero.
Discover the collaborative dynamics and steadfast commitment to quality that define Subzero Engineering. Ensure you catch this enlightening episode with Aaron Marin!
In the latest installment of “The Data Center Expert Series,” join Cedale Armstrong, Sales Application Engineer at Subzero Engineering, as he dives into the engineering team’s research and development process and Subzero’s innovative custom projects.
Step into the captivating episode of “The Data Center Expert Series” with Nick Collings, our Sales Operations Manager, as he unravels the crucial role of Engineering SAEs within Subzero.
Don’t let this episode featuring Nick Collings slip by! It’s a valuable exploration of the impactful world of Engineering SAEs at Subzero.
In this engaging episode of “The Expert Series,” join Hal, Senior VP of Sales & Marketing at Senneca, as he takes a deep dive into the relationship between Senneca Holdings and Subzero Engineering.
Don’t let this enlightening episode with Hal Shapiro pass you by—where a wealth of knowledge about Senneca and Subzero’s dynamic partnership awaits!
In this episode of “The Expert Series,” join Clark Hale, Senneca Holdings CEO, as he delves into the Synergy between Senneca Holdings and Subzero Engineering.
Don’t pass up this enlightening episode featuring Clark Hale, where deep insights into leadership, culture, and industry impact await!
Article Featured in Networks Europe Magazine
By: Gordon Johnson, Senior CFD Manager
Synopsis
Gordon Johnson, Senior CFD Manager at Subzero Engineering, offers insights into the evolving landscape of the data center industry. In this article, he highlights key aspects such as the emergence of hyperscale and edge data centers, the sector’s approach to ESG concerns, and the risk of power-hungry data centers becoming stranded assets.Gordon discusses how some of the major players in the industry actively strive to improve their Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio by adopting a combination of hardware and software developments. He compares hyperscale and edge data centers, with hyperscale data centers handling large-scale processing across a wide footprint, and edge data centers designed for localized data processing to reduce latency and improve data transfer speeds.
The data center industry’s increased awareness and engagement with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concerns is a significant theme in Gordon’s article. ESG performance improvement aligns with better financial outcomes, motivating data centers to prioritize energy efficiency and sustainability.
Gordon also addresses the potential risk of data centers becoming stranded assets due to their power-intensive nature. As data centers increasingly handle High Performance Computing (HPC), facilities are challenged when it comes to having enough cooling capacity. It’s an expensive problem that’s not meeting design capacity or contributing to sustainability measures.
Stand-first
Gordon Johnson’s insights into the evolving landscape of the data center industry highlight several critical aspects that are shaping its trajectory.
Let’s break down the key points:
Hyperscale and Edge Data Centers:
Hyperscale data centers and edge data centers are shaping the future data landscape, albeit in different ways, while simultaneously complementing each other.
Where traditional hyperscale HPC data centers, typically used by tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to power their cloud services, global user bases, and massive workloads, can cover a large physical footprint serving hundreds of thousands of servers, edge data centers are not designed to be large network hubs. Instead, they’re often small-scale data center sites designed to process and compute data in a closer locale to where it’s generated or consumed. This results in lower latency delays for data processing since applications can process data closer to where it’s needed (at the edge), which further results in less data being transferred back and forth to large cloud and HPC sites. This distinction is important as it reflects the industry’s efforts to optimize data processing for various use cases and locations.
With so many Internet of Things (IoT) applications creating data, the ability to pre-process data at the edge eliminates the need for all the data needing to be transferred back to the cloud. This means only the data that is actually required is transferred. Indeed, rather than competing with, or trying to replace, HPC data centers, the edge will continue to complement and make HPC data centers more efficient in processing only the data that’s necessary.
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) Ratio:
The PUE metric is used to determine the energy efficiency of a data center. While not a perfect calculation, the PUE is determined by dividing the total amount of power entering a data center by the power used to run the IT equipment within it. PUE is expressed as a ratio and is useful for benchmarking data center efficiency. A lower PUE value is desirable because it indicates that a higher percentage of the energy consumed is being used for actual computing, rather than for supporting infrastructure. Ideally, a perfectly efficient data center would have a PUE of 1.0, meaning that all energy is used for IT equipment. In practice, however, achieving a PUE of 1.0 is extremely difficult due to the energy required for cooling and other non-computing functions. All the same, data centers aim to reduce their PUE as much as possible to improve energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and lower their carbon footprint.
It’s important to note that reducing PUE is not only an environmental goal but also a cost-saving measure. With data centers among the largest consumers of electricity, improving efficiency can result in significant operational cost savings. Improvements in PUE can often be achieved through a combination of hardware and software developments, such as better cooling systems, hot/cold aisle containment, server consolidation, environmental sensors to collect data and intelligent monitoring and management of resources.
Many of the leading players in the data center industry, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple, Cologix, CyrusOne, DataBank, Digital Realty, Equinix, Google, H5 Data Centers, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Switch and T5 Data Centers, are actively working to improve their PUE ratio. They have made substantial commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by transitioning to renewable energy sources. These efforts align with broader sustainability goals and the growing importance of environmentally responsible business practices.
As technology continues to advance, Gordon believes we can expect even more innovative solutions and approaches to further improve data center energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact.
Risk of Stranded Assets
Data centers, particularly those handling HPC, are at a constant risk of becoming stranded assets. Stranded assets occur when facilities do not meet their designed capacity, are no longer economically viable due to changes in technology or business needs, or fail to contribute effectively to sustainability measures. In the context of data centers, this often relates to cooling challenges and the cooling capacity that can’t be used by the ITE.
Every data center has an invisible ceiling that limits the amount of ITE and servers that it can cool. With the shift towards HPC data centers, facilities are even more challenged when it comes to having enough cooling capacity to match (and slightly exceed) ITE cooling demand. As data centers become more power-intensive due to HPC requirements, the cooling infrastructure must keep pace.
Inadequate cooling can lead to increased operational costs, reduced efficiency, and environmental concerns. It’s a problem since it prevents data centers from meeting design capacity and also prevents them from becoming sustainable and energy efficient. It’s also an expensive problem since wasted cooling energy is not contributing to the overall cooling of the ITE.
To avoid becoming a stranded asset, organizations often conduct thorough assessments when building or upgrading data center facilities. These include considering future scalability, energy efficiency, and the potential for technology obsolescence. Additionally, some organizations opt for colocation or cloud-based solutions to minimize the risk of stranded assets by outsourcing their data center needs to providers that specialize in maintaining infrastructure.
In summary
Gordon’s insights shed light on the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of the data center industry. The interplay between technological advancements, environmental considerations, and the need to balance efficiency with scalability is shaping the future of data center operations.
Addressing these challenges is vital for ensuring the industry remains both sustainable and economically viable while laying the financial foundation for the long-term future of the data center.
By Jerry Cross, Simplex Cleanrooms Central US Sales Manager
First published by Cleanroom Technology: August magazine issue
Whatever the cleanroom’s function, contamination must be stringently controlled and particulates removed effectively.
While in the past, a variety of benchmarks, standards and outdated documentation have been used to statement a base-level requirement, we now have ISO standards that are dedicated to cleanrooms. These outline the practices and procedures required to manage the risk of contamination and take context into account, such as ceiling height and directional flow. And as an international standard, this means that all cleanrooms that adhere to ISO requirements can be certified to be of the same regulated level, providing a reliable and consistent standard across the world.
In this article, we look at how companies can design their cleanrooms in order to reach the air change rates required by ISO. And how Simplex Modular Cleanrooms and Separation Systems by Subzero Engineering are engineered to optimize and protect your mission-critical environments.
There are nine levels of ISO regulated cleanrooms, with Class 1 being the cleanest. With regard to ISO 146144-4 standards, air changes per hour refers to the number of times per hour the air in a cleanroom is replaced with clean, filtered, and treated air. The measurement of contamination is calculated by “parts-per-cubic-meter”; dividing the volume of air sent into the cleanroom as a unit of time by the total volume of the cleanroom.
ISO Class 9 through ISO Class 6 rooms are determined based on air changes per hour, whereas ISO Class 5 through ISO Class 1 rooms are based on the flow of air through the room in meters per second.
The ISO 1 specification for cleanrooms requires less than two particles greater than 0.3 microns and no particles greater than 1.0 microns per cubic meter.
ISO 8 cleanrooms are required to have 20 air changes per hour of HEPA-filtered air and less than 29,300 particles/meter3 greater or equal to five microns. By comparison, a non-cleanroom such as an air-conditioned office space would have more than 10 times as many particles per meter3. On average, Simplex cleanrooms are rated at ISO 7.
In order to achieve the rating required you need to ask yourself if you’re moving the contaminated air out of the area properly. It’s relatively easy to clean the air, but you need to work out how the air is getting into and out of the space.
The majority of cleanrooms are positive-pressure rooms. Air is introduced into the cleanroom, typically at the ceiling level, after passing through a fan-powered HEPA filter that removes particles as small as 0.5 microns. This creates a pressurized room in which the air pressure in the room is greater than outside the room. The air, and the contaminants in the air, are then pushed down towards the floors and ultimately pushed out via vents low in the walls of the room.
This means that air and contaminants from the processes in the room are constantly flowing out of the room. In addition, the air exiting the room, either through vents or when doors are opened, is at a pressure that is sufficient enough to prevent contaminants from entering via those openings.
Negative-pressure rooms are designed to keep contaminants from leaving the room. A negative pressure room can be used in cases of infectious diseases and pathogens, bio-contaminants and hazardous processes using chemicals, flammables and potentially explosive liquids and powders. In this case, the concern is not what gets into the room, but what gets out of it.
In a negative pressure room, the air is pulled out of the enclosure through reversed HEPA filters or low wall returns. This creates negative pressure, while air is constantly being drawn in through venting and other openings. The force of the air entering the room prevents contaminants from escaping.
Achieving a cleaner class of cleanroom is all about airflow. It’s a matter of bringing clean air in through HEPA filters in the ceiling and moving contaminated air out through vents in the walls or floors. Therefore the greater the number of HEPA filters and vents, the greater the air change rate.
Air change rates determine the design and performance criteria for a cleanroom HVAC system. The total rate, flow pattern, and exchange efficiency often have direct and indirect implications on cleanroom performance and cost which, in turn, determines the rate-of-return on investment for a cleanroom.
Simplex typically designs cleanrooms rated at ISO 7 level. This means 70/75 air changes per hour. Taking the cubic foot of the room, Simplex multiplies the room size by the changes per hour that are required and then divides it by the cubic feet per minute (CFM) that the HEPAs are pulling out. Simplex typically designs for 650CFM HEPAs, which is a standard 2 x 4 HEPA used in most applications.
However, if you used a room side replaceable HEPA, there will be a maximum airflow of approximately 550CFM. Some high-efficiency high-output HEPAs can produce 900CFM, meaning not as many are required. Fan filter units with higher CFM output can help extend the life of your HEPA filter and can also be used when greater airflow is required in areas with limited space.
Cleanrooms are measured for the particulate count at three different levels: As Built, At Rest and Operational.
As Built refers to the cleanroom as it is when it is built, empty of any equipment, materials or workers. As Built is normally used when a cleanroom is first constructed.
At Rest refers to the cleanroom once equipment, machinery, furniture and product have been moved in, but before any workers. All these elements bring with them sources of contamination and change of airflow direction. There is always an expected change in particulate count when At Rest.
The Operational level refers to the cleanroom when all the equipment and materials are moved in and there are workers in there performing tasks and physically moving around the room. At the Operational level, you would expect to see far higher particular counts as human beings are considered the biggest contaminant of all. Skin particles, hair and other physical detritus are very much to blame. In this case, gowning, cleaning, type of equipment and the workflow process can all affect contamination. This is the most challenging of all ratings when trying to assess air change rate requirements as most constructors are not fully aware of the operational usage.
Cleanrooms are typically certified by Simplex as to their level of cleanliness at the As Built level. However, a recent project where a client wanted ISO 5 at Operational rating meant Simplex added a lot more airflow to meet those unseen processes. In this case, Simplex designed the cleanroom for ISO 4 in order to achieve ISO 5.
With so many generators of contaminants to consider, such as operational equipment, people or even just a desk that’s in the way of airflow, it may be considered that building sections, or cleanrooms within the cleanroom, could be a better option. A cleanroom with a modular design allows the cleanroom to be used as you require, expanded or altered without having to be rebuilt from scratch or having to discard part or all of your original investment.
Every cleanroom that’s ISO Class 7 or cleaner, should have an anteroom for gowning, set off from the larger cleanroom. At the very least, this keeps street dirt from getting into the clean area. Interior isolation is also important in food processing and pharmaceuticals to prevent cross-contamination. A recent Simplex project called for dividers for a vitamin processing operation. In this case, if vitamin B12 managed to navigate its way into the Vitamin C work area, that’s cross-contamination, meaning manufacturing shutdowns, product recalls and lost profits.
Maintaining air change rates is relatively simple by adjusting the airflow as your operation requires. As you’re certifying a room, you can tell when the airflow is dropping, or you’re losing air changes for particulates in the air with less air changes. Therefore, you need to expand or improve the HEPA filters. Producing more CFM gives you the ability to make your filters last longer and to retain the level of the ISO standard you’re aiming for.
There is a difference between single-pass and recirculating rooms. A single-pass room is a simple design in which air is pumped into the room from the top and blown out vents at the bottom. If you have air-conditioning in your cleanroom, then you don’t want to just blow that expensive air-conditioned air through the cleanroom and out into a warehouse or other environment where it does little good. A recirculating design uses a double-ceiling system or a double wall, or a combination of them both. Cooled, clean air is introduced through the HEPA filters. Then it flows out of the room, carrying with it any contaminants, into either the air chase or the ceiling plenum, and reintroduced into the room after once again passing through the HEPA filters.
We believe that going forward, manufacturers are going to have to start to prove their airflow. Simplex has recently launched a CFD analysis program to prove and ascertain that it is unidirectional airflow and that it’s going to meet the client’s requirements.
CFD modeling assists in designing efficient technology solutions for new and legacy data center environments by providing predictive results that bridge high-performance computer server operations with the critical mechanical system. Subzero Engineering now includes CFD services for Simplex cleanrooms.
It improves overall energy efficiency (Lower PUE) which easily identifies and eliminates hot spots, determining the right airflow strategy and validating the design.
Leveling the playing field for everybody, the ISO rating keeps the level of cleanrooms consistent across industries. Cleanrooms used to be regulated under a federal standard, which meant the US were able to design a cleanroom one way with certain levels of standards, while the European market could design differently. This international standard has been built for all, ensuring consistency, reliability and of course efficiency across the board, across the globe.
About Simplex Cleanrooms (By Subzero Engineering)
Subzero Engineering is the global leader in turnkey engineering solutions for industrial cleanrooms, data centers, and mission-critical environments.
Simplex Modular Cleanrooms and Separation Systems by Subzero Engineering is one of the most prominent names in modular cleanrooms, softwall curtains, strip doors, separation and process isolation. Subzero Engineering’s Simplex cleanroom product line has set industry standards for over 40 years and is engineered to optimize and protect your mission-critical environments.
Whatever the unique requirement, our team brings industry expertise and a proactive approach to solving even the most difficult isolation challenges.
We believe that no other organization can match our unique portfolio of critical infrastructure optimization technology + services.
Article Featured in Networks Europe Magazine
By: Andy Connor, Director – EMEA Channel
The data center industry faces potentially opposing challenges over the next few years. On the one hand, the demands of our digital age show no sign of stopping, and with 5G expected to reach mainstream adoption, one could reasonably argue that the digital infrastructure required to support such applications is going to increase significantly. What’s clear is that it needs to be agile, scalable, quick-to-deploy, and, above all, efficient, if it is to meet the users’ expectations.
At the same time the data center industry, as a major power consumer, must become more sustainable, and move forward from the easy wins of carbon offsetting to a much more sophisticated programme of carbon reduction and eventual elimination – Net Zero.
Set against these twin objectives, optimising data center performance has never been more important, and in order to achieve this, at Subzero Engineering, we believe a number of things have to happen:
Data drives decision-making
Cliché or not, the saying that ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage or improve it’ remains true. For data center owners and operators, this means understanding either how your existing facility performs under varying environmental conditions and identifying ways to improve it. This may mean major modernizations work will need to take place where efficiencies are lacking. Or designing a new facility, which offers the layout, optimum flexibility and environmental performance to meet the constantly changing requirements of digital customers alongside sustainability targets.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software will play an increasingly important role when it comes to data center design and construction, retrofit and helping to improve the efficiency and performance of legacy data centers. It allows the simulation of an endless combination of racks, cabinets, cabling and mechanical and engineering (M&E) equipment, with the anticipated IT load, to ensure optimization. In providing data-driven analysis of the cold and hot air within the data center, CFD analysis also delivers optimized layout recommendations and highlights how energy costs can be reduced by optimising and maximising cooling usage throughout the data center. Such an Environmental Impact Evaluation provides valuable information to help operators reduce energy usage and carbon emissions and will play a critical role in meeting Net Zero data centers.
Modernization is critical
Armed with the data, it’s time for action. And this is where I believe that data center containment solutions can play a critical role – especially as data center owners/operators look to improve both the IT and environmental performance of new and legacy facilities. The benefits are many, and both hot and cold aisle containment solutions optimize the interaction of the cold supply and hot exhaust air within the data center. This eliminates hot spots and significantly reduces the prospect of equipment failure. It also applies to the M&E and the IT hardware, both of which might otherwise be challenged to cope with extreme, unregulated temperatures. Improved reliability is a prerequisite for today’s digital applications.
A new kind of micro data center will emerge, that is truly vendor agnostic, with the user’s choice of data center components
Once installed, containment solutions provide major environmental benefits, including higher cooling supply temperatures, lower CRAC fan speeds, a lower carbon footprint and a lower PUE. Another key containment outcome is significantly reduced energy usage, hence a smaller energy bill. Combined with an energy management and monitoring programme, containment solutions also allow operators to extend the lifecycle of their systems, which is a major sustainability win.
Greater flexibility at the edge
The edge infrastructure market is predicted to surge over the next two years, but today is dominated by small-scale micro data centers which are often pre-populated, single rack solutions. This can mean little flexibility in terms of their make-up, size or ability to scale up a single system in a modular manner and that the key needs of our digital age – flexibility, agility, scalability, speed – may not be met.
We believe that a new kind of micro data center will gain momentum in the coming months, one that can be truly vendor agnostic, and designed with the user’s choice of data center components (power, cooling, racks, cabling, safety systems). Such systems can be provided as standardized, but highly flexible or fully customized solutions, enabling the user to define their edge based on the business requirements. Furthermore, they can offer a 20-30 percent cost saving when compared to a fully containerized micro data center.
As we look towards Net Zero, sustainability and performance demands must be met. It requires greater flexibility in our infrastructure and a data driven approach to design and deployment.
15th June 2023 – Subzero Engineering, a leading provider of Modular Cleanrooms and Separation systems, has donated a Simplex SIS 212 industrial cleanroom to Purdue University, a top ten public university in the United States, advancing discoveries in science, technology, engineering and math.
Built around simple, strong, and easy-to-assemble modules, the SIS 212 softwall cleanroom is designed for fast construction and can be 100% customized to suit the requirements of any application. The cleanroom donated to the university will be utilized in training and testing related to food preparation and processing and features extrusion technology for food production. The cleanroom is integral to Purdue’s ethos of setting the standard for food production and inspection training.
The cleanroom was launched at a dedication ceremony on 6th June hosted by Purdue, Hillenbrand and Coperion. The event featured live food extruder demonstrations and taste testing of extruded food products, showcasing Coperion’s ZSK 27 hybrid food extruders. Invitees also toured the pilot plant and sat in on technical presentations.
Jerry Cross, Central US and Canada Sales Manager for Simplex Isolation Systems said “We are very excited to be part of this program with Purdue. Our SIS-212 cleanroom will be enclosing the extruder being used for training various state authorities. The regulatory agencies, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and food industry professionals will be using it for training in food inspection and regulations in a physical, live, functioning room, that’s producing real products.”
Dr. Dharmendra Kumar Mishra, Associate Professor and Director of Food Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing Institute (FEMI), Department of Food Science, Purdue University has said “This is a first-time application of the cleanroom for academia in the United States for extruded food production and in the entire history of the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. The ultimate aim is to train food industry and regulatory professionals on the latest procedures while in a true-to-life cleanroom. Here, students can interact with process experts on what they should expect to see out in the field. We also expect there will be an elevated level of education for those students studying in the food science and precision food production services faculties going forward.”
Dr. Subhashis Chakraborty, who is leading the qualification and validation activities of the extruder said, the world class cleanroom is surely the first of its kind achievement in State of Indiana USA, to be designed and installed in pilot conditions and presents an exciting opportunity for the industry and the students who are future food professionals. This also presents a unique opportunity for the industry to carry out pilot scale human-food trails following FSMA regulations in the Purdue University, Pilot food Plant. This is an encouraging advancement for the food safety and food security of the Indiana State as it encourages the utilization of alternative proteins for human food.
Purdue University is a top ten public university in the US, advancing discoveries in science, technology, engineering and math. It aims to fuel economic growth in the region and beyond by enabling food and beverage companies to ideate, develop and commercialize novel improved and sustainable products. The university provides learning experiences in innovation and entrepreneurship for students in the College of Agriculture and contributes to the land-grand research missions of Purdue University.
Subzero Engineering is the global leader in turnkey engineering solutions for industrial cleanrooms, data centers, and mission-critical environments.
Simplex Modular Cleanrooms and Separation Systems by Subzero Engineering is one of the most prominent names in modular cleanrooms, softwall curtains, strip doors, separation and process isolation. Subzero Engineering’s Simplex cleanroom product line has set industry standards for over 40 years and is engineered to optimize and protect your mission-critical environments.
Whatever the unique requirement, our team brings industry expertise and a proactive approach to solving even the most difficult isolation challenges.
We believe that no other organization can match our unique portfolio of critical infrastructure optimization technology + services.
