Modular Gas Raceway for Clean Room Wall Integration and Leak Venting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing clean room designs face challenges in managing gas delivery systems, as they occupy valuable space and complicate cleaning and disinfection, with external gas piping being unsightly and reducing the utility of the clean room exterior.
Innovation Solution
A modular, vertically-oriented gas utility raceway that integrates gas piping within the clean room walls, providing a robust and flexible solution that hides the piping, allows for easy installation and maintenance, and supports the clean room structure, while ensuring a gas- and liquid-tight seal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If gas piping is located outside the clean room wall, then installation is simpler, but the exterior appearance is degraded and utility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The gas piping is merged with the clean room wall structure by integrating it into the wall panel assembly. The wall panel includes a front face, back face, and side edges that enclose a cavity, with the gas piping located within this cavity. This merging allows the piping to be concealed within the wall, improving exterior appearance while maintaining installation accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas piping is nested within the wall panel cavity, which itself is nested within the clean room structure. The wall panel acts as a container that houses the piping, allowing the piping system to be integrated into the wall assembly without protruding to the exterior or occupying clean room space.
2Ease of operation
If compressed gas cylinders are stored in the clean room, then gas supply is direct, but valuable clean room space is occupied and cleaning/disinfection becomes complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The gas cylinders are extracted from the clean room environment and located outside the wall structure. The wall panel with its enclosed cavity serves as an intermediate structure that receives gas from external cylinders and delivers it to the clean room through controlled access points, thereby removing the space occupation and cleaning issues while maintaining direct gas supply capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall panel assembly acts as an intermediary structure between the external gas cylinders and the clean room interior. It provides a controlled interface for gas delivery, allowing gas to be supplied directly to the clean room without requiring cylinder storage within the clean room space itself.
3Productivity
If wall panels are made thinner for reduced weight and cost, then manufacturing efficiency improves, but structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The wall panel employs a composite structure with a front face, back face, and side edges that enclose a cavity containing gas piping. This composite design allows the panel to achieve adequate structural strength through the integrated assembly of multiple components working together, enabling thinner individual panel sections while maintaining overall structural integrity and supporting the ceiling function.
Data Source
AI summary
The apparatus of the Invention is a modular gas utility raceway for providing gas service within a clean room. The modular utility raceway has a front face and a back face coinciding with the inside and outside surfaces of the clean room walls. The utility raceway includes a vertically-oriented box-shaped beam that is open at the top to allow escape of any leaked gas above the ceiling of the clean room for the safety of clean room occupants. A support bracket supports gas pipes and connectors and extends above the top side of the clean room ceiling and discourages a user from blocking the open top of the box-shaped beam.