Server: Roxen·Challenger/1.1 Content-type: text/html Last-Modified: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 15:29:47 +0000 Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 01:47:04 +0000 Content-length: 13374 Flanders Corporation - Customers


Product Descriptions

Flanders offers a comprehensive catalog of air filtration products and related equipment and hardware divided into product lines by end-user. Each product line is marketed separately through a combination of direct sales and a network of regional distributors and specialized technical representatives and contractors. If you would like to purchase some of our products, drop us a line (We don't have online ordering set up yet, but we'll get back to you immediately if you tell us you want to order something :-).

HEPA Filters

The Absolute, or HEPA, filter is used to remove extremely tiny particles from air or other gases. Many of the Company's product lines revolve around the basic technology of the HEPA filter. A HEPA filter must have a minimum efficiency of 99.97% in capturing particles as small as 0.1 microns (a micron is one-millionth of a meter). These filters are so efficient in removing small particles that they will capture the tiny particles contained in cigarette smoke. The term "HEPA filter" stands for "High Efficiency Particulate Air filter."

HEPA filters are made of a fiberglass "paper" which is then pleated to maximize the surface area of the filter. The Company is the only filter manufacturer that produces its own high efficiency paper media. The Company has developed unique processes which enable them to manufacture "completely separatorless" filter elements. All competing filters use aluminum, tape, glue, strips or strings to separate adjacent pleats of the media. These separating materials obstruct air flow and contribute to particle generation and off-gassing. The high quality and consistency of the Company's media enables them to construct pleats of completely self-separating media.

HEPA and ULPA ("Ultra Low Penetration Air") filters remove particles from the air stream using three of the four basic particle removal mechanisms: Brownian diffusion, direct interception and inertial impaction (the fourth mechanism, known as sieving or straining is not a primary method for HEPA filters, since it is primarily effective for particles larger than 2 microns, which are assumed to have been removed by pre-filters).

Laminar Flow Grade - HEPA Filters and Equipment for Cleanroom Applications

Filters and equipment for cleanroom applications currently account for approximately 50% of our sales. We sell laminar flow grade HEPA filters and equipment to cleanroom contractors, as well as directly to end users, through its network of representatives. Flanders' laminar flow grade filters are marketed under the trademark AIRVELOPE ™.

Air filtration is the key to current cleanroom technology. Cleanroom cleanliness is measured by determining the number of particles of a given size per cubic foot of air, called the "Class" of the room; e.g., a typical office environment might be rated Class 500,000, if the air contains 500,000 or fewer microscopic particles per cubic foot; a modern semiconductor manufacturing facility will be rated Class 1, having at most one particle in any cubic foot of air. Cleanroom performance is, in part, determined by the number of filters in the room, and the grade of filter.

Another major facet of cleanroom performance is the amount of laminarity for air flow in the room. If the air flows in straight, parallel paths throughout the cleanroom, the airflow is said to be laminar. Laminar airflow guarantees that air is replaced frequently in the room, and that particles generated by the manufacturing processes in the room do not become trapped in "vortices" where they may accumulate and cause contamination. The construction of the room, especially the ceiling and floor systems, is the most obvious factor affecting laminarity, but equally as important are two factors in the filter's construction. Uniform resistance of the filter media, and a large number of properly shaped parallel pleats. These factors are essential to laminarity, and thus a cleanroom's overall performance.

Historically, greater than 40% of our revenues have come from sales of laminar-grade products for end use in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Sales of Flanders products to this market generally occur in conjunction with the construction or expansion of a semiconductor fabrication facility.

HEPA, ULPA, VLSI and VLSI II Laminar Flow Grade Filters

The Company manufactures laminar flow grade filters using state-of-the-art separatorless designs, with the highest quality media available. These filters are used in cleanrooms for semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology facilities, pharmaceutical manufacturing, research and development facilities, and other areas where an ultra-clean environment is necessary to maintain profitable yields.

Medium Efficiency
HEPA 99.99% on 0.3 micron
ULPA 99.999% on 0.3 micron
VLSI 99.9995% on 0.12 micron
VLSI II 99.99999% on 0.12 micron

Table 2. Performance of filters by grade of media.

Laminar flow grade filters are scan-tested, and efficiencies measured on a generalized "most penetrating particle size" using parameters typical of spaces where each type of filter is used (most penetrating particle size is affected by many factors, including particle density, air velocity, thickness of media, and size and distribution of fibers).

Channel-Ceil® System.

Flanders invented the CHANNEL-CEIL® Ceiling System in 1969 as a solution to the problem of bypass leakage around filters in vertical laminar flow cleanrooms. The Channel-Ceil ® Ceiling System is a stick built lay-in ceiling system designed to be part of Flanders' fluid seal system. Since it was introduced, it has been installed in over four million square feet of cleanrooms worldwide, and is recognized today as a state-of-the-art product available for the construction of HEPA filter ceilings in Class 100 to Class 10,000 environments.

Other Laminar Flow Grade Products

We manufacture a full line of auxiliary products, including AIRVELOPE™ laminar flow modules with built-in fans, isolation environments, self-contained portable cleanrooms, CHANNEL-HOOD ™ ducted supply filter housings, and TH-SERIES TERMINAL FILTER MODULES for ducted air supply or mixed-flow cleanroom applications.

Industrial Grade - Filters and Equipment for Conventional HVAC Systems

Flanders industrial grade filters are used in many applications, including hospital and bio-medical ventilation systems, photoproduct processes, food handling or processing operations, toxic or carcinogenic containment, and as high-efficiency prefilters for the terminal filter units in cleanrooms using localized laminar flow hoods above workstations.

Our industrial grade products include PUREFORM ® Separatorless Filters, Separator-Type filters with corrugated aluminum separators, high-temperature hepa filters, and 95% DOP high-efficiency filters, in a variety of styles, including nipple-connected, square gasketed and gel-seal, and round, with or without faceguards. We also have a line of C-Series Side-Load Housings for non-hazardous particulate and gas filtration, A-4 filter holding frames for fluid seal filters, and B-1 holding frames for gasket seal filters.

Nuclear Containment Grade - HEPA Filters and Equipment for Nuclear Containment HVAC Systems

Flanders Nuclear Grade Filters are produced in rectangular, round and nipple-connected designs. They are widely used in nuclear research, radioactive waste treatment, nuclear weapons facilities, fuel process plants and storage terminals, commercial reactors and Department of Energy test reactors. Nuclear grade filters are the key component to a nuclear facility's radiation containment systems.

We have adapted and added to its nuclear-grade products line to serve needs of other industries which require the removal of hazardous contaminants from their air supply. Flanders containment products are used in pharmaceutical research facilities, deadly-disease wards at hospitals and mobile facilities, animal disease laboratories, toxic gas processes for semiconductor manufacturing, and hazardous waste treatment facilities.

Flanders nuclear grade products include rectangular, round and nipple-connected Type B HEPA filters, V-Bed Carbon Absorbers, Bag-in/Bag-out filter systems for safe removal of contaminated filters, NBC series side-load filter housings, containment dampers, G-1 filter housings for bag-in/bag-out applications and self-contained filtration systems for air filtration and tuberculosis isolation. The Company also sells in-place DOP test equipment, and its Precision Scan system for in-place testing of installed filters.

ASHRAE Grade - Commercial Grade and ASHRAE-Rated Filters

We manufacture ASHRAE-Rated filters for commercial HVAC systems. These filters are primarily sold through its Airpure Products subsidiary as replacement and commodity filters. Because the potential market for these products is extremely large, they are becoming an increasingly important part of our business.

Flanders ASHRAE Grade products include ECONOCELL PUREFORM®, HIGH-TEMPERATURE ECONOCELL®, Airpure media panels, Airpure Pak synthetic and glass micro-fiber rigid extended surface filters, and ECONOCELL ® II UL labeled filters rated in various efficiencies between 60% and 95%, as well as PF-1 PUREFRAME™ holding frames for PURESEAL™ housings and PURESEAL® HVAC side-load housings.

Chemical Grade - Corrosion, Odor and Toxic Gas Control

We provide a complete line of products and services to control odors, corrosive gases and airborne hazardous chemicals. A wide variety of industrial and commercial applications use this technology, ranging from toxic exhaust handling systems for the semiconductor industry to removing industrial volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Flanders chemical grade products include TECHSORB™ chemical absorbents, GAS- PAK™ GRANULAR ACTIVATED SUBSTRATE absorbers and ULTRASORB™ deep bed absorber systems. Each product line is available with any of several compounds, depending on the contaminants to be controlled.

Barrier Isolators - Controlled Environments for Critical Processes

We also manufacture INFINITY™ Isolators - stand-alone remote access workstations designed for parenteral drugs or any material requiring ultra-clean processing in an enclosure designed to safely work with ultra-pure gasses, biological contaminants, or vacuums.

Trademarks, Patents and Licenses

Flanders currently sells some of its products under the registered trademarks AIRVELOPE™, CHANNEL-CEIL®, CHANNEL-HOOD™, PUREFORM®, ECONOCELL®, PURESEAL®, TECH-SORB™, GAS-PAK™ and ULTRASORB™.

Flanders holds 8 current patents relating to filtration technology, including patents relating to HEPA filters and fabrication methods, filter leak testing methods, and laminar flow cleanrooms. We have a patent pending on its isolation workstation technology.

Flanders currently licenses its products for manufacturing to specialty HVAC and ASHRAE original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"), who produce products under their own name, and with their own identifying labels. Our Airpure subsidiary also manufacturers ASHRAE filters for OEMs with need for additional capacity, under the appropriate labels.


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