The integration of FINCH requires an ISO 7 Cleanroom environment in order to ensure the safety of all components onboard. After multiple options were considered, the cheapest, safest and easiest option to satisfy this requirement and provide the team with a suitable working environment for sensitive components.
For the assembly and integration of FINCH, ISO level 7 is required to be maintained for certain components. Since assembly and integration will only required a small working area (not a whole cleanroom), a “clean-table” solution is proposed.
Why a clean-table?
After a long process of trying to get a cleanroom installed inside our lab in Myhal, the project was denied due to fire safety concerns from the faculty. In the search for other solutions, the “clean-table” came out to be the best option. This solution is not only approved by University of Toronto’s Fire Department and Myhal Property Management, but it is also way cheaper than our first option. Although it will not be a perfect clean-room, we are confident that with proper procedures and training, it will satisfy FINCH’s requirement perfectly. Moreover, everything used to build this “clean-table” was inspired from a paper written by University of Alberta’s satellite team who succeeded in building a full-size ISO level 7 cleanroom. This also means that whatever is bought to build the “clean-table” can be further extended to also build a full-size cleanroom in future missions, if needed. Furthermore, thanks to its simplicity, the construction of this clean-table should not take longer than a day. Finally, given its innovative nature, low-cost and simplicity, this project could be a great opportunity for the team to write a paper and present it at a conference.
A clean-table would be a working environment that maintains an ISO level 7 cleanroom requirement, but only within the span of a table, as depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1: A rough diagram of what a clean-table would look like. The grey shading around represents the vinyl around the table. Note that vinyl will also be installed at the top to make closed-off environment.
In order to allow work inside, a pass-through for hands will be cut in the front of the table, as depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Diagram of front of clean-table