Andrews Sykes’ monster task to preserve T rex

UK: Andrews Sykes is providing the right conditions for a special guest at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall – a 39ft-long Tyrannosaurus rex.

The 67-million-year-old T rex, the world’s only real skeleton of the dinosaur currently on tour across the globe, is on display at Kelvin Hall until the end of July. 

Like a lot of priceless artefacts, the T rex’s skeleton, weighing a colossal 5000kg, must be held in a monitored climate-controlled application for preservation purposes.

The design criteria was to maintain a temperature of 18°C +/- 2°C and =a relative humidity of 50% +/- 5% – with a continuous air flow within the temporary structure.

After an extensive site survey, an Andrews HPAC 90 high capacity heat pump air conditioning unit combined with a DH150 refrigerant dehumidifier were selected to meet the demanding criteria.

Situated externally, the HPAC 90 was fitted with lengths of ducting which were used to distribute large volumes of cool air throughout the gallery. This arrangement was ideal for keeping internal temperatures low and operated simultaneously with the drying unit to keep relative humidity at a desirable level.

To give the customer additional peace of mind, Andres Sykes also installed a number of dataloggers within the building which offered up-to-date temperature and RH readings. This provision enabled preordained high and low points to be established with alarm alerts scheduled in the event that conditions changed unexpectedly.

The HPAC 90 is one of Andrews Sykes’ larger, most powerful air conditioning units, providing up to 90kW of hot or cold air. The high performance unit features two inlet and outlet portals, giving customers the option to recirculate cold air for critical cooling.