Page 13 - ISCC'22

October 11-13,
50 YOUNG PROFESSIONAL
2022 Antalya TURKIYE | 2022
13

INTRODUCTION
In general, a cape is a sleeveless, preferably light cloak Abstract:
for protection against wind and weather. 5000 years As mechanical and electronic components be-
ago it was made of grass, around 350 BC of fur, today come eversmaller, processes and products in many
of textile and synthetic materials: space-saving to pack, branches of industry are becoming more and more
easy to unfold when needed and quick to put on.
sensitive to environmental conditions. Air cleanliness
The scientists at Fraunhofer IPA also thought of such a is an especially important factor. To reduce quality
protection system when they designed a mobile clean-
room together with an aerospace company in 2015. problems caused by airborne particles, companies
This was intended to provide additional protection for in various high-tech sectors – such as the semi-
highly sensitive hardware in a cleanroom with a high conductor, aerospace or pharmaceutical industry
cleanliness class. The idea was to create a separate – have transferred contamination-critical production
cleanroom environment in the cleanroom using a mobile
and quickly installed, self-sufficient system. Based on and assembly processes to cleanrooms from the
this need, a mobile cleanroom was first developed that very beginning. However, due to the lengthy plan-
allows users to enclose hardware in an area of about ning and implementation times, the large amount
four by four metres in just over an hour. The »Clean And of space required, and the prolonged occupancy of
Protective Environment« (CAPE) provides temporary
protection from particulate and molecular and, more production areas, fixed cleanrooms are not always
recently, even biological contamination, during product the best solution.
inspections or cleaning processes, during new installa-
tions in the cleanroom or during routine maintenance The CAPE-system (Clean And Protective Environ-
and repairs. However, completely different applications
are also conceivable: as a mobile operating theatre, ment) developed by Fraunhofer IPA scientists is
as a quarantine room in pandemics to protect fellow a tent-like cleanroom system that can be used to
humans and the environment from contamination, as create a cleanroom environment cost-effectively,
a maintenance system in the semiconductor industry quickly and flexibly. Similar air cleanliness classes to
or as a test centre to evaluate the efficiency of room
air purification systems during the Corona pandemic. those in high-quality, conventional cleanrooms are
achievable, but its lightweight textile construction
2. MOTIVATION FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF »CAPE« makes it much more versatile. Each system is tailored
The aerospace industry creates innovative and highly to requirements and customer specific cleanliness
technical systems that are exposed to extreme require- needs.
ments in airspace as well as in outer space. This also
places extreme demands on the quality, performance
and, above all, reliability of the systems. The motto
“Failure is not an option” is no verbiage in this industry segment, but has absolute priority. Most of these extremely
high-bred systems have equally high demands on cleanliness, absence of contamination and cleanability. Since
these aerospace systems are usually only produced in very small quantities, sometimes as one-offs, the estab-
lished cleanroom solutions do not always meet the specific cleanliness requirements of these one-offs for the
aviation and aerospace industry.
In order to be able to react to these rapidly changing requirements in terms of the usable cleanroom area, variable
cleanroom heights, cleanliness specifications, temperature and humidity conditions, realisable surfaces and air
cleanliness classes within a few months, weeks or even days, the need for a flexible cleanroom system that can
be quickly set up and dismantled was brought to the attention of the scientists of Fraunhofer IPA. The cleanroom
systems to be developed should be usable for a limited period of time at any weather-protected location, usually
in a classic industrial hall environment.

The main requirements for the system are as follows:
f high range in terms of air cleanliness
f weight-optimized lightweight system
f cost-saving system (investment and operating costs, maintenance)
f small pack size
f fast assembly/disassembly
f modularity
In the initial conception phase, we borrowed from the field of camping tents (see figure 1, upper section of the