PBSC’s Personnel Decontamination
Personnel decontamination is a critical process designed to remove or neutralize contaminants from individuals, ensuring a safe and controlled environment. Essential in various settings such as cleanrooms, laboratories, and high-containment facilities, this process involves using specialized equipment and protocols to effectively cleanse personnel before they enter or exit controlled areas. This minimizes the risk of contamination and helps maintain the integrity of the workspace.
PBSC offers a wide range of custom designs to meet specific project requirements, ensuring optimal decontamination solutions for any application.
An air shower is a specialized enclosure typically used in cleanrooms and controlled facilities to remove particulate contamination from personnel before they enter or exit the controlled area. This ensures that the cleanroom environment remains free from contaminants, maintaining the integrity and sterility of the workspace.
Widely used in the pharmaceutical, biotech, semiconductor, and food processing industries, air showers maintain high standards of cleanliness and contamination control, ensuring the integrity of these sensitive environments.
Durable Construction: Made from either 304 or 316 stainless steel or powder-coated steel, ensuring they withstand rigorous use and offer long-term reliability.
High-Velocity Air Jets: Powerful air jects blow off dust, lint, and other contaminations from an optative’s clothing or equipment surfaces.
HEPA Filter: Equipped with HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters to ensure that the air used in the shower is free of contaminations.
Automatic Operation: Controls lock and activate the air shower cycle, making the decontamination process efficient and user-friendly.
Nozzles: On both sides of the walls and consisting of either:
- 9 x adjustable stainless steel nozzles – 18 in total, 30-34 m/s velocity, providing 2200 – 2500 m³/hr.
- 15 x adjustable stainless steel nozzles – 30 in total, 30-32 m/s velocity, providing 3670 – 3900 m³/hr. (high flow version).
Air Shower Type:
- 2-Door Straight – For straight-through transfer of the operative, with the shower mounted between two side walls in a “tunnel” configuration. Fitted with 2 doors, one common entry, and one exit side.
- 2-Door Right Angle – For an angled transfer of the operative, with the shower mounted alongside two 90° walls.
- 3-Door T-Section – For straight-through or angled transfer of the operative, with the shower mounted between three rooms in a “T-Section” configuration. The shower is fitted with 2 doors with one common entry, and one exit side as well as a 3rd door which can be either a second point of entry or exit.
Interlocking Doors: The interlocked toughened/tempered glass personnel doors prevent cross-contamination by ensuring that only one door can be opened at a time during the air shower cycle.
Maximum Clear Opening: The door design has been refined to provide a maximum clear entry width with the frame finishing flush with the internal panels. (straight-through design only).
The shower is fully assembled and requires no cranes or special access on-site, as the largest piece can fit through a single doorway.
A fogging shower, also known as a mist shower or a decontamination fogging shower, is a specialized system designed to decontaminate personnel by encapsulating or removing particulate matter from an operative’s suit when entering or exiting a specific area. This method is particularly effective in areas where traditional wet decontamination methods might be impractical.
Fogging showers are commonly used in laboratories, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and other high-containment facilities where stringent decontamination protocols are required to prevent cross-contamination and ensure a sterile environment.
Effective Decontamination: The fogging process can neutralize a wide range of contaminants, including biological agents, chemical residues, and particulate matter, by using 5 to 10-micron water droplets to encapsulate API particles with minimal wetting of the operator’s PPE suit.
Fine Mist/Fog Application: The fog shower releases a fine mist of decontaminant solution, effectively reaching crevices and hard-to-reach areas for thorough decontamination.
Materials of Construction: Made from either a 304 or 316 stainless steel construction to withstand rigorous use and ensure long-term reliability, with the choice of a toughened/tempered 10mm thick glass door or phenolic resin door.
Automated Operation: Equipped with automated controls to manage the timing and duration of the fogging cycle, ensuring consistent and reliable decontamination, located above or next to the shower with a prewired cable for easy site electrical installation.
Safety Features: Includes safety interlocks and emergency stop functions to ensure the safety of personnel during the decontamination process.
Fogging Shower Type:
Straight-Through – For straight-through transfer of the operative, with the shower mounted between two side walls in a “tunnel” configuration.
- Right Angle – For an angled transfer of the operative, with the shower mounted alongside two 90°
- 3-Door – The shower is fitted with a 3rd door; this can be either a second point of entry or exit.
- 2-Person – The shower depth is extended to allow use by 2 operatives simultaneously.
Minimal Residue: The fine mist leaves minimal residue, which reduces the need for extensive clean-up after decontamination.
PBSC utilizes standard components tailored to your specific requirements, ensuring all parts of the shower come with plugs for easy replacements. This design minimizes downtime in case of component failure, enhancing the reliability and efficiency of your decontamination process.
For more information please contact PBSC.