The Louvre Abu Dhabi is an art and civilization museum located in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Located in Saadiyat Island's Cultural District, the museum is approximately 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft) in size, with 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) of galleries.
The museum is part of a 30-year agreement between the city of Abu Dhabi and the French government, and it was inaugurated on November 8, 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron, United Arab Emirates Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
ENERVEX started working with the Louvre in 2014 when BuroHappold designed the boiler room, which included backup condensing boilers to control the humidity for the exhibited art work in the museum.
The Challenge
In 2015, the challenge was to identify the ideal oil-fired condensing boilers to function as the backup boiler system. ENERVEX proposed three (3) Fulton VMP4000DF dual-fuel, condensing boilers. An ENEVEX Chimney System design with mechanical draft was also offered but declined by the engineer, who had their own design in mind with the boiler connectors tied into a 1000mm x 1000mm (40”x40”) ductwork serving as a fan dilution system with 3 fixed-speed inline fans.
During 2017-2018, it was discovered during commissioning that the condensing boilers couldn’t operate simultaneously. The draft was uncontrollable with huge swings between negative and positive. The inconsistent draft caused excessive soot buildup and eventually made the boilers inoperable.
In 2019, ENERVEX was contacted again and asked to help solving the boiler operating problems. The challenge was to:
The Solution
In 2015:
ENERVEX supplied three (3) Fulton VMP4000DF dual-fuel, condensing boilers along with 14” EPS1 connectors with ADF dampers to isolate boilers when in standby mode.The connectors were tied into a 1000mm x 1000mm (40”x40”) ductwork serving as a fan dilution system with 3 modulating inline fans.
In 2019:
ENERVEX determined that the exhaust system with a vastly oversized 40"x40" duct powered by the fan dilution system with 3 fixed-speed inline fans was a flawed design. It would be impossible to control the draft in a meaningful way.
On ENERVEX's recommendation the entire duct system and fans were removed. The chimney system was redesigned and reduced from a 40"x40" duct to a 16" Powerstack EPS1 double-wall multi-application chimney with 1 inch insulation.
ENERVEX applied a variable speed TDF 500 inline power venter controlled by an EBC 31 modulating draft controller to monitor and maintain the required draft. Due to the tight space, the TDF was installed right underneath the ceiling, while the EBC 31 controller was mounted on a wall next to the three Fulton boilers.
The Fulton boilers and the ENERVEX Chimney Automation System now assist in controlling the humidity for the exhibited artwork. The system has worked flawlessly to this day.
