Your Crash Course Cheat Sheet To Choose the Best Products
When your project requires air filtration expertise, you want to feel as informed as possible to get high-quality results. That doesn’t mean you need to be an expert, but you need to know enough to make the right calls, separate the good manufacturing teams from the exceptional ones, and close out your project knowing you’ve delivered for your critical environment’s users.
Air filtration isn’t just another component to check off the list. Your facility depends on excellent air quality for safety, risk-reduction, and even profitability. Use this list of terms to feel comfortable navigating this market.
What Is Air Filtration?
Air filtration refers to strategies that filter out particulate matter in the air to protect a particular environment from the damage that particles can cause. This process protects against viruses, bacteria, smoke, mold, dust, allergens, pollen, and other contaminants.
American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE)
ASHE is one of the key organizations healthcare facilities trust for guidance about how to ensure their buildings offer safety and reliability. ASHE also provides standards for commissioning, design, and operation of air distribution and filtration systems with patient and personnel safety in mind.
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
ASHRAE publishes ventilation and indoor air quality standards for commercial HVAC design across industries, including healthcare and pharmaceutical manufacturing. For example, ASHRAE 170 is a widely adopted and referenced standard for ventilation in healthcare settings.
Ceiling System
A ceiling system is an overhead, comprehensive package that includes space for diffusers, fan filter units, lighting, and access panels. A ceiling system works as one solution for an operating room or cleanroom to deliver clean air, high visibility, maintenance, and user efficiency (e.g., equipment mounting for surgical personnel).
Ceiling Grid
A ceiling grid is the structure that holds various air filtration products, along with lighting and panels, in place. These grids are often flexible based on your facility’s particular needs and layout.
Cleanroom
A cleanroom is an environmentally controlled space protected from particles that could contaminate or compromise health or asset production. Cleanroom products include solutions to ensure highly filtered air enters the space at the correct velocity and volume, such as ceiling systems, fan filter units, filters, and diffusers.
Cubic Feet Per Minute (CFM)
CFM is an essential measurement to determine how much air moves from a fan filter unit into a critical environment or cleanroom space. Understanding volume helps you calculate whether the air in a particular environment has been completely replaced by filtered air (called an “air change”), which is essential to meet indoor air quality requirements.
Diffuser
These products distribute filtered air into a room based on a predetermined pattern. A top-tier air filtration team will likely offer several geometries and patterns to best meet your room’s air change requirements.
Fan Filter Unit (FFU)
This system delivers filtered air into a cleanroom by use of its high-efficiency, motorized fan, an air filter, and controls. Best-in-class FFUs ensure a high CFM, quiet operation, energy efficiency, and constant airflow. Air filtration manufacturing teams design various configurations of FFUs, including mobile systems for more versatility and flexibility in your environment.
High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter
HEPA air filters, made of woven media, catch particles before they reach your critical environment. HEPA filters feature a removal efficiency of 99.995% of all particles 0.3 microns or larger. Contaminants in the 0.3+ micron range include dust, pollen, mold, viruses, and bacteria.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
IAQ is a measure of your facility’s air cleanliness and quality, based on certain metrics like particle count, ventilation rates, and air changes per hour. ASHRAE, ASHE, and other governing bodies set IAQ standards for facilities like yours to ensure you meet critical safety benchmarks.
Laminar Flow
This phenomenon refers to a certain type of airflow that moves out of a diffuser in “pistons” or “curtains” of air from the ceiling system to the desired location inside your cleanroom. These pistons or curtains push contaminants away from key spaces to create a clean microenvironment around patients and processes.
Modular Design
An alternative to stick-built design, which refers to on-site construction, modular design allows manufacturers to assemble systems (like ceiling systems) as repeatable components that can be shipped, installed quickly, and upgraded as needed. This design approach ensures that components are quality-checked by the manufacturer in-house, shipped in manageable sections, and built without introducing construction complications.
Ultra-Low Particulate Air (ULPA)
ULPA air filters go a step beyond HEPA to capture even finer particles. ULPA filters have a minimum removal efficiency of 99.99% for 0.12 microns or larger. Some viruses, like COVID and influenza, can potentially evade HEPA filters.
Talk the Talk With a Premier Air Filtration Team
The terms and definitions we’ve provided will equip any facility manager or AEC team member during the selection of custom HVAC products, including air filtration components.
An exceptional air filtration manufacturer should be well-versed in indoor air quality, standards from ASHE and ASHRAE, and likely designs equipment like ceiling systems, FFUs, HEPA air filtration, ULPA filtration, and more.
With your newfound knowledge, you can more confidently take advantage of their offerings and position your project for a strong return on investment. Because air filtration reduces risk, protects human beings, and ensures quality production, the ROI from this market is measurable and significant.