Introduction
Refrigerators have been part of everyone’s modern life for a very long time. They store a lot of food and that’s why most people panic when their refrigerator breaks down. If you have a broken fridge, you can search for “refrigerator repair near me” and hire technicians to fix your fridge. Let’s check out some of the latest innovations and new refrigerator technologies for 2022.
The Technology
- Convertibles – Double door or French door refrigerators have become very common over the years. However, they have specific zones, and it’s difficult to use them in an optimized way. That’s why manufacturers are turning to conversion technology. This technology allows you to convert certain sections of the fridge. For instance, the freezer can become the fridge.
This technology comes in numerous modes. There’s the normal mode where you get the upper compartment as a freezer and the lower compartment for refrigeration. On the other hand, there are seasonal modes where you can completely turn off the freezer without affecting the functionality of the refrigeration section. There are also modes where you can turn the freezer into a fridge to store those extra veggies.
Some companies like Samsung also offer vacation mode and home alone mode with their refrigerator. With vacation mode, you can turn off the refrigerator compartment and keep the freezer running to preserve meat and other perishables. On the other hand, with home alone mode, you can turn the freezer into a mini-fridge and turn off the rest of the refrigerator section. This way, you save a lot of power when you have a big fridge and not too many people at home.
- Customizable interiors – Modern refrigerators allow for a lot of customization with the interiors. Everyone expects to move around the shelves inside the fridge and the door to make room for taller items. However, 2022 brings many pleasant surprises. Manufacturers are redesigning the crisper drawer.
Some manufacturers have introduced the Sort Crisper, Twin Seal Crisper, and Trizone Crisper. These crisper drawers have different use cases and offer a lot of flexibility. For instance, the Trizone Crisper sorts veggies into three different sections according to moisture content and to prevent odor from mixing up. On the other hand, Twin Seal Crispers allow you separate sections for storing fruits and veggies in the most optimal way possible.
Crispers are also coming with different geometric designs. For instance, some companies design their crispers with a 90-degree contour and that increases accessibility even in tight spaces.
- Inverter Compressor – The compressor is one of the most important components of the refrigerator. It compresses the refrigerant and sends it to the condenser for cooling. The industry had moved on to inverter compressors a long time ago and now they are taking a step further with digital inverter compressors. Digital inverter compressors have several levels of variable speeds that can be adjusted by you or by a smart chip.
Since the compressor adjusts the speed according to the load and the outside temperature, it’s always working optimally. A digital inverter compressor doesn’t need to waste a lot of power by turning on and off numerous times. Instead, it slows down the compressor significantly and runs it at incredibly slow speeds to maintain the temperature inside the refrigerator. With this kind of compressor in your fridge, you can slash down its electricity consumption by one-third. If you have a large fridge, that can save you hundreds of dollars annually.
- All around airflow – Over the past few years, cooling technology has improved by leaps and bounds. One such innovation is 360-degree airflow. With 360-degree airflow, the fridge sends cool air in all directions with the help of fans and strategically placed vents. With all-around multi-directional airflow, all the items are kept cool and you don’t have to push items to the back in order of importance.
Some refrigerators even offer ice beam doors that help to keep the cooling even throughout all the sections. You can also save money on power if you opt for a refrigerator that uses two fans to push cold air into the freezer and the refrigerator evenly. This reduces the stress on the compressor since cold air is circulated more efficiently inside the fridge.
- Cameras and sensors – Refrigerators have also become smart over the years. Initially, manufacturers liked to use Artificial Intelligence as a buzzword and liked to slap that on all of their products. However, things are very different now. Now, refrigerators come with a bunch of sensors inside them. Apart from the regular thermostat, there are moisture sensors and even cameras inside high-end refrigerators.
These cameras take pictures of items and are connected to the cloud via your home’s Wi-Fi network. That means when you’re at the grocery store, you can look inside your refrigerator via an app and take note of missing items. You can even control your fridge remotely and change the settings according to your needs. Some refrigerators use artificial intelligence to read the labels on the items inside your refrigerator and create an inventory list for you. They also push alerts to your phone when those items are about to reach their expiry date.
- Future technologies – Manufacturers are also researching new technologies that may soon make their way into refrigerators for the consumer market. For instance, researchers are trying to figure out how they can add features like calorie counting and self-cleaning technology inside refrigerators.
Apart from that, manufacturers also plan to use more advanced chips inside their refrigerators for temperature fluctuation control. Right now, refrigerators have a temperature fluctuation rate within the margins of +/- 5 degrees Celsius. With more powerful chips, it may be possible to actively monitor the internal conditions of the fridge and regulate the compressor and other components to bring down the fluctuation rate even more to save power.
Conclusion
Refrigerators are essential to daily life and have a lot of sensitive components that make advanced features possible with the tap of a button. If your refrigerator breaks down, you can search for “refrigerator repair near me” and hire professionals for the job.
