Air properties in a closed (art) niche

[lucaspenalva]

Dear all,

What are air properties and how it varies in a completely tight box without infiltration points - for example, art niche where art pieces are kept inside?

Talking about art niches, is it required to supply outdoor air for air change?

Thanks.

[STEVEusaPA]

A "completely tight box without infiltration points" has no air changes. For art I'd assume humidity control and UV exposure are more important.

[hvacker]

I don't know what an art niche is. If you mean a storage place for art, what kind of art?
Any art that might be affected by not having a controlled environment has special requirements. Light, humidity, temperature etc. I know of 2 such places and they are very fussy. Systems plus backup.

[Answer-Man]

Curious question. I would have to believe that artifacts from King Tuts Tomb, or the Mona Lisa, or artifacts from the Titanic or gold and silver coinage would have different environmental requirements.

Care to elaborate with a little more detail, it what make responding a little more easy

[servicefitter]

When starting up the new addition to the st. louis art museum it was super critical temp and humidity. They waited 60 days before they moved any art in the space. So i agree with answer man it all depends what the art is worth.

[lucaspenalva]

It is a 4 m³ box that stores a Saint sculpture made of out clay.

Its indoor conditions must be maintained at 20-22°C / 40-50% RH.

I wonder what is the latent heat gain and what's the air properties behavior in this case in order to size humidity control system - I can only see infiltration through return duct and have not considered infiltration through box, although it may exist but its really minimum because it's a really tight box.

[Answer-Man]

Ok we're not communucating here.

Indoor conditions: 20 - 22C / 40-50 Rh. Is this the condition inside the box or condition of the room the box is in?

Got it there is a statue inside and air tight box.

So what latent heat the statue in inanamate and gives off no heat or gasses. Once the staue goes inside the box and is sealed inside the gas should remian relatively unchanged (air quality and Humidity). Granted as the temperature outside the box changes this will have an effect on temperature (and very minor effect on humidity) inside the box. What I see you asking is how do you control the ambient area outside the box, because there in nothing inside the box to cause a change.

Therefore you need to account for the heat the lights will add, How many people per hour, day, week will go through, is the room around the statues box a room within a room or building that is also conditioned. Again just from what you have offered I think you need to account for what heat the display lights will add and the heat & humidity any bodies in the room will add.

Good Luck

[stat]

Time for an engineer. No way I am taking on this liability.

[STEVEusaPA]

There's people who specialize in this. It's quite easy for them as they have it all figured out and aren't getting spoon fed bits of information.
Quicker and easier would be to call your nearest Art Museum and get a referral.

[DeltaT]

Valuable stuff, including electronics, and art/antique stuff kept in the open must be in a controlled environment including testing of the air to see what compounds may be present. For small art/antique items that are out of the sun & in a controlled environment & are subject to rotting or spoiling of the material may be kept in a vacuum seal container.