Buzz
Imagine yourself as a refrigerator. Your owner wants to stuff everything inside you, even when the space is already packed. No matter how skillful they are at organizing, you still feel suffocated, and your 'body' temperature remains uncontrollable.
1. How does a Samsung refrigerator improve your kitchen space?
Imagine being a refrigerator. Your owner wants to cram everything inside, overflowing the space. No matter how expertly organized, you still feel suffocated, and your 'body' temperature remains unregulated.
At that moment, you'd surely wish you were a Samsung refrigerator. Why?
Because Samsung engineers always find ways to expand the interior space while keeping the outer dimensions of the refrigerator unchanged. It sounds like an impossible task, but everything is still happening whether you believe it or not.
Samsung's SpaceMax Technology – Thinner and More Effective
SpaceMax Technology is a synthesis of innovative solutions devised by Samsung's experienced engineers. It increases the interior volume of the refrigerator using a new type of insulation material. This material helps make the insulation panel in SpaceMax refrigerators thinner and more effective.
This technology first appeared on Samsung refrigerators in 2008 through a project called Guggenheim. It's hard to believe that using this type of insulation material has increased the refrigerator's interior volume by an additional 100 liters and has been continuously used and developed for the past 8 years.
Developing a new type of material requires a remarkable process involving researchers and engineers. The biggest challenge is that the material must be thin while still ensuring temperature control.
From a technical standpoint, SpaceMax combines poly-urethane (PU) insulation foam and Vacuum Insulation Panel (VIP). This combination reduces the thickness of the freezer compartment from 60mm to 55mm and the refrigerator compartment from 45mm to 30mm. Additionally, the doors of both compartments are also reduced by 20-25mm and 5-10mm respectively.
Insulation Foam Poly-Urethane at the Cellular Level
Urethane is a widely recognized material used for refrigeration insulation. Through research and development efforts, Samsung has been able to produce Poly-Urethane insulation layers and reduce cell thickness from 200-300㎛ to 100-150㎛. As a result, thermal loss is significantly reduced and insulation capability is improved by an additional 6.5%
Vacuum – The Ultimate Insulation Solution
In parallel with improving PU insulation layers, Samsung has also developed vacuum insulation panels to minimize heat loss.
In theory, a vacuum state completely eliminates thermal conduction (which is why thermal flasks often have a vacuum layer). However, insulation presents a huge challenge for design engineers because it complicates the refrigerator wall structure. Nevertheless, Samsung has developed techniques to control everything. If you dare to dismantle a Samsung refrigerator, you'll see the vacuum insulation layer right beneath the PU insulation layer.
Cross-section of the vacuum insulation layer on Samsung refrigerators
Although the numbers may vary, fundamentally, reducing the insulation layer thickness by 1mm increases the refrigerator's capacity by approximately 10 liters.
In the 1990s, refrigerator capacity fluctuated between 200 – 300 liters. By 2014, this figure had increased to 980 liters.
As technology advances, reducing the insulation thickness by 1mm – poses an extremely difficult challenge for engineers. However, this is the best way to increase refrigerator capacity without altering their external dimensions.
Samsung has made significant strides in research and development, and the innovation of SpaceMax may not be readily apparent, but its benefits are tremendous.
