Intermittent conditioning of library archives:Microclimate analysis and energy impact

\u3cp\u3eLibraries and archives house a majority of cultural heritage objects. The main purpose of libraries and archives is to provide suitable indoor climate conditions for preservation of their collection. In general, a large bulk of hygroscopic material is present which aids stable indoor climate conditions. Limited disturbances due to visitor presence occur in repositories and excludes to a large extent thermal comfort requirements. Library archives show potential of more tolerant setpoint control with permissible fluctuations. Little research is present into dynamic setpoint control and intermittent conditioning in libraries and archives. The aim of this study is to explore the possibility for intermittent conditioning and dynamic setpoint control on the energy impact and microclimate behavior in a library case study in The Netherlands. By means of a hygrothermal monitoring campaign from August 2016 to August 2017 the current indoor climate has been assessed under regular conditions and intervention periods (summer and winter) where the air handling unit was turned off. Both temporal and spatial measurements provided important information on microclimate behavior of the investigated repositories. A validated multi-zone model was used to investigate multiple setpoint strategies. Results show the potential of intermittent conditioning depending on whether dynamic setpoint conditions are used during operational hours (e.g. ASHRAE climate classes). If static conditions are applied, energy demand increases significantly, however, under dynamic setpoint control significant energy savings are possible. The lifetime multiplier is used to assess the chemical risks. The majority of investigated setpoint strategies show increased chemical risk.\u3c/p\u3

Energy efficient HVAC control in historical buildings:a case study for the Amsterdam Museum

\u3cp\u3eMuseums are often located in historical buildings. To provide suitable housing in a historical building for a museum, these buildings are usually adapted to suit the need for object preservation through HVAC control. Maintaining a strict indoor climate and limiting short fluctuations in indoor temperature and indoor relative humidity reduces risk on objects. However, this also results in a rather high energy demand and therefore rather high costs. Previous research showed the energy conservation possibilities for a museum with state-of-the-art building envelope by adapting setpoint strategies. A gap in literature is present in applying these strategies in historical museum buildings. The aim of this study is to make use of different setpoint strategies to provide an indication of possible energy conservation for a historical museum building with respect to object preservation and thermal comfort. The method used consists of a measurement campaign to establish the current indoor climate and a simulation study with different climate control strategies. The simulation study provides possibilities to assess energy efficient control strategies with preservation of valuable museum objects in mind. The Amsterdam Museum serves as a case study during this research. With the data obtained during the measurement campaign, a hygrothermal zone-simulation model was calibrated. The results of the different climate control strategies present the energy saving potential for historical museum buildings. It is concluded that using the adaptive thermal comfort guideline for temperature during opening hours, and letting the collection criteria developed by ASHRAE's climate classes determine the relative humidity during the day, can save up to approximately 15% for a historical museum building without increasing the risk to the collection.\u3c/p\u3