Ventilation and RH control in museum showcases

Museum showcases represent a peculiar confined space were ventilation and indoor climate conditions play an important role. Conservation of the works of arts, in fact, requires a control of the environmental parameters, with a tolerance usually far tighter than that required for assuring the comfort of people.
A number of laboratory measurements have been performed on small experimental showcases to analyze the influence of air tightness and gas permeability on the passive control of the RH inside the container (pressurization tests, tracer gas measurements and temperature/relative humidity response tests have been performed). Furthermore, real showcases, operating under actual museum conditions, have been studied by monitoring, for medium long time, indoor/outdoor environmental parameters.
In the paper the set-up of the laboratory experimental procedure and the measurement results are presented and critically analyzed. These laboratory experiences are then compared against field measurement results.