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Equipment designed to provide a clean environment in an enclosure. These rooms are characterized by the maximum number of particles per unit volume allowed inside an enclosure (i.e., cleanliness classes, typically expressed in particles per cubic foot from 1 to 100,000). This equipment may be configured to create air flow with uniform velocity and parallel direction (i.e., laminar air flow), or to produce a partially laminar or turbulent pattern, according to the design and the intended use of the clean room. The equipment usually consist of air gross pre-filters to eliminate big airborne particles; high-efficiency particulate-air (HEPA) filters (which typically remove 99.97% of particles of 0.3 micron or bigger); ultra-low penetration air (ULPA, typically removes 99.99% of particles of 0.12 micron or bigger) filters to provide a filtered air flow inside the enclosure free from fine air particles and liquid droplets; and blowers, ducts, controls, and other devices to regulate the air velocity, temperature, and humidity of the environment. Typically, air is drawn from the environment into the enclosure by the negative pressure created by a blower; the particulates are removed using the filters, and then the filtered air is circulated into the enclosure (e.g., a chamber, a room) and exhausted into the environment (or filtered again and recirculated into the enclosure) using a system of blowers and air pathways. This equipment is used to create clean environments in operating rooms, clinical laboratories and pharmacies, to isolate patients to avoid their contamination (isolation chambers) and/or the contamination of other patients and healthcare personnel from the patient (reverse isolation chambers). Clean room/laminar air flow equipment may be supplied for installation in existing rooms or as an integral part of a standard or custom-designed clean rooms, chambers, or hoods.
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