Samsung could soon revolutionize the way we cool food and drinks, thanks to one New thermoelectric technology which completely eliminates the use of refrigerant gases. The South Korean giant, in collaboration with the applied physics laboratory of the Johns Hopkins Universitypresented a solution that uses thePietier effectreworked in an extremely more efficient and sustainable version. The code name of this technology? Chessacronym of Controlled Hierarchically Engineered Superlattice Structures.
Published on the prestigious magazine Nature Communicationsthe research opens the way to refrigerators and air conditioners without compressors, quieter, compact and friends of the environment. An ambitious promise, which could mark a turning point in the household appliance industry, responsible today by about 30% of energy consumption in European homes.
From Pietier effect to chess technology
Discovered in 1834, thePietier effect It is a thermoelectric phenomenon in which the passage of electric current between two semiconductor materials generates heat on the one hand and cooling on the other. It is the same principle already used in some miniaturized devices, but so far never really competitive with traditional compressors. The reason? Low efficiency and high consumption.
Samsung has decided to face these chest limits, developing multilevel nanostructures capable of optimizing the flow of heat and electrons. These structures, at the basis of Chess technology, allow you to reach a almost double performance (COP) coefficient (COP) Compared to the normal Pietier cells. In the laboratory tests, an efficiency of 70%has come to an improvement, making the system powerful enough to compete with conventional compressors – at least in specific contexts.
A further advantage lies in theTotal absence of refrigerant gaseslike HFC (Hydrofluorocarburi), known for their powerful greenhouse effect. So goodbye to the risk of harmful losses, and welcome a technology safer, silent and resistant over timewithout movable parts that use.
Hybrid refrigerators and premium models
Samsung has already started applying this innovation in his Bespoke refrigerators Ai Hybridpresented at CES 2025. In these models, the Celle Peltier work in tandem with inverter compressorsentering action in strategic moments – for example, when they insert hot foods, or during the defrosting phase – for optimize consumption and maintain the stable temperature.
For now, it is a hybrid approachwhich unites the best of the two worlds. The hope is that, in the coming years, the Chess modules can completely replace compressors in the high -end models. But a doubt remains: When (and if) this technology will also arrive in the most accessible refrigerators?
For now, in fact, the production costs remain high, and the large -scale use could remain confined to the premium models. However, the adoption of the MOCVD process – already used for semiconductors and LEDs – bodes well on industrial scalability of technology.
A technology, many applications
The potential of Chess technology is not limited to refrigerators. Johns Hopkins’ researchers and Samsung engineers point to expand their use to air conditioners, electronic devices and data center cooling systemswhere silence and absence of vibrations can make a difference.
But the implications go further. Some scientists already imagine a future in which it will be possible obtain electricity with residual heattransforming a simple cooling technology into an energy recovery tool. In short, we are only at the beginning.
