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Montreal, May 1, 2007 - Dectron Internationale (TSX: DTL):, a leader in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, indoor air security and water generation markets, is pleased to announce its financial results for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2007 (in thousands of Canadian dollars) ...
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VISIT US AT BOOTH #5322
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"Creating Proper IAQ for the Preservation of Rare Books."
With the Library of Parliament renovation now under way, some of Canada's rarest book collections are now stored in a temporary space built and designed with state-of-the-art temperature and humidity parameters.
Hundreds of thousands of rare and general books have found a temporary home three miles away at the 45 Sacre Coeur Boulevard Building, Gatineau, Quebec, until their permanent space at the Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Ontario, is completed.
The key to book preservation is humidity control, because variations in relative humidity can prematurely deteriorate and warp books. Normally humidity doesn't vary too greatly in sealed interior space, but Library of Parliament specification required approximately eight air changes per hour and a 25 percent outside air infusion to eliminate any possible mold or mildew accumulation. It's the outside air, especially in hot summer months, that complicated what would normally be a more straightforward HVAC design for designer, Luc Pelchat, mechanical engineer at the Gatineau-based consulting engineering firm, Landry Gauthier & Associates-division of Group Dessau-Soprin, Laval, Quebec, and commissioning consultant, Henri Behamdouni, Behamdouni Consultants, Ottawa.
The heart of the two rooms' humidity control is a Dectron Internationale, Montreal, Quebec, Dry-O-TronÒ RK-100 outdoor air dehumidifier, which supplies 4,000 cfm of outdoor air or 25-percent of the project's total cfm's. Relative humidity is maintained at 40 percent with a three-percent differential in the rare collection room and 35 to 40 percent with a five-percent differential in the general collection room. A constant discharge temperature is maintained energy efficiently by modulating compressor hot-gas for free reheat. A 45kW electric heater serves as back up to the reheat mode. The key to preserving rare books is a consistent relative humidity, according to Behamdouni. Books can be damaged with continual dry/moisture cycles.
Landry Gauthier & Associates had considered using desiccant (chemical absorption) dehumidification, but felt its methodology was too maintenance intensive versus the direct expansion (dx) method of dehumidification specified on the project.
Outdoor air contaminants can be just as damaging as humidity variations. To eliminate outdoor air contaminants, the system is filtered with 85-percent efficiency bag filters and supplemental carbon filtration.
Likewise, architect Louise Lalande, senior architect at Lemay Dorval Fortin and Doyle Architects, Ottawa, had to ensure the temporary space was adequate for rare book storage. Basically, Lalande and her project architects designed a room that was built inside of an existing 19,000-square-foot room for the general collections and an additional 1,150-square-foot room for rare collections at the 45 Sacre Coeur Boulevard Building.
Critical in the room's design is a perimeter insulation space and a vapor barrier, which seals each room and blocks outside moisture permeation. Lalande was careful to create a heavily insulated, two-foot-wide void between the room and an outside wall with windows.
Lalande and Landry Gauthier's structure department also designed an equipment mezzanine that houses the project's air handlers, Trane Co., Tyler, Texas, indoor central station units that air condition and heat the return air and the outdoor air from the dehumidifier to the room's target set point of 68°F, if needed. The air handlers also have built-in humidifiers in the event humidity is needed to achieve the relative humidity set points during winter.
Air distribution, which was installed by mechanical contractor, Ferblanterie SK Sheet Metal Ltd., Ottawa, is accomplished through an even array of diffusers from exposed round metal ductwork ranging from 18-inch-diameter truck lines to 12-inch-diameter branches that cover the entire room and strategically bathe the books and moveable shelves in conditioned air.
Chris Harrison, sales engineer at manufacturer's representative firm, Longhill Energy Products, Ottawa, consulted Ferblanterie SK Sheet Metal on the project's dehumidifier selection placement and start-up. Other key players in the project were Nova Commissioning, Ottawa, which functioned as a commissioning officer and performance tested the HVAC systems.
The general collection and rare book rooms at the 45 Sacre Coeur Boulevard Building is an excellent illustration that engineering, architecture and state-of-the-art HVAC equipment can come together in a project that is so important to Canada's literature archives.
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