What are Cleanrooms?

Cleanrooms are environments where low-levels of environmental pollutants such as airborne microbes, dust and chemical vapours are present. The areas are filtered with HEPA or ULPA filters and passages are sealed with airlocks. People entering a cleanroom are required to wear cleanroom suits, gloves, masks and hairnets to prevent the spread of particles.

Equipment used within cleanrooms are also required to emit only limited amounts of particulates into the air, this includes weighing equipment such as scales, balances and tank weighing systems.

Within a cleanroom area, ideally equipment such as scales should be made of stainless steel (especially resistant to chemically aggressive, aqeous solutions) and should be easy to disinfect. Scale manufacturers are now beginning to engineer better solutions specifically for the cleanroom environment from the start. Take for instance, the new range of IF PharmaLine flat-bed platform scales from Sartorius.

Product Focus

IF PharmaLine flat-bed scales offer weighing capacities of 150 to 3,000 kg with resolutions of 15,000 d in standard use (not legal for trade) and 1 x 3000 e for single range or 2 x 3000 e for multiple range legal for trade weighing.

The IF PharmaLine platforms are available in the following platform sizes: 600x600 mm, 800x600mm, 800x800mm, 1,000x600mm, 1,000x800mm, 1,000x1,000mm, 1,250x1,000mm, 1,250x1,250mm, 1,500x1,250mm, 1,500x1,500mm and 2,000x1,500mm.

The low profile design makes it easy to load, so that pit installation is unnecessary. The stainless steel versions are ideal for use in pharmaceutical applications where stringent hygiene standards apply, and are approved for use in hazardous areas and fully ATEX-compliant.

The IF PharmaLine series offers optimal solutions for weighing containers in pharmaceutical clean rooms where pit installation is not permitted. Thanks to their low profile design (starting at 25 mm) and short, space-saving drive-on ramps, positioning the containers on the platform is easy. The high-quality AISI 304 or 316 Ti stainless steel design with rounded corners is also available in electropolished versions (surface roughness Ra < 0.4 µm).

The platform lifting mechanism is made entirely of stainless steel, it is very easy to use, the frame can bolt to the floor and the platform opens to 90 degrees for easy cleaning below the scale and requires no physical strength thanks to special gas-pressure cylinders. The lifting mechanism meets both hygiene regulations and the requirements of the latest occupational health and safety standards (international NIOSH Lifting Equation).

Another model in the IF weighing platforms range is the MoveLine which is similar to the PharmaLine, however the MoveLine has 4 wheels fitted in the side bars of the platform and with a crank handle these can be lowered to allow the platform to be easily moved.