South Dakota School of Mines & Technology

Electrical Engineering & Physics Bldg Clean Room | Rapid City, SD

West Plains Engineering designed the mechanical and electrical infrastructure for a clean room at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City. The clean room houses research for the Physics Department, which focuses on astroparticle physics, muon and neutrino experiments, and the search for dark matter.

The pre-fabricated laboratory (clean room) was designed to fit an existing space in the Electrical Engineering/Physics building. The room includes a conditioned entry/gowning area, experiment pass through door, observation windows and epoxy coated flooring.

Our role in the project was to design the infrastructure that would support operation of the lab. Mechanically, the air supplied to the clean room is filtered through fan-powered HEPA filters. This required no upgrade to the existing building HVAC system, but the HVAC for the clean room itself involved humidity control for both humidification and dehumidification.

Electrically, we specified the ISO Class 7 lighting fixtures, and designed the expandable power and data connections for the ever-changing needs of the department.