From cleanrooms to outer space: Cleanzone trade fair at Techtextil 2017

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Textile innovations for cleanrooms must satisfy the most demanding requirements

Fascination, science fiction and visions of the future: people have long been enchanted by the dream of colonising space and the question of whether there may be life – even intelligent life – beyond our blue planet. Satellites and space probes sent on missions of exploration must not only work perfectly – they must also be sterile, to ensure that their findings are in no way compromised by biological contamination. That is why these highly complex space vehicles are built and cleaned in cleanrooms.

Cleanzone, the international trade fair and congress for cleanroom technology, will be demonstrating how cleanroom technology works at the special showcase “Living in Space” at Techtextil from 9 to 12 May 2017 in Frankfurt am Main. The special showcase, which was created by Techtextil in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will use the example of space travel to provide a practical and entertaining look at the variety of technical textiles and their processing. Participants in Cleanzone's presentation include the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), the Adriatic Institute of Technology (A.I.T.), Initial Rentokil, Alsico Hightech and Colandis in cooperation with Clear & Clean.

Fraunhofer IPA, for example, is presenting a film of the new, state-of-the-art cleanroom that the institute designed for the ESA in the Netherlands. Among other things, this cleanroom is where the Mars rover for the “ExoMars” mission will be cleaned. The Adriatic Institute of Technology is presenting a desktop model of its “Shellbe” mobile cleanroom. The “Shellbe” module is notable for its ability to be deployed in a wide range of regions and under extreme conditions. In order to satisfy the demanding requirements of work in cleanrooms, textiles – regardless of whether they are mops, clothing, hoods or cloths – must have some special characteristics. In the showcase area, visitors will be able to view cleanroom suits and mops offered by Initial Rentokil – including CleanVision, the cleanroom suit that was the winner of the Cleanroom Award at Cleanzone in 2014. The fact that high-tech and fashion do not have to be mutually exclusive is demonstrated by Alsico Hightech’s material and design study for a cleanroom suit. Colandis and Clear & Clean are jointly presenting new textile developments for the field of micro-technology production. 

“From cleanrooms to outer space” is also one of the top themes at the Cleanzone trade fair on 17 and 18 October 2017 in Frankfurt am Main. This theme will also be addressed as part of the trade fair's extensive supporting programme, and it is the topic of the “Measurement technology / Project qualification / Aerospace” congress module on Wednesday afternoon, for example.

Cleanzone’s interdisciplinary approach makes it useful for all industries where production is carried out under cleanroom conditions, and focuses equally on life sciences and micro-technology. As a result of increasing digitisation and the associated increase in the complexity and sensitivity of products, cleanroom technology continues to grow in importance worldwide. The products and services on offer at the trade fair cover the entire cleanroom production value chain, extending from the design, planning and construction of a cleanroom to its validation/qualification, operation and monitoring. In October 2017, Cleanzone will be taking place in Hall 1.2.