Museums present one of the most demanding applications for HVAC controls.
Unlike offices or commercial buildings, where the primary objective is occupant comfort, museums must create exceptionally stable environmental conditions that help preserve priceless historical artefacts for generations to come.
Small fluctuations in temperature or relative humidity can cause timber, paper, textiles, paintings and other organic materials to expand, contract or deteriorate over time. For this reason, climate control systems within museums are engineered around consistency rather than simply heating or cooling occupied spaces.
When Daikin Applied (UK) Ltd was commissioned to provide new Air Handling Units for Poole Museum, they partnered with iACS to develop a bespoke controls solution capable of maintaining museum-grade environmental stability.
The project required much more than standard AHU controls.
The new system needed to coordinate multiple Air Handling Units, integrate high-accuracy Belimo humidity and temperature sensors, communicate with third-party boiler and chiller plant, and provide intelligent environmental control suitable for protecting sensitive maritime exhibits.
By combining bespoke control panels, advanced sensor integration and proactive engineering during the design stage, iACS delivered a control philosophy designed to preserve both the museum environment and the invaluable history contained within it.
What This Project Covers
This project demonstrates how iACS delivered:
- Museum-grade AHU controls
- Climate preservation strategies
- Bespoke AHU control panels
- High-accuracy humidity control
- MP-Bus sensor integration
- Boiler and chiller interlocking
- BACnet and Modbus integration
- Environmental monitoring
- Proactive engineering consultation
- Remote technical support
- Cost-saving troubleshooting
Table of Contents
- Project Overview
- Why Museums Require Specialist HVAC Controls
- The Air Handling Unit Configuration
- High-Accuracy Environmental Monitoring
- Designing Intelligent Plant Interlocks
- Preventing Thermal Lag Before Installation
- MP-Bus Sensor Integration
- Boiler & Chiller Plant Coordination
- Remote Technical Support Instead of Site Attendance
- The Project Outcome
- Before and After the iACS Solution
- Why This Project Matters
- Key Capabilities Demonstrated
- Looking for Specialist Climate Preservation Controls?
1. Project Overview
Sector
Heritage, Culture & Public Sector
Application
Museum Exhibition Climate Control
Customer
Daikin Applied (UK) Ltd
End User
Poole Museum
Consultant
Max Fordham LLP
Project Timeline
- Initial order: March 2024
- Design development: July 2024
- Technical support: June 2026
iACS Scope
- Control panel manufacture
- AHU control software
- Environmental sensor integration
- Boiler/chiller enable logic
- MP-Bus integration
- Technical design consultation
- Remote technical support
AHU Applications
Twin Air Handling Units:
- AHU 3A
- AHU 3B
Control Panels
- IAC0003142
- IAC0003143
Project Status
Operational with remote support successfully completed.
2. Why Museums Require Specialist HVAC Controls
Museums are fundamentally different from conventional commercial buildings.
Instead of simply maintaining comfortable temperatures for occupants, HVAC systems must protect delicate collections from gradual environmental damage.
Excessive fluctuations in:
- Temperature
- Relative humidity
- Air movement
can accelerate deterioration of:
- Historic timber
- Paintings
- Maritime artefacts
- Textiles
- Paper documents
- Organic materials
The objective is therefore not simply heating or cooling.
It is maintaining exceptionally stable environmental conditions every hour of every day.
This demands highly accurate sensing, intelligent control strategies and coordinated operation between the AHUs and the central heating and cooling plant.
3. The Air Handling Unit Configuration
The museum utilised two dedicated Air Handling Units serving the exhibition spaces.
Each AHU incorporated:
- Supply fans
- Return fans
- Heating coils
- Cooling coils
- Differential pressure monitoring
- Air frost protection
- Humidity sensing
- Temperature sensing
- MP-Bus room sensors
The controls continuously monitored both duct conditions and occupied space conditions before calculating the heating, cooling and humidity requirements.
The system therefore provided far more than temperature control.
It actively managed the complete museum environment.
4. High-Accuracy Environmental Monitoring
Protecting museum collections requires extremely accurate environmental measurement.
To achieve this, the project incorporated a comprehensive Belimo sensor package including:
- Duct humidity sensors
- Duct temperature sensors
- Outside humidity sensors
- Outside temperature sensors
- Room humidity sensors
- Room temperature sensors
- Differential pressure transmitters
- Frost protection sensors
Rather than relying on basic room thermostats, the controls continuously monitored multiple environmental variables throughout the AHUs and exhibition spaces.
This provided the information required to maintain stable preservation conditions.
5. Designing Intelligent Plant Interlocks
One of the most important engineering discussions occurred during the design phase.
The consultant required the Air Handling Units to enable the central boiler and chiller plant.
An initial proposal suggested that the enable signal should only be generated once the heating or cooling valve opened beyond approximately 1%.
Although this might appear logical, iACS identified a significant problem.
If the controller waited until the valve demanded heating or cooling before enabling the plant, the hot or chilled water would still need to travel through the distribution system before reaching the AHU.
This delay would introduce thermal lag.
For museum environments where stability is essential, even short delays can result in unnecessary temperature fluctuations.
6. Preventing Thermal Lag Before Installation
Rather than accepting the original proposal, the iACS engineering team recommended a different strategy.
Instead of enabling the plant when the control valve opened, the boiler and chiller enable signals would operate as soon as the Air Handling Unit entered its enabled operating state.
This meant:
- Hot water was already available.
- Chilled water was already circulating.
- Heating response became significantly faster.
- Cooling response became significantly faster.
- Temperature stability improved.
By identifying the issue during the design stage, iACS prevented a fundamental control problem before the AHUs were ever installed.
This is an excellent example of proactive engineering adding value long before commissioning begins.
7. MP-Bus Sensor Integration
The project also incorporated Belimo MP-Bus room sensors.
Rather than using conventional analogue sensors requiring multiple signal cables, MP-Bus technology provided digital communication between the sensors and the controller.
Benefits included:
- Reduced field wiring
- Improved signal integrity
- Better diagnostics
- Simplified installation
- Higher measurement accuracy
For applications where environmental stability is critical, digital communication also reduces the risk of measurement errors caused by electrical noise.
8. Boiler & Chiller Plant Coordination
The Air Handling Units acted as the intelligence behind the wider heating and cooling system.
Rather than simply opening and closing water valves, the controllers also coordinated:
- Boiler enable
- Chiller enable
- Heating demand
- Cooling demand
- Environmental conditions
- Plant availability
This ensured that heating and cooling resources were available whenever required while minimising unnecessary delays.
The strategy improved overall plant responsiveness and helped maintain the stable conditions required throughout the museum.
9. Remote Technical Support Instead of Site Attendance
Two years after the original design phase, Daikin contacted iACS regarding a reported controls issue on one of the museum AHUs.
An emergency site visit was initially requested.
Rather than immediately arranging an engineer to travel, iACS first carried out remote technical support with the site team.
Working directly with the engineers over the telephone, the controls issue was diagnosed and resolved within approximately one hour.
The problem was successfully corrected without requiring an engineer to travel to site.
This avoided an unnecessary site visit while saving the customer approximately £675 in attendance costs.
The successful outcome demonstrates that effective technical support is not always about sending an engineer, it is about providing the right engineering expertise at the right time.
10. The Project Outcome
The completed solution delivered:
- Stable environmental control
- High-accuracy sensing
- Intelligent boiler and chiller coordination
- MP-Bus communications
- Reliable AHU operation
- Successful remote technical support
- Reduced maintenance costs
- Long-term environmental stability
Daikin subsequently confirmed that the reported controls issue had been resolved successfully.
11. Before and After the iACS Solution
| Challenge | iACS Solution |
| Potential thermal lag | Boiler/chiller enable strategy redesigned |
| Conventional sensor wiring | Digital MP-Bus sensor network |
| Slow plant response | Proactive plant enable logic |
| Requested emergency site visit | Issue resolved remotely |
| £675 potential attendance cost | Saved through telephone support |
12. Why This Project Matters
Museum HVAC systems demand a different level of engineering.
Maintaining stable environmental conditions requires:
- Accurate sensing
- Intelligent software
- Responsive heating and cooling
- Reliable communications
- Proactive engineering
This project demonstrates how iACS contributed at every stage.
Rather than simply manufacturing control panels, the engineering team challenged design assumptions, improved the control strategy and later continued supporting the installation through responsive technical assistance.
The result was a more reliable climate control solution capable of protecting valuable museum collections while reducing lifecycle support costs.
13. Key Capabilities Demonstrated
- Museum climate control
- Heritage HVAC controls
- MP-Bus integration
- Boiler/chiller enable logic
- Belimo sensor integration
- Environmental preservation strategies
- AHU controls
- Remote technical support
- Control strategy optimisation
- Cost-saving troubleshooting
14. Looking for Specialist Climate Preservation Controls?
Whether you're protecting museum collections, archives, galleries, libraries or other environmentally sensitive spaces, iACS provides intelligent HVAC control solutions engineered around long-term environmental stability.
Our expertise includes:
- Museum AHU controls
- Climate preservation strategies
- Heritage building HVAC controls
- MP-Bus sensor networks
- Boiler and chiller integration
- Advanced humidity control
- Control panel manufacture
- Remote technical support
- Commissioning
- HVAC optimisation
From heritage buildings to specialist preservation environments, iACS combines intelligent controls with practical engineering expertise to protect both buildings and the valuable collections they contain.