Two years ago, igus presented the E6.29, the first certified energy chain for dry cleanrooms. In order to offer customers long-term security, the motion plastics specialist commissioned the Fraunhofer IPA to carry out a test to investigate the ageing behaviour of its e-chains in the dry cleanroom - with positive results. Together with the IPA, the company has now developed new certificates that confirm the suitability of the energy chains E6, e-skin flat, e-skin soft and easy chain E14 for dry cleanrooms in long-term tests.

A high degree of cleanliness is essential in semiconductor and battery production. As these technologies have to deliver increasing performance and be as small as possible, they are becoming more sensitive. This also increases the requirements regarding production environments, which are fulfilled by a combination of dry rooms and cleanrooms. However, not all machine components can withstand these demanding environmental conditions. ‘In dry cleanrooms, many systems have a short service life and need to be replaced after two to three months,’ explains Kira Weller, Product Manager e-chains, igus. ‘Particle emissions in particular can increase significantly due to the dry conditions as the materials are often not designed for this and become brittle.’ Therefore, igus has tested its portfolio of cleanroom-compatible energy chains such as the e-skin soft, e-skin flat and E6 in this dry environment. ‘Together with the Fraunhofer IPA, we have now developed two new certificates that verify the durability and purity of these e-chains in dry environments with a relative humidity of less than 1%,’ says Weller.

High degree of cleanliness over 10 months and 15 million double strokes

The two new certificates are divided into ‘Pre-aging’ and ‘Aging behaviour’. For the ‘Aging behaviour’ certificate, two of the energy supply systems, E6.J and the e-skin flat system, were tested in the dry room over a period of 10 months. In the process, they completed over 15 million double strokes. The systems were tested and certified for their ISO class every two months. The e-skin flat survived the double strokes without problems and received the best possible certification of ISO Class 4. A higher certification is not possible because the test environment (ISO Class 3 dry cleanroom with a relative humidity of less than 1%, corresponding to a dew point of -40°C) does not allow for this. The E6.J was also able to maintain this result for four months, but ended up with ISO Class 5, which is a very good result for battery production.

The ‘Pre-aging’ certificate, which was commissioned for the e-skin soft and easy chain E14 energy supply systems, certifies the systems after 15 million double strokes and 10 months in the dry room. Here too, the igus e-chains received the best possible ISO Class 4 certification. Thanks to these long-term studies and certifications from the Fraunhofer IPA, igus was able to confirm that the energy supply systems have very low particle emissions and are therefore safe for automation in the dry cleanroom.