‘We build climate-controlled display cases in no time’
At SDB Vitrinebouw, it’s all about craftsmanship. After all, it’s the details – visible and invisible – that make the difference. And that’s exactly what our people ensure. One of them is Eric van de Vliet. Director and specialist in climate-controlled display cases.
Are climate-controlled display cases your speciality at SDB?
“Absolutely: when this type is requested, I get to work on it. This is often for museum display cases, where the humidity level must be guaranteed.”
How do you do that?
“We can control the humidity in two ways: passively or actively. If we go for passive control, we create a double base in the display case containing absorbent silica gel beads and ventilation grilles. However, there are a number of drawbacks to this. For instance, you have to regenerate the granules periodically, silica gel cannot add moisture, and you cannot precisely set a passive system to a fixed percentage of humidity.
This is possible with an active miniClima system, which humidifies and dehumidifies automatically and very precisely. We work exclusively with Austrian-made equipment: they are the best of the best.”
And how do you control the temperature?
“We’ve experimented with a system to control both humidity and temperature, but the two conflict. For example, if a display case needs to be 25 degrees, condensation forms and the climate system has to work flat out. It’s better to control the temperature in the room itself. Besides, that’s often cheaper.
“For the Zeeuws Archief, we’re converting existing display cases one by one”
What else is important in a climate-controlled display case?
“Lighting is, of course, also an issue, because even LED lamps give off heat. We get round this with a fibre-optic cable. The lens of the LED lamp is then inside the display case, but the light source is on the outside. So the lamp can dissipate its heat on the outside.”
How does SDB distinguish itself in this area?
“We have a standard model that is already dust-tight and only requires a miniClima system at the bottom. No further engineering is needed, which means we can build a climate-controlled display case very quickly. We specialise in this, so we can also contribute ideas in every respect. For example, we are converting existing display cases for the Zeeuws Archief one by one. A sustainable solution!”
