Performance analysis and improvement of air filtration and ventilation process in semiconductor clean air-conditioning system

The air-conditioning system in modern industrial cleanrooms can be very energy intensive due to large air change rates per hour and high airflow resistance. This study focuses on the actual performance and potential improvements of the filtration and ventilation process in cleanrooms. On-site measurements were conducted in three semiconductor cleanrooms to investigate the actual performance of clean air-conditioning systems. The results reveal that the unmatched particle concentrations of outdoor air and return air increase the filtration load. The indoor workshops are often guaranteed excessively, leading to large amount of redundant airflow rates. Both make the actual ventilation system energy intensive. Therefore, a new air filtration and ventilation system in industrial cleanrooms is introduced in this research. The proposed system filters outdoor air and return air separately before mixture and avoids their mixing loss. It indicates that 25.8% to 45.0% of the total energy can be reduced due to lower airflow resistance. Proper return airflow rate of the cleanrooms are proposed to avoid airflow redundancy, and as a result, 32.9% to 50.7% of potential energy can be saved compared with the original system. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.