Personnel airlock
Flow of people
The personnel airlock, which can be positioned either in front of or inside a cleanroom, forms a mandatory barrier to ensure that employees can enter and leave the cleanroom in a cleanroom-compatible manner.
The greatest source of contamination and therefore danger for the particle-free environment required in a cleanroom is the people themselves, which is why an adequately dimensioned and equipped personnel airlock is essential. As the airlock is also used to maintain the required pressure cascades, its doors are generally interlocked electromagnetically on both sides. This interlock ensures that only one of the two doors can be opened at a time. As a rule, there is a traffic light control [red/green] on each door frame, which indicates the respective opening status of a door.
The cleanroom class, the number of employees in the cleanroom and the defined clothing concept determine the size and equipment of the personnel airlock.
What equipment is required for a personnel airlock?
The shoe changing bench (sitover) plays an important role in most airlocks. This bench is usually set up to divide the space and is also used to store shoes, i.e. there is a clear spatial separation between different clean areas [gray/white].
Other furniture used in the airlock includes checkrooms, dispenser and waste systems as well as storage lockers for disposable and reusable clothing and consumables.