Whether it’s a cleanroom producing cutting-edge chips, a biological laboratory developing life-saving drugs, or an ICU ward caring for critically ill patients, two core technologies consistently ensure absolute cleanliness: glue tank sealing and liquid tank sealing. They safeguard the space’s “lifeline”—high-efficiency and ultra-high-efficiency air filters (HEPA /ULPA), determining the reliability of cleanliness levels, biosafety risks, and energy efficiency.
Why is sealing technology so important?
HEPA/ULPA filters are hailed as the “kidneys” of cleanrooms, capable of filtering out over 99.99% of particles, bacteria, and viruses as small as 0.3 microns or even 0.12 microns. However, physics tells us that air always seeks the path of least resistance. If even a hairline gap exists between the filter and the mounting frame, unpurified dirty air will enter through these “short-circuit” paths, rendering the expensive filtration system useless. Therefore, sealing technology is not merely an “auxiliary” step, but the absolute core that determines the success or failure of the entire cleanroom system.
What is agroove seal ?
Groove sealing is a permanent, high-efficiency air filter installation technology. Its core principle is to use cured sealant to firmly bond the filter to the mounting frame, achieving a high standard of seal.
The specific operation involves four steps: First, a groove is pre-fabricated in the metal frame; then, a special liquid sealant is poured into the groove; next, the filter frame is pressed into the sealant; finally, the sealant is allowed to fully cure. After curing, the filter and frame are integrated into a single unit.
The main advantage of this technology is its highly reliable sealing performance, effectively preventing the leakage of unfiltered air, and requiring virtually no routine maintenance after installation. However, its biggest drawback is its lack of flexibility. When it’s time to replace a filter that has reached the end of its service life, the entire process is extremely cumbersome: workers must first “pry” the old filter out of the cured sealant, and then spend considerable time and effort thoroughly cleaning all residual old sealant from the frame before installing the new filter. This process is not only complex and time-consuming but also generates dust, forcing the cleanroom system to shut down for extended periods.
What is gel seal ?
A liquid tank seal is a reusable and easy-to-maintain high-efficiency filter installation technology. Its working principle involves machining a sealing groove into a specially designed mounting frame, filling the groove with a specialized inert sealing fluid (usually silicone oil). The filter’s frame is designed with a sharp “knife edge” shape, allowing it to be directly inserted into the liquid tank during installation, completely enveloped by the sealing fluid, thus forming a reliable airtight barrier.
The core advantage of this technology lies in its excellent maintainability. When filter replacement is needed, the operation is very simple: simply pull out the old filter vertically, and then insert the new filter directly into the liquid tank. The entire process usually takes only a few minutes, significantly reducing system downtime. The same liquid tank system can support dozens of filter replacements without replacing the sealing components, achieving long-term reuse.
Glue Tank Seal VS Liquid Tank Seal: How to Choose?
In the global high-end cleanroom technology field, the choice of technology path is showing a clear trend. From research institutions in Frankfurt to leading biopharmaceutical production lines in North America, engineering practice shows that liquid tank seal technology is gaining wider adoption in scenarios with stringent requirements for reliability, maintenance efficiency, and long-term cost.
This trend stems from the inherent characteristics of the two technological approaches. While glue-sealed systems, as a classic solution, retain value in static, long-term, fixed installations, liquid-sealed systems offer increasingly significant systemic advantages in modern production and research environments that require frequent maintenance, cannot tolerate prolonged downtime, and have extremely high biosafety requirements.
Research by German air filter manufacturer Trenntech shows that as industrial upgrades increase operational efficiency demands, liquid-sealed technology, which balances superior sealing with ease of maintenance, is becoming the preferred solution for an increasing number of critical facilities, serving as a reliable cornerstone supporting modern precision manufacturing and life science research.