If developing a vaccine is the long game in the fight against the novel coronavirus, effective testing is the short game as clinicians and public health officials seek to suppress flare-ups of infection. With various parts of the country reopening stores and services through a phased approach, testing has been identified as an important indicator to allow for easing of stay-at-home policies and to help manage community health.

At the moment the majority of the current Covid-19 tests that all the reports are coming from are using PCR. The massive increase of PCR tests making PCR lab a hot topic in the cleanroom industry. In Airwoods, we also notice the significant increase of PCR lab inquiries. However, most of customers are new to the industry and confused about the concept of cleanroom construction. In this week’s Airwoods industry news, we gather some commonly asked questions from our customer and hope to provide you a better understanding of PCR lab.

Question: What is PCR Lab?

Answer: PCR stands for Polymerase chain reaction. It’s a chemical reaction designed to detect and identify trace bits of DNA. It is a relatively simple and not so expensive testing method that be used by medical institutes every day, to diagnose the factors that will impair health and indicate some other important index.

PCR lab is so efficient that the test results can be available in just about 1 or 2 days, it allows us to be protecting more people in shorter cycle of time, which is the major reason about why customers are building more of these PCR labs worldwide.

Question: What are some general standards of PCR Lab?

Answer: Most of the PCR labs are built in the hospital or public health control center. As it has very strict and high standard for organizations and institutes to manage. All of the construction, access route, operation equipment and tools, working uniforms and ventilation system should be complying with the standard strictly.

In terms of cleanliness, the PCR is usually built by class 100,000, which is the limited amount of airborne particulates that allowed in the clean room. In ISO standard, class 100,000 is ISO 8, which is the most common cleanliness grade for PCR lab clean room.

Question: What are some common PCR design?

Answer: PCR lab is normally with height of 2.6 meters, false ceiling height. In China, the standard PCR lab in hospital and health control center are different, it ranges from 85 to 160 square meters. To be specific, in Hospital, the PCR lab is usually at least 85 square meters, while in Control center it is 120 – 160 square meters. As for our clients located outside of China, it has various factors. Such as budget, area size, quantity of staff, equipment and tools, also the local policy and regulations that clients have to follow.

PCR lab normally divided in several rooms and areas: Reagent preparation room, Sample preparation room, Test room, Analysis room. For room pressure, it is 10 Pa positive in Reagent preparation room, the rest is 5 Pa, negative 5 Pa, and negative 10 Pa. Differential pressure could ensure the indoor air flow goes in single direction. The air change is around 15 to 18 times per hour. Supply air temperature is usually 20 to 26 Celsius. The relative humidity ranges from 30% to 60%.

Question: How to solve the contamination of airborne particulates and air cross flow problem in PCR Lab?

Answer: HVAC is the solution to control indoor air pressure, air cleanliness, temperature, humidity and more, or we call it building air quality control. It is mainly consist of air handling unit, outdoor cooling or heating source, air ventilation ducting and controller. The purpose of HVAC is to control the indoor temperature, humidity and cleanliness, by air treatment. Treatment means cooling, heating, heat recovery, ventilation and filter. In order to avoid air cross contamination with lower energy consumption, for PCR lab projects, we usually recommend 100% fresh air system and 100% exhaust air system with heat recovery function.

Question: How to make each room of the PCR lab with certain air pressure?

Answer: The answer is the controller and project site commissioning. The fan of the AHU should use variable speed type fan, and air damper should be equipped on the inlet and outlet air diffuser and exhaust air port, we have both electric and manual air damper for options, it is up to you. By the PLC control and project team commissioning, we create and maintain differential pressure for each room according to project demand. After programme, the smart control system could monitor the room pressure each day, and you can see the report and data on the Control’s display screen.

If you have any more questions regarding PCR cleanrooms, or if you’re looking to purchase a cleanroom for your business, contact Airwoods today! Airwoods has over 10 years of experience in providing comprehensive solutions to treat various BAQ (building air quality) problems. We also provides professional cleanroom enclosure solutions to customers and implements all-round and integrated services. Including demand analysis, scheme design, quotation, production order, delivery, construction guidance, and daily use maintenance and other services. It is a professional cleanroom enclosure system service provider.