Clean room
Some Ecophon products have been classified according to ISO 14644-1:2015 (Classification of air cleanliness by particle concentration).
This to ensure their compatibility with clean room requirements, in terms of the number of airborne particles (sizes ranging from 0,1 µm to 5 µm) expressed as a concentration in air volume.
| ISO class | Particle size | |||||
| > 0.1 μm | > 0.2 μm | > 0.3 μm | > 0.5 μm | > 1 μm | > 5 μm | |
| ISO Class 1 | 10 | 2 | ||||
| ISO Class 2 | 100 | 24 | 10 | 4 | ||
| ISO Class 3 | 1000 | 237 | 102 | 35 | 8 | |
| ISO Class 4 | 10000 | 2370 | 1020 | 352 | 83 | |
| ISO Class 5 | 100000 | 23700 | 10200 | 3520 | 832 | 29 |
| ISO Class 6 | 1000000 | 237000 | 102000 | 35200 | 8320 | 293 |
| ISO Class 7 | 352000 | 83200 | 2930 | |||
| ISO Class 8 | 3520000 | 832000 | 29300 | |||
| ISO Class 9 | 35200000 | 8320000 | 293000 | |||
Some Ecophon products have also been tested to ensure their compatibility with the requirements from NF S 90-351 (Health care institutions – Controlled environment areas – Requirements for airborne contamination control).
The standard defines several risk zones, where zone 4 has the highest demands. For a product to be classified for use in a certain risk zone it needs to be tested for particle emission according to ISO 14644-1, particle elimination kinetics and air microbiology control.
Definition of risk zones according to NF S 90-351
| Class risk | Class clean particle | Kinetic elimination particles | Class clean microbiological |
| 4 | ISO 5 | CP(0,5)5 | M1 |
| 3 |
ISO 7 |
CP(0,5)10 | M10 |
| 2 | ISO 8 | CP(0,5)20 | M100 |
Particle elimination kinetics (particular classes)
| Classes kinetics of particle removal at 0,5 μm | Time required to obtain 90% of reduction (min) |
| CP(0.5)20 | ≤ 20 |
| CP(0.5)10 | ≤ 10 |
| CP(0.5)5 | ≤ 5 |
Particle elimination kinetics at a level of 0,5 μm is defined by the time required to obtain a reduction of 90% in the number of initial particles.
When particles in a clean room get in contact with surfaces, it is important that they do not stick to the surface. Particle elimination kinetics is a measure to test this. For example, CP(0.5)5 means that if particles of maximum 5 μm are projected onto the surface, 90% of them will be gone from the surface within 5 minutes.
Air microbiology control
| Microbiological cleanliness class | Maximum concentration in number of viable particles per cubic meter of air (UFC/m3) |
| M1 | ≤1 |
| M10 | 10 |
| M100 | 100 |
The material is contaminated and then, after incubation, air and surface sampling is carried out to check that the material does not allow microbial proliferation.
Ecophon products have been tested for the following species:
- Staphylococcus aureus MRSA
- Escherichia coli
- Candida albicans
- Aspergillus brasiliensis
Always refer to a product’s technical datasheet to ensure its compatibility with specific clean room requirements.