July 9, 2025 - Beyond Rules of Thumb: Data-Driven Detector Placement in Cleanrooms and Laboratories

Semiconductor cleanrooms and laboratories tightly regulate air quality, temperature, and humidity to support high-technology manufacturing and research. These environments routinely involve the handling of hazardous chemicals—acids, bases, solvents, and cryogenics—which may be irritants, corrosive, pyrophoric, asphyxiant, or highly toxic. To mitigate associated risks, flame and gas detectors are integrated into control systems. However, the effectiveness of these systems depends heavily on proper detector placement.

Improperly positioned detectors can significantly undermine system performance, giving personnel a false sense of safety. Historically, rules of thumb have guided detector placement—for instance, placing flame detectors at area corners with assumed ranges of 15 meters, or arranging gas detectors in grid patterns based on area size, congestion, ventilation, and release characteristics. These heuristics often lead to both overestimation of the number of detectors needed and underprotection of critical zones.

A more effective approach has emerged, particularly in semiconductor environments, where airflow is one of the primary factors influencing gas detector placement. Computational models are now used to simulate vapor dispersion and identify optimal detector locations—typically in dead zones, near emission sources, or where air currents converge and approach exhaust inlets. These models allow for far more precise visualization of airflow patterns than traditional tools like smoke, powders, or air velocity meters.

By identifying turbulence, recirculation zones, and dead spots, computational modeling not only informs detector placement but also enhances overall cleanroom and ventilation design. Crucially, performance-based methods call for detector coverage to be quantified, verified, and validated—resulting in more robust protection against hazardous material releases, fires, and explosions.