Low energy air-conditioning of archives (original) (raw)
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Libraries are specific spaces, of which indoor microclimate should meet rigorous requirements such as thermal comfort of humans and conservation of books, manuscripts and cultural property. Inadequate indoor microclimate (mainly temperature, relative humidity and of fluctuations) in libraries may possibly cause chemical, biological and mechanical degradations on paper-based collections. In this paper, indoor microclimate of Necip Paşa Library, the historical library located in Tire-Izmir, Turkey, was discussed from the perspective of preventive conservation of manuscripts. The library, which has no active heating, cooling and ventilation system, was modeled with the help of the building energy simulation tool, DesignBuilder. The indoor temperature and relative humidity was monitored throughout one year period and the model was calibrated with respect to the measurements. In order to reduce the degradation risks upon the manuscripts, ventilation srategies including natural and mechanical control were proposed. The results show that chemical degradation risks can be diminished to some extent.
2018
Airflow distributes contaminants inside buildings. Infiltration through unintentional openings in the building envelope controls the airflow in unoccupied repositories without heating, ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) systems. A restricted airflow may lead to the development of thermal stratification and "dead-spaces" where air pollutants emitted from construction materials or the heritage collection accumulates. Heritage collections can act as both an emission source and a sink for carboxylic acids. Carboxylic acids can cause irreversible heterogeneous reactions with the surface of materials, e.g. tarnishing metals. It is therefore crucial to establish the dynamics of carboxylic acids inside repositories without HVAC systems, in order to determine and control its impact on the longterm preservation of heritage collections. This paper presents a literature review on air dynamics and control of carboxylic acids inside unoccupied repositories without HVAC systems. It furthermore reviews reported levels of carboxylic acids found inside heritage institutions and sorbents used to remove them. Further research on air dynamics and whether carboxylic acids is removed primarily by deposition onto collections, or by filtration in HVAC systems inside heritage institutions is, however, necessary in order to establish the benefits of air filtration. This paper presents a literature review on air dynamics and control inside unoccupied repositories without heating, ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) systems. Section 2 lists the principal building design of unoccupied repositories with semi-passive climate control as found in several Danish storage facilities with heritage collections. Information from a state-of-theart repository in Vejle, Denmark, with semi-passive climate control is used as an example; however, the data is applicable to other countries as well.
Buildings, 2021
The majority of cultural heritage is stored in archives, libraries and museum storage spaces. To reduce degradation risks, many archives adopt the use of archival boxes, among other means, to provide the necessary climate control and comply with strict legislation requirements regarding temperature and relative air humidity. A strict ambient indoor climate is assumed to provide adequate environmental conditions near objects. Guidelines and legislation provide requirements for ambient indoor climate parameters, but often do not consider other factors that influence the near-object environment, such as the use of archival boxes, airflow distribution and archival rack placement. This study aimed to provide more insight into the relation between the ambient indoor conditions in repositories and the hygrothermal conditions surrounding the collection. Comprehensive measurements were performed in a case study archive to collect ambient, local and near-object conditions. Both measurements a...
2016
The indoor climate of libraries is expected to have critical negative impacts on the conservation of books and manuscript. Therefore, paper-based collections stored in libraries can possibly face to the chemical, mechanical and biological degradation phenomena if the indoor climate shows insufficient trend with respect to the instructions given in standards or norms. In this study, indoor microclimate of Necip Paşa Library, a historic building located in Tire-Izmir, Turkey, was investigated from the perspective of preventive conservation of manuscripts. The library, which was modeled with the help of building performance simulation tool, DesignBuilder, has no heating, cooling or ventilation system. The thermo-hygrometric parameters temperature and relative humidity) were monitored via data loggers throughout one year period and later used to calibrate the building energy performance model. The measurements showed high chemical degradation risk on manuscripts from April to November. ...
The indoor climate in historic buildings without mechanical ventilation systems
A study of the microclimate in four rooms in historic buildings reveals the different priorities, and, therefore, the different climatic data, needed by museum conservators, compared with people studying human welfare. In particular, it is important for conservators to know if a low pollutant concentration indoors is due to a clean outdoor climate, a low air exchange rate or pollutant absorbent artwork on the interior walls of the building. Relative humidity is a quality of the indoor climate that the conservator will try to hold within narrower bounds than those considered important to human health. A study of a historic archive shows how the structure of the room, the nature of the stored materials and the custodian's decisions combine to influence the indoor climate. An important result of this study is that the data cannot be usefully interpreted without continuous measurement of the air exchange rate in comparable detail to the measurements we routinely make of temperature,...
Chemical air filtration in archives and libraries reconsidered
Studies in Conservation, 2016
The implementation of chemical filtration in airconditioning systems in archive and library repositories has become standard practice for heritage institutions in many countries. This practice is codified in official standards with general reference to a substantial body of scientific publications on the effects of air pollutants on paper materials. In this paper we report the application of a well-established decision analysis approach elaborating an integral cost-benefit perspective to provide decision support to four European national heritage institutions confronted with dilemmas in connection to chemical air filtration. Available scientific evidence for air pollution induced damage of paper material is reviewed and weighed against financial and environmental costs of air pollution control. Exposure of paper to both indoor and outdoor generated air pollutants at typical concentration levels observed within storage areas is expected to cause minimal to no additional yellowing and embrittlement, while the costs of chemical air filtration are significant. From a cost-benefit perspective the use of chemical air filtration in typical library and archive repositories is therefore discouraged.
Energy and Buildings
Much research has been focused on maintaining stable humidity conditions in buildings housing heritage collections while reducing energy use. Moisture buffering by collections themselves can have a marked effect on the stabilisation of relative humidity (RH), the key parameter for preservation. Modelling of moisture transport using COMSOL Multiphysics was applied to transform three-dimensional paper and wooden objects into their one-dimensional representations, without changing the moisture uptake and release characteristics. The results were coupled to the modelling of indoor microclimate and energy consumption in collection storage spaces with the use of WUFI®Plus software. The study revealed the crucial impact of air exchange rate of the building on the stability of indoor RH and the humidification and dehumidification loads required to maintain it. In the adequately air-tight library store, a sizeable paper collection was found to reduce the RH fluctuations from ±9% to ±6% around the yearly average and the energy consumption due to the humidification and dehumidification load by 38% when compared with the empty space, for a high-quality climate control scenario. In turn, a wooden collection, occupying a realistic fraction of a museum store was not large enough to significantly narrow down the RH variations and reduce the energy consumption.
Archival box – a simple tool for the modification of the historic house environments
Archival box – a simple tool for the modification of the historic house environments, 2021
The suitability of archival boxes to mitigate humidity fluctuations in historical houses was investigated. The properties of archival boxes, such as moisture sorption, moisture transmission rates and air exchange rates, were tested. Non-modified boxes made of cardboard respond quickly to humidity changes in storage areas; however, surface modification of cardboards reduces the interaction of a box with the external environment and makes the internal environment more stable. Therefore, archival boxes could present a more sustainable alternative to HVAC systems for management of storage environments in historical houses. Peer-review under the responsibility of the organizing committee of the ICMB21.
Chemistry Central journal, 2012
A sampling campaign of indoor air was conducted to assess the typical concentration of indoor air pollutants in 8 National Libraries and Archives across the U.K. and Ireland. At each site, two locations were chosen that contained various objects in the collection (paper, parchment, microfilm, photographic material etc.) and one location was chosen to act as a sampling reference location (placed in a corridor or entrance hallway). Of the locations surveyed, no measurable levels of sulfur dioxide were detected and low formaldehyde vapour (< 18 μg m-3) was measured throughout. Acetic and formic acids were measured in all locations with, for the most part, higher acetic acid levels in areas with objects compared to reference locations. A large variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was measured in all locations, in variable concentrations, however furfural was the only VOC to be identified consistently at higher concentration in locations with paper-based collections, compared ...