Indoor Airflow Distribution in Repository Design: Experimental and Numerical Microclimate Analysis of an Archive (original) (raw)
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Energies, 2021
Several methods for appropriate control of the hygrothermal environment in museums to prevent the deterioration of cultural artifacts were presented in previous studies. However, few detailed hygrothermal simulation models have been used considering the hygrothermal performance of building components and airflow through gaps. Furthermore, hygrothermal properties of a type of storage facility with buffer spaces prevailing in Japan have not been quantitatively evaluated. The objectives of this study were to develop a detailed numerical model of a museum storage room with buffer spaces exhibiting high humidity during summer and to quantitatively evaluate the potential factors causing it; the inflow of humid outdoor air and indirect cooling caused by the air-conditioning system of a surrounding room. We analyzed the simulated temperature and humidity for various cases in which each influencing factor was suppressed. The humidity was reduced when the exhaust fan for the surrounding rooms...
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.
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.
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.
Applied Sciences
The current energy crisis and the necessity to minimize energy waste suggest the need to assess non-air-conditioned buildings in terms of the need to install an air-conditioning system and to size and control it efficiently. This applies to historical museum buildings hosting artworks that require specific microclimate conditions for their preservation. With this view, this work analyzes the suitability of non-air-conditioned historical museum buildings to properly preserve exhibits. Therefore, two non-air-conditioned museums located in the historical city center of Florence, Italy, are considered as case studies, i.e., Vasari Corridor and La Specola. One year of indoor microclimate data monitored in representative rooms of the museums are analyzed according to the standard for artworks preservation and in terms of historical climate. Results of monitored indoor air temperature and relative humidity show that all monitored rooms are not suitable for the preservation of the exhibits ...
Energy and Buildings, 2008
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven ; a.w.m.v.schijndel@bwk.tue.nl http://bf2.bwk.tue.nl/jos/ Henk L. Schellen, associate professor Technische Universiteit Eindhoven SUMMARY: A famous museum in the Netherlands has reported possible damage to important preserved wallpaper fragments. The paper provides an evaluation of the current indoor climate by measurements, showing that the indoor climate performance does not satisfy the requirements for the preservation of old paper. To solve this problem, possible solutions are evaluated by the simulation of an integrated heat air & moisture (HAM) model for respectively: the indoor climate, the HVAC system & controller and a showcase. The presented models are validated by a comparison of simulation and measurement results. An integrated model consisting of all submodels is applied for the evaluation of a new HVAC controller design and the use of a showcase. The results are discussed.
The house museum environment: A methodology for evaluation of hygrothermal conditions
2020
In recent decades, the obvious deterioration suffered by the collections exhibited in museum rooms has become alarming. The lack of environmental control is currently one of the most vulnerable points in the exhibition of objects and works of art in museums.In historic cities, museums are usually housed in old buildings or museum-houses that were not created specifically for the preservation of heritage objects. In this case, preventive conservation includes both the collections and the building itself. The possibilities of creating stable microclimates for the conservation of objects on display are reduced when it is not possible to change its architectural characteristics either due to lack of resources or because it is a priority to conserve the building envelope.The literature indicates that within the criteria of preventive conservation, the monitoring and control of environmental conditions are essential practices to minimize damage to the heritage during the exhibition.The pu...
Applied Energy, 2011
There are many factors that affect paper degradation in archives, but air temperature and humidity under inadequate storage conditions are among the most important ones. Such inadequate conditions will trigger biological, chemical and physical processes that may enhance the degradation of papers. On the other hand, users of libraries and archives, where documents are stored, require adequate indoor conditions for carrying out diverse activities. In this paper we analyze the performance of archives with regard to paper and document storage conditions, also given in terms of the Time Weighted Preservation Index (TWPI), against overall comfort conditions, according to ISO 7730 and to the Building Bioclimatic Chart. For that purpose, five different settings were chosen, corresponding to indoor and outdoor conditions of three Brazilian archives, located in diverse climatic regions (Curitiba, 25°25 0 S 49°16 0 W, Belo Horizonte, 19°56 0 S 43°56 0 W and Rio de Janeiro, 22°50 0 S 43°10 0 W). The monitoring period comprehended 12 months, with a mid-term data collection. Results showed that there is a significant difference in storage conditions among different locations, even though there is a similarity in indoor thermal comfort conditions. A compromise solution should be sought between storage conditions and human thermal comfort parameters.
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,...