Mobile control of cleanroom systems - tablets and smartphones for monitoring

The SCHILLING CleanRoomControlSystemCR Control® allows the convenient oversight and control of all individual cleanroom components.

Control of cleanroom systems can be carried out flexibly from anywhere using a tablet or smartphone.

Mobile control of cleanroom systems – tablets and smartphones for monitoring the operation of a cleanroom system requires the continual oversight and recording of defined set values, the precise configuration and tuning of all components in the cleanroom and air conditioning systems and most especially the immediate display and correction of problems. The reliable control and operation of complex technology is therefore one of the most important aspects in setting up a cleanroom. SCHILLING ENGINEERING, with the new version of its CR Control® control system, has now released an app that makes the mobile monitoring and control of cleanrooms possible using tablets and smartphones.

The regulation and monitoring of a cleanroom system includes many different components, such as the measurement and recording of particle counts, temperature and humidity in the cleanroom and locks, the setup of the laminar flow modules and air conditioning systems and the monitoring of door functions. Centralising the parameters in a single place and easy-to-understand user guidance significantly simplifies the operation of a complex cleanroom system, thereby increasing the safety, reliability and productivity of sensitive fabrication processes.

The innovative cleanroom company SCHILLING ENGINEERING, with a control system developed in-house, is one of the first companies in the world to have brought the ever more important process of central, intuitive user guidance to comprehensive cleanroom technology, and has now gone one step further. The user-friendly control system can now be called up and operated from tablets and smartphones regardless of location, using an app.

The mobile application is a refinement of the SCHILLING CleanRoomControlSystemCR Control® that has already been in extensive use for several years, which the cleanroom specialists offer their customers to control cleanroom systems. The patented multifunctional tool simplifies the regulation, control and monitoring of cleanrooms and is controlled from a central touch screen. The term "control system" really describes only a small part of the functions that CR Control System provides. It is an interactive regulation, control and monitoring system that combines the complex processes of cleanroom technology, air conditioning technology and monitoring into a single device. All parameters are shown clearly and recorded for monitoring, but particularly individual functions can immediately be controlled and regulated.

Measurement is carried out by sensors that monitor pressure, humidity and temperature and are connected to the control system through interfaces. Additional connections are provided to the cleanroom modules and air conditioning systems. The values of up to 10 cleanrooms and 60 laminar flow modules can be displayed simultaneously on a single monitor, and set values can easily be configured. Continual testing of the level of contamination and the performance of all filters in use is important to have a replacement ready and waiting, preventing downtime losses. One special feature of the innovative system is its unique ability to select very complicated, separately controlled air conditioning systems directly and clearly through the same system. Other functions, such as door control, are monitored – even light levels can conveniently be set.

The different features are easily selected using an intuitive user interface, and are password-secured at different levels to protect them from misuse. Upon customer request, local process machines such as automation or testing systems can also be integrated into the control system. This permits all processes to be accessed from a single point.

During development of the control system, particular value was placed on an immediately comprehensible user interface. Procedures in which immediate intervention is required are made clearly visible with a red colour, or trigger a warning sound. Maintenance displays show the level of filter contamination and service intervals.

An entirely new and to date unique feature of the system is that an app is now available upon installation of the system that permits its control from a tablet or smartphone, entirely flexibly and from anywhere.

The patented SCHILLING CleanRoomControlSystemCR Control® has been used for the control of CleanCell cleanroom systems since 2010. The multifunctional control unit has been entirely satisfactory in the field and is now installed with nearly every cleanroom system from SCHILLING ENGINEERING. Mobile tablet control now permits cleanroom managers to check the functions of their cleanrooms from nearly anywhere in the plant or even from elsewhere and even allows them to make controlling changes to ensure flexible reliability.