Abstract The paper deals with the multi-objective optimization of the HVAC control in museums. Scientific literature, technical standards and museums stakeholders mainly focus on the single-objective of artefacts conservation. However, a major attention should be paid at visitors’ comfort and energy consumption, without compromizing artwork integrity. In this work, we propose and apply a methodology to find the best control of the air-handling unit to concurrently optimize the three objectives. The proposed methodology is based on the achievement function method and finds the Pareto-optimal value of the HVAC control variables over the operational period. The priority given to each objective can be customized by changing the reference point of the achievement function. The method is applied to a museum in Italy hosting paper artworks during summer. Both exhibition room and HVAC system are simulated through an in-house dynamic model. The results show that all three objectives are improved with respect to typical fixed setpoint values (i.e., T = 23 °C and RH = 50%). Depending on the reference point, different profiles of indoor hygrothermal parameters are found; in any case, improvements of each of the objective functions indexes (equivalent lifetime multiplier for artwork preservation, predicted percentage of dissatisfied, and energy consumption) are obtained with respect to fixed setpoint strategy. The multi-objective optimization of museums with paper artworks in summer periods encourages low indoor temperatures. This would lead to slightly increased energy consumptions, which can be limited, by reducing the ventilation rate to 3–3.5 1/h instead of the typical 4–5 1/h.

中文翻译：

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博物馆环境暖通空调控制对艺术品保存、游客热舒适度和能源效率的多目标优化

摘要 本文研究了博物馆暖通空调控制的多目标优化问题。科学文献、技术标准和博物馆利益相关者主要关注文物保护的单一目标。然而，在不损害艺术品完整性的情况下，应重点关注参观者的舒适度和能源消耗。在这项工作中，我们提出并应用一种方法来寻找空气处理单元的最佳控制，以同时优化三个目标。所提出的方法基于成就函数方法，并在运行期间找到 HVAC 控制变量的帕累托最优值。每个目标的优先级可以通过改变成就函数的参考点来定制。该方法应用于意大利的一家博物馆，在夏季举办纸质艺术品。展览室和暖通空调系统都通过内部动态模型进行模拟。结果表明，相对于典型的固定设定值（即 T = 23 °C 和 RH = 50%），所有三个目标都得到了改进。根据参考点，可以找到不同的室内湿热参数分布图；在任何情况下，每个目标函数指标（艺术品保存的等效寿命乘数、不满意的预测百分比和能源消耗）的改进都是相对于固定设定点策略获得的。夏季对纸质艺术品博物馆进行多目标优化，鼓励室内低温。这将导致能耗略有增加，这可以通过将通风率降低到 3-3.5 1/h 而不是典型的 4-5 1/h 来加以限制。