Cleanroom to cut water usage and costs by half

1/25/2017 Miranda Holloway, MechSE Communications

  The Micro-Nano-Mechanical Systems Cleanroom is about to get a new chiller thanks to a loan from Facilities and Services.

Written by Miranda Holloway, MechSE Communications

 
The Micro-Nano-Mechanical Systems Cleanroom is about to get a new chiller thanks to a loan from Facilities and Services. The chiller will reduce water use and cut down on some equipment maintenance costs. 
 
Facilities and Services, the unit that manages utilities on campus, offers Revolving Loan Funds to departments that propose ideas on how to cut their costs. The proposal was submitted by Joe Maduzia, MNMS Laboratory Specialist, with the help of Laboratory Coordinator Glennys Mensing and Director of Facilities and Operations Damon McFall. 
 
“They give out a loan to anyone who is willing to take on improvements to their utilities to reduce utility costs,” Maduzia said. “They pay for their loan back in their reduction of utility costs, and their payback period will be around two years.”
 
The cooling is necessary for equipment in the cleanroom, as a lot of the technology used in microfabrication uses plasma systems that require a lot of cooling. Some equipment is on chillers, but for the most part, the cleanroom uses a supply-to-drain cooling system which uses city water that flows in and out through the system. 
 
This new chiller would recirculate water, saving 10,764 kilogallons of water and about $77,000 each year. Maduzia estimates a more than 50 percent decrease in water and sanitary usage and associated costs in the Mechanical Engineering Building. 
 
Once the system is installed, the water in the new chiller would be cooled by the university’s chilled water loop, so all Maduzia needs is heat exchangers and a pump. 
 
“All I’m paying for is electric costs to run the pump instead of all the water that we’ve been pouring down the drain,” Maduzia said.
 
Not only will this improvement save the university money, but it will help the people who use the cleanroom. 
 
By using one set volume of water that runs through the tools, it will be easier to keep clean. The city water currently used goes through flushing several times a year, and rust and particles are pushed through the water. These particles then clog the cleanroom filters. 
 
“If our filters aren’t clean and are letting those particles through, then our equipment gets dirty faster, which means more maintenance costs as equipment fail,” Maduzia said. 
 
He said he hopes to have everything up and running within the year.
 
 
 

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This story was published January 25, 2017.