Air conditioning

Planning a new building for our museum, the architects propose a
displacement ventilation system for the exhibition areas. The system
will work with set points for temperature and RH, gradually
fluctuating in connection to the seasons.

I would be very grateful for any information from museums that have
installed such systems or have had experience with such a system. It
would be of much help if you could answer (some of) the following
questions.

    Is your air conditioning system working with mixed ventilation
    or displacement ventilation?

    Why has this system been selected?

    Do you use set points, varying over the course of the year, or
    do you stick to the same temperature and RH values all year
    long? Does your air-conditioning system usually manage to comply
    with these values?

    What is the air exit velocity?

    What are your experiences concerning the formation of dust and
    its distribution in the exhibition areas?

    Displacement ventilation causes air layers of different
    temperature and RH to occur, in our opinion this may result in
    causing problems, especially for large, compact objects made of
    organic materials. How big a problem do you think this is, do
    you have any experience with this effect?

Any type of information, tips and suggestions on this issue are
greatly welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further
information.

Leonie Gartner
Conservator (Oceania)
Ethnologisches Museum
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Arnimallee 27
14195 Berlin
Germany
+49 30 8301 338
Fax: +49 30 8301 500


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:22
               Distributed: Wednesday, December 23, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-23-22-025
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