Vertical laminar-flow clean room of flexible design

Claim 1

A vertical laminar-flow clean room comprising: a. a bounding enclosure formed by sidewalls, a top wall, and a bottom wall, said bounding enclosure being substantially airtight except as to permit necessary personnel and material ingress and egress and to provide for makeup air which may be introduced therein in a controlled fashion; b. a raised floor having a periphery which abuts said sidewalls and which constitutes the floor for said clean room, said raised floor having apertures therein to permit airflow therethrough, said raised floor positioned over said bottom wall, and the space between said raised floor and said bottom wall constituting an air-receiving plenum; c. an air-moving filter system having a periphery which abuts said sidewalls and a bottom surface which constitutes the ceiling for said clean room, said air-moving filter system supported beneath said top wall and comprising a plurality of blower-hood-filter assemblies, said blower-hood-filter assemblies each comprising a hood unit having an open air inlet portion and an air outlet portion terminating in highefficiency air filter means which comprises a part of said ceiling, with the overall lateral dimensions of each said blower-hood-filter assembly as measured at that portion thereof which comprises a part of said ceiling being the same, and a blower unit operable to move air from said open air inlet portion and to and through said high-efficiency air filter means, the bottom surface of said air-moving system as viewed from said raised floor comprising a plurality of said air filter means, an air-supply plenum formed by the space between said air-moving system and said top wall, and the only passage for air directly from said air-supply plenum and into said clean room being through said blower-hood-filter assemblies; and d. vertically disposed air return plenum duct means located entirely within the confines of said bounding enclosure and connecting said air-receiving plenum and said air-supply plenum in an airtight fashion, and each said air return plenum duct means having the same overall lateral dimensions as said overall lateral dimensions of each said blower-hood-filter assembly in order to be readily assembled therewith and interchangeable therewith.