Automated control solution for contaminant dispersal in a cleanroom

The purpose of this research is to explore the pollutant management in a cleanroom. During the experiments, a hot-wire anemometer was used to measure the airflow velocities delivered from the fan filter units (FFUs). Gaseous ethanol with a known concentration was also released for the interval of 1 min. Three ppbRAE Plus PGM-7240 photoionization detectors were also employed to simultaneously measure the spatial and temporal distributions of the ethanol concentration from a leaking gas pollutant source. To examine the formation and interaction of the airflow through the FFU with the spurt flow released from a pollutant leaking source, the computational analysis was based on the time-dependent three-dimensional conservation equations of mass, momentum and species concentration for the turbulent incompressible isothermal flow with a standard k-ε two-equation turbulent model applied as turbulence closure. The predictions were compared with the measured steady-state velocities and transient ethanol concentration profiles to validate the computer software. To realize the plant automation for ensuring personnel safety in a contaminated cleanroom, numerical experiments was extended to investigate if an air curtain can establish an effective shield for control of gas pollutant dispersion.