Protective clothing for the cleanroom

The Helmke drum test

Application area

Products and processes in cleanroom areas must be protected from contamination. To this end, ISO 14644 prescribes numerous requirements for cleanrooms and a guide to classification. Appropriate protective clothing to protect the cleanroom and the employees is essential for work in room areas.

There are no official requirements, standards or regulations for such protective clothing, but there are numerous independent test methods that test protective clothing for suitability for cleanroom use.

Requirements for protective clothing for the cleanroom

It is necessary to protect the cleanroom and the production goods from contamination and pollution. Depending on the environment and production process, it is necessary to protect the user from environmental hazards. Suitable protective clothing must do double duty: Protection of the cleanroom and the user.

We have developed our DACH cleanroom hood in close cooperation with clinical partners to meet the high demands of this specific environment. This unique cleanroom hood protects the cleanroom and the wearer with its optimally adapted cut. It maintains this protection under heavy load without compromising the wearer's freedom of movement or comfort.

Requirements to be met for the protection of the user can be found in the regulations for personal protective equipment. There are no official procedures for cleanroom protection garments, but there are many test methods that cannot be found through official references. One such method is the Helmke-Drum test.

The Helmke-Drum test method

The Helmke-Drum test, according to IEST-RP-CC003.3, tests the particle emission of protective clothing under very heavy mechanical stress in dry conditions. This ensures that the protective clothing has low particle emissions under heavy stress, such as the continuous movement of the wearer.

The garment is placed in a rotating drum. Under this constant load, particle emissions are measured for 10 minutes, every minute. A distinction is made between particles larger than 3 µm and 5 µm. The following table represents the classification recommended by the Institute for Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) on the basis of the emission values generated by the Helmke Test.

Table 1: Categorisation according to IEST-RP-CC003.3 for hoods/hoods