Carlsbad, CA - November, 1999
TW Clean introduces the first electrically groundable cleanroom garment system that controls both electrostatic discharge (ESD) and particle contamination, now allowing the garment to become a part of the total environmental control process. All parts of these Class 100 cleanroom compatible garments have uniform electrical connectivity through all panels of the garment and are electrically connected from the top of the hood through the soles of the booties. When connected to a ground connection or to ground through a continuous monitor, the cord is attached from the hip, not the wrist, allowing freedom of arm movement for the wearer. Cleanroom personnel wearing the complete garment system can be grounded via the conductive bootie soles when walking on a grounded cleanroom floor without ground cord tethering. These new garments were developed in response to the need to overcome poor yields and high failure rates caused by ESD in the cleanroom.
A unique option available in TW Clean's cleanroom garments is a patented dual-path-to-ground system (U.S. Patent #5,440,444) that grounds both the wearer of the garment and the garment through dual continuous monitor systems. The first electrical path is from the wearer's wrist contacting the ESD knit cuff and then through an isolated ground path to a ground connection (snap) located at the side of the garment at hip level. The second electrical ground path travels from the wearer's other cuffed wrist, grounding the person and the whole garment. A dual ground cord is attached to the garment and then connected to a continuous monitor that can set off an alert if a static event occurs. The garment system can be used with all dual continuous monitors presently available.
"A great deal of attention has been focused on reducing static electricity in the cleanroom," explained TW Clean co-founder Kay Adams, "but no one has addressed one of the most obvious ESD generators, the cleanroom garment. Simple body movements can cause a cleanroom garment to generate 3500 volts or more of static electricity. When you compare that to the 2 volt limit that disk drive manufacturers are specifying, it's easy to see how dramatic the need is to reduce cleanroom ESD."
"Although the need for control of ESD in the cleanroom was our main focus when we formed TW Clean," said Michele McSwain, TW Clean co-founder, "we have found that static control garments also are effective in reducing particles, thus making our garments beneficial in environments that might not be looking at ESD concerns, but particle contamination."
TW Clean's new ESD cleanroom line is produced in their ISO 9001 manufacturing facility to assure reliability and performance. The garments are guaranteed to maintain their performance capabilities through the rigors of laundering and daily usage for 100 washes or 2 years. The comfortable garments come in an assortment of colors and are available in an assortment of styles including coveralls, frocks, and labcoats.
TW Clean, Inc., Carlsbad, CA, was formed by Kay Adams and Michele McSwain in 1996 to design and manufacture cleanroom garments that could control electrostatic discharge (ESD) in a contamination controlled environment.
Kay has been in the ESD industry over 20 years. She is founder and CEO of Tech Wear, Inc., a company that provides the electronics industry with premium static control garments. Michele spent over 25 years in the data storage business, serving as president of Sunward's Division of Read-Rite Corporation, a company that designs and manufactures recording heads for hard disk drives.
TW Clean garments meet Class 100 Cleanroom standards for particle control and show superior Body Box Test (IEST ĞRP-CC003.2,10.2) results when benchmarked against popular Class 10 cleanroom garments. All TW Clean garments are ESD groundable and are manufactured in their ISO 9001 facility.
For more information about TW Clean and their new ESD cleanroom garment systems, please contact TW Clean at (760) 438-7788 or visit their website at www.twclean.com.
TW Clean
Kay Adams or Michele McSwain
2205 Faraday Ave., Ste. B
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Phone: 760-438-7788
Fax 760-438-6868
kadams@techwear.com;
A-R Marketing
Andrea Roberts
PO Box 501528
San Diego, CA 92150
Phone: (858) 451-8666
Fax: (858) 451-8777
aroberts@san.rr.com
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