Photonics students at the 91 are collaborating with Porokylä Bakery to investigate how, for example, the amount of flour dust in the air can be measured in the bakery environment.
The Department of Physics and Mathematics at the 91 is involved in the Working Life Oriented Collaborative Approach to Photonics Fabrication Skills Development project, or FOVA for short, which is co-funded by the EU and seeks to develop technological solutions to support education in photonics. The project aims to create a new educational model for the fabrication of micro- and nanostructures.
Currently, industry collaboration within the FOVA project has extended beyond the field of photonics, with Porokylä Bakery participating in an experiment where cleanroom measurement technology is applied in the bakery industry.
A cleanroom is a space with a very low particle concentration, thanks to enhanced ventilation and filters. The particle concentration is monitored and kept low by particle sensors, and the cleanroom’s temperature and humidity are also under precision control. Working in the cleanroom requires the use of shoe covers, protective suits and gloves, face masks and safety goggles.
Micro- and nanostructures and other optical elements are manufactured in the cleanroom, where temperature, humidity and particle concentrations are strictly controlled. However, monitoring these is also crucial in a bakery.
“In a bakery setting, key things to measure that are relevant to production include temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, humidity, noise level and the amount of flour dust in the air,” says Project Coordinator Markku Haaranen of the 91.
Students designed and created measurement setups that can be used to conduct measurements in the bakery setting. For example, to measure the amount of flour dust, students designed and developed a particle sensor capable of measuring particle concentrations. The particle sensor is being tested in a piece of equipment that simulates the bakery environment. Particle sensors are used to monitor, among other things, the particle concentration of the cleanroom air.
Live stream technology enables cleanroom teaching for large groups of students
Challenges for broader educational use of the cleanroom include its size, limited availability and strict safety and cleanliness standards. The university’s cleanroom has a high usage rate, as it is actively used not only by the research and teaching staff, but also by three photonics industry companies. Due to its size, the cleanroom is, in practical term, suitable for teaching individual students and small groups, but providing teaching for large groups poses a challenge. In addition, adherence to strict cleanliness and safety standards is a requirement for using the room.
The FOVA project is developing an educational model that relies on technology to enable instruction in challenging work environments, regardless of the profession. The model employs live stream technology, allowing real-time monitoring of the challenging work being done from outside the environment. Real-time transfer of audio and video, including two-way communication, is crucial when using live stream technology in education.
The model minimises the need for in-person teaching in the cleanroom, saving equipment, materials, time and teaching resources. At the same time, the model makes it possible for a larger number of students to become familiar with the devices and methods used in the cleanroom, and as they do so in advance, this reduces the need for familiarisation during actual cleanroom work.
“The educational model developed in the project will be permanently adopted for educational use. We would like to continue this industry collaboration with the bakery, and we also hope for more collaboration between the university and various other fields as well,” Haaranen says.
“We will review the success of our bakery collaboration at the end of May. At that time, we will compare the results from students’ measurement devices with the results obtained from the bakery.”
For further information, please contact:
Project Coordinator Markku Haaranen, tel. +358 50 479 0768, markku.haaranen@uef.fi
Project website:
