In order to maintain the integrity of a cleanroom environment, air filters have to be replaced when the end of their service life has been reached. While this cuts into production time, the shutdown is planned for ahead of time and the disruption is minimal. Once the installation is complete, it’s common to find several of the expensive, delicate new HEPA air filters were damaged in the process. Production can’t be started up again until the damaged filters are replaced. This creates expensive unplanned production delays, not to mention the large upfront cost of replacing filters twice unnecessarily.
In a Video: Camfil USA Matt Crouch - How to avoid increased costs caused by fragile HEPA air filters, Matt Crouch, Camfil’s Director of Clean Processes for the Americas, explains a straightforward solution to this problem. “When a factory’s not running, that’s money being burned away,” says Crouch, whose experience lies with biochemistry and microbiology, particularly as applied to pharmaceuticals, biotech, and medical diagnostics prior to his work with Camfil, “New technology is available to offer a solution, which allows us to avoid unplanned downtime.”
What’s Wrong with Traditional HEPA Air Filters?
When installed correctly, traditional HEPA air filters of high quality are effective for cleanroom purposes. The problem lies with their fragility. After a typical installation, a number of HEPA air filters can be damaged, threatening the production process as well as the end product itself.
As many as 20% of glass fiber media air filters need to be replaced after installation due to inappropriate handling. While careless or haphazard actions increase this risk, it’s partially due to the nature of the filters themselves: traditional glass media HEPA air filters are extraordinarily delicate. “A thumb in the wrong place will actually damage the media to the point where you can’t use it,” Crouch notes.
Additional Benefits of the Megalam EnerGuard Air Filter
There’s more to the Megalam EnerGuard than just its robustness.
- The Megalam EnerGuard air filter is designed for process safety, so each filter features individual factory performance test results with full traceability.
- The Megalam EnerGuard has a filter failure rate of close to 0% and can save facilities 30-50% in energy costs.
- You don’t have to change your testing equipment or methodologies, unlike alternative HEPA technologies such as ePTFE (Teflon), which carries high cost and high safety risks.
- The Megalam EnerGuard is the first HEPA air filter that will come with an accurately predicted service life based on input variables. . The testing to complete the calculations needed for this prediction are currently underway, so connect with Camfil on Facebook or Twitter to stay tuned.
About Camfil Clean Air Solutions
For more than half a century, Camfil worldwide has been helping people breathe cleaner air. As a leading manufacturer of premium clean air solutions, we provide commercial and industrial systems for air filtration and air pollution control that improve worker and equipment productivity, minimize energy use, and benefit human health and the environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Camfil has been applying their decades of experience in biosafety containment, healthcare, and other sectors of the air filtration industry to provide technological solutions for the public as well as in hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Media Contact:
Lynne Laake
Camfil USA Air Filters
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