samsung refrigerator lcd screen free sample

Get ready for a smart fridge showdown at CES 2020, because Samsung and LG will both be unveiling fridges with added artificial intelligence capabilities this year. Samsung’s latest edition of its Family Hub refrigerator and LG’s second-generation InstaView ThinQ fridge both tout AI-equipped cameras that can identify food. The idea is that the cameras can scan what’s inside and let users know what items they’re short on, even making meal suggestions based on the ingredients they still have.

Samsung’s Family Hub smart fridge was first unveiled at CES 2016, and since then, the company has been rolling out updated iterations with Bixby support, SmartThings integration, and AKG speakers. The latest edition adds software upgrades to enable AI image recognition in its View Inside cameras.

The software upgrades also include improved meal planning with the help of Whisk, a food tech startup Samsung acquired last year. Whisk lets users plan meals for up to a week and then creates smart shopping lists using ingredients that apply to multiple recipes.

Finally, the huge built-in touchscreen that can be used as a virtual bulletin board can now support video clips, as well as mirror content from Samsung TVs and phones. That means you can watch vertical videos like IGTV on your Samsung fridge, as God intended.

There’s no pricing information yet, but based on the prices for LG and Samsung’s previous fridge models, customers can expect prices to range from $4,500 to $6,000. Samsung says its Family Hub updates will be available in the spring.

I’m not opposed to the idea of a huge Wi-Fi-connected touchscreen on a fridge — in fact, it seems like a genuinely useful way to look up recipes or display cute photos and videos. I’m skeptical how well the AI will identify different ingredients, and whether using a computer to see what items you’re low on is really better than just taking a look for yourself.

You thought your 11-year-old clamoring for a Twitter account was a big deal? Now your fridge can get on Twitter, too. In its overall interior design, the Internet-connected Samsung RF4289HARS is a fairly standard refrigerator. There"s nothing too surprising about its exterior, either, until you experience the 8-inch, Internet-connected LCD looming over the water and ice dispenser.

A large-capacity refrigerator (28 cubic feet, per Samsung) this unit includes a few elements that put it on par with other high-end fridges. Samsung"s FlexZone Drawer, a short, 4-cubic foot drawer is useful for chilling things like wine, party trays, or setting up a kids-only section, even if it"s not entirely unique to the category.

Samsung has also tucked some useful features in unexpected places. The freezer has a slot to house a 16-inch pizza flush against the door. In the refrigerator compartment, in addition to adjustable shelving, you can also slide the front portion of one shelf to the back, clearing out space for taller items on the shelf below.

The good news is that the screen is aesthetically pleasing and can play samba music from its Pandora app as you unload your groceries. I just wish it did a little more.

The screen doubles as both a lightweight information and media hub, as well as a control center for the fridge itself. Neither function is category-transforming, but you can also forgive Samsung for playing it safe with these functions. This is still early days for connected appliances.

An icon dock lists the various apps along the home screen"s bottom edge. The full list includes a memo program, a calendar, a photo viewer, Epicurious, Weatherbug, AP News, Pandora, Twitter, and Samsung"s Grocery Manager app.

Receipt or in-home bar code scanning isn"t ubiquitous enough to justify that function in an inventory control app right now, so I"m willing to forgive any manual entry. But Samsung"s Grocery Manager app is overly simple. It only lets you input food by category (Beverage, Vegetable), not by specific type. The drag-and-drop icon-based interface is effective enough, but the grocery app that comes with LG"s LFX31995ST is much more robust, since it offers you a grid with multiple categories, and then specific food items when you drill down (bacon bits, brisket). You can then check off multiple items at a time and log them in all at once.

One other gripe is that Samsung"s fridge can"t transmit information to another device. Sending an automated grocery list to your smartphone would be useful, for example. Its Epicurious support also suffers here. Imagine if you could synch your food inventory with Epicurious to generate recipes, or even a weekly dinner menu. Right now you can search Epicurious for recipes (independent of your inventory) and display them on the fridge. But to actually prep and cook from that recipe, you"d presumably need to open up Epicurious and search for the same recipe on another device. Without some kind of mirroring function, or at least the ability to send a recipe link from the fridge, you might as well just start on your phone to begin with.

As stated earlier, I can"t fault Samsung for taking a measured approach to this early generation of smart refrigerator design. The company is surely gobbling up customer feedback in anticipation of a new revision, and competing efforts from LG, Whirlpool, GE, and others will have an impact as well. I will give the RF4289HARS the full review treatment once we have our tests up and running. Right now, I can"t recommend it for its smart functions given the alternatives, particularly LG"s LFX31995ST, which costs less. Samsung"s unit could still impress us for its core fridge functions. It won"t be long before a fridge in this price range will need to nail everything, though.

For a few years, Samsung has been hoping to make the fridge more than just a fridge by adding touchscreens on the front. The model we tested out in 2014 had Wi-Fi capabilities and an 8-inch LCD display. It had calendar and weather widgets and worked with the Epicurious app, allowing you to find recipes. Fun and useful but not necessarily something that everyone was going to go out and buy — especially with its $3,000-plus price tag. Now Samsung is hoping its 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with Family Hub, with its larger 21.5-inch HD LCD screen — will make a bigger impact.

Debuting at CES 2016, the fridge is meant to bring more than a little convenience to the kitchen. Samsung says it has improved the calendar app with the help of startup Sticki. You’ll be able to sync it with your other calendars, and you’ll also be able to choose what shows up (dinner with the neighbors instead of your noon work meeting, for example). Whereas typical stainless steel fridges, with their non-magnetic faces, don’t really have a place for photos and other paraphernalia of familial life, the Family Hub can display your phone’s pics or a memo (“dinner at 8”). “There isn’t that public space anymore,” said Justin Reinke, Director of Refrigeration Product Marketing at Samsung, in a call with reporters. He says the screen lets you add a bit of personalization back onto the silver surface.

These features aren’t so different from the older touchscreen fridges, but the large display makes it a little more suitable for entertainment. It can mirror your Samsung TV, so you can keep watching the game if it comes back on while you’re still making your snack. If you walk out of the kitchen, the screen will go to sleep, and will then turn back on when you come back in, thanks to proximity sensors. While it has a browser and some third-party capabilities, the fridge, which runs on Samsung’s Tizen platform, also has a lot of features that are controlled through the appliance’s app.

Some of those third-party functions include grocery ordering. The Instacart app will be available on the touchscreen, as will a new offering, Groceries by MasterCard. Through FreshDirect or ShopRite, users will be able to get food delivered from the app when the fridge rolls out in the northeast in May. The advantage there is that you can compare between the stores; if one doesn’t have your favorite brand of almond milk, the other might.

With a price of over $5,000, Samsung wanted it to be more than just a smart fridge combined with a tablet. “We don’t want to take a tablet and glue it to a refrigerator,” said Reinke. “We want to make this useful and have a reason to be on the refrigerator.”

Whether we want them or not, appliance makers seem hell bent on connecting their creations to the Internet, thereby making them “smart.” Samsung’s latest offering along those lines is a $5,800 touchscreen- and camera-equipped refrigerator, intended as the 21st century’s answer to the Post-It note-covered family fridge.

The centerpiece of Samsung’s refrigerator, called the Family Hub, is a massive 21.5-inch touchscreen. It gives the appearance that the South Korean technology firm slapped a massive smartphone onto a refrigerator door. When activated, the screen becomes a shared space for posting digital sticky notes, viewing photos, and even watching television.

Samsung has shown off touchscreen fridges in the past, but this model offers a larger screen that runs more apps. (Yes, even our refrigerators have apps now. Two examples include Instacart and Groceries by MasterCard, both of which let you order groceries when you’re running low.)

It’s not the first fridge with a camera — LG showcased one in 2014 — but apps like Food Reminder make more use of this functionality. Still, we’re not quite at the holy grail of smart refrigerators. What some pine for is the fridge that can sense we’re low on Sriracha and place an order for us automatically.

While the Family Hub has potential, its asking price is far and away above what most families are likely willing to spend on a refrigerator. Those who desperately want a smarter fridge could find a cheaper alternative in Whirlpool’s $3,800 Smart French Door Refrigerator, which offers some Internet-powered convenience for thousands less.

A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so that its inside is cooled to a temperature below the room temperature. Refrigeration is an essential food storage technique around the world. The lower temperature lowers the reproduction rate of bacteria, so the refrigerator reduces the rate of spoilage. A refrigerator maintains a temperature a few degrees above the freezing point of water. The optimal temperature range for perishable food storage is 3 to 5 °C (37 to 41 °F).freezer. The refrigerator replaced the icebox, which had been a common household appliance for almost a century and a half. The United States Food and Drug Administration recommends that the refrigerator be kept at or below 4 °C (40 °F) and that the freezer be regulated at −18 °C (0 °F).

The first cooling systems for food involved ice. Artificial refrigeration began in the mid-1750s, and developed in the early 1800s. In 1834, the first working vapor-compression refrigeration system was built. The first commercial ice-making machine was invented in 1854. In 1913, refrigerators for home use were invented. In 1923 Frigidaire introduced the first self-contained unit. The introduction of Freon in the 1920s expanded the refrigerator market during the 1930s. Home freezers as separate compartments (larger than necessary just for ice cubes) were introduced in 1940. Frozen foods, previously a luxury item, became commonplace.

Freezer units are used in households as well as in industry and commerce. Commercial refrigerator and freezer units were in use for almost 40 years prior to the common home models. The freezer-over-refrigerator style had been the basic style since the 1940s, until modern, side-by-side refrigerators broke the trend. A vapor compression cycle is used in most household refrigerators, refrigerator–freezers and freezers. Newer refrigerators may include automatic defrosting, chilled water, and ice from a dispenser in the door.

Domestic refrigerators and freezers for food storage are made in a range of sizes. Among the smallest are Peltier-type refrigerators designed to chill beverages. A large domestic refrigerator stands as tall as a person and may be about one metre (3 ft 3 in) wide with a capacity of 0.6 m3 (21 cu ft). Refrigerators and freezers may be free-standing, or built into a kitchen. The refrigerator allows the modern household to keep food fresh for longer than before. Freezers allow people to buy perishable food in bulk and eat it at leisure, and make bulk purchases.

In modern times, before the invention of the modern electric refrigerator, icehouses and iceboxes were used to provide cool storage for most of the year. Placed near freshwater lakes or packed with snow and ice during the winter, they were once very common. Natural means are still used to cool foods today. On mountainsides, runoff from melting snow is a convenient way to cool drinks, and during the winter one can keep milk fresh much longer just by keeping it outdoors. The word "refrigeratory" was used at least as early as the 17th century.

In 1894, Hungarian inventor and industrialist István Röck started to manufacture a large industrial ammonia refrigerator which was powered by electric compressors (together with the Esslingen Machine Works). Its electric compressors were manufactured by the Ganz Works. At the 1896 Millennium Exhibition, Röck and the Esslingen Machine Works presented a 6-tonne capacity artificial ice producing plant. In 1906, the first large Hungarian cold store (with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes, the largest in Europe) opened in Tóth Kálmán Street, Budapest, the machine was manufactured by the Ganz Works. Until nationalisation after the Second World War, large-scale industrial refrigerator production in Hungary was in the hands of Röck and Ganz Works.

Commercial refrigerator and freezer units, which go by many other names, were in use for almost 40 years prior to the common home models. They used gas systems such as ammonia (R-717) or sulfur dioxide (R-764), which occasionally leaked, making them unsafe for home use. Practical household refrigerators were introduced in 1915 and gained wider acceptance in the United States in the 1930s as prices fell and non-toxic, non-flammable synthetic refrigerants such as Freon-12 (R-12) were introduced. However, R-12 proved to be damaging to the ozone layer, causing governments to issue a ban on its use in new refrigerators and air-conditioning systems in 1994. The less harmful replacement for R-12, R-134a (tetrafluoroethane), has been in common use since 1990, but R-12 is still found in many old systems.

A common commercial refrigerator is the glass fronted beverage cooler. These type of appliances are typically designed for specific re-load conditions meaning that they generally have a larger cooling system. This ensures that they are able to cope with a large throughput of drinks and frequent door opening. As a result, it is common for these types of commercial refrigerators to have energy consumption of over 4 kWh per day.

In 1913, the first electric refrigerators for home and domestic use were invented and produced by Fred W. Wolf of Fort Wayne, Indiana, with models consisting of a unit that was mounted on top of an ice box.DOMELRE.Nathaniel B. Wales of Detroit, Michigan, introduced an idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit, which later became the basis for the Kelvinator. A self-contained refrigerator, with a compressor on the bottom of the cabinet was invented by Alfred Mellowes in 1916. Mellowes produced this refrigerator commercially but was bought out by William C. Durant in 1918, who started the Frigidaire company to mass-produce refrigerators. In 1918, Kelvinator company introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control. The absorption refrigerator was invented by Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters from Sweden in 1922, while they were still students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. It became a worldwide success and was commercialized by Electrolux. Other pioneers included Charles Tellier, David Boyle, and Raoul Pictet. Carl von Linde was the first to patent and make a practical and compact refrigerator.

These home units usually required the installation of the mechanical parts, motor and compressor, in the basement or an adjacent room while the cold box was located in the kitchen. There was a 1922 model that consisted of a wooden cold box, water-cooled compressor, an ice cube tray and a 0.25-cubic-metre (9 cu ft) compartment, and cost $714. (A 1922 Model-T Ford cost about $476.) By 1923, Kelvinator held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators. Also in 1923 Frigidaire introduced the first self-contained unit. About this same time porcelain-covered metal cabinets began to appear. Ice cube trays were introduced more and more during the 1920s; up to this time freezing was not an auxiliary function of the modern refrigerator.

The first refrigerator to see widespread use was the General Electric "Monitor-Top" refrigerator introduced in 1927, so-called, by the public, because of its resemblance to the gun turret on the ironclad warship USS Monitor of the 1860s.sulfur dioxide, which is corrosive to the eyes and may cause loss of vision, painful skin burns and lesions, or methyl formate, which is highly flammable, harmful to the eyes, and toxic if inhaled or ingested.

The introduction of Freon in the 1920s expanded the refrigerator market during the 1930s and provided a safer, low-toxicity alternative to previously used refrigerants. Separate freezers became common during the 1940s; the term for the unit, popular at the time, was deep freeze. These devices, or defrosting and automatic ice making. More efficient refrigerators were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, even though environmental issues led to the banning of very effective (Freon) refrigerants. Early refrigerator models (from 1916) had a cold compartment for ice cube trays. From the late 1920s fresh vegetables were successfully processed through freezing by the Postum Company (the forerunner of General Foods), which had acquired the technology when it bought the rights to Clarence Birdseye"s successful fresh freezing methods.

In the early 1950s most refrigerators were white, but from the mid-1950s to the present day, designers and manufacturers have put color onto refrigerators. In the late-1950s/early-1960s, pastel colors like turquoise and pink became popular, and brushed chrome-plating (similar to a stainless steel finish) was available on some models. In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, earth tone colors were popular, including Harvest Gold, Avocado Green and almond. In the 1980s, black became fashionable. In the late 1990s stainless steel came into vogue. Since 1961 the Color Marketing Group has attempted to coordinate the colors of appliances and other consumer goods.

Vapor compression cycle – A: hot compartment (kitchen), B: cold compartment (refrigerator box), I: insulation, 1: Condenser, 2: Expansion valve, 3: Evaporator unit, 4: Compressor

A vapor compression cycle is used in most household refrigerators, refrigerator–freezers and freezers. In this cycle, a circulating refrigerant such as R134a enters a compressor as low-pressure vapor at or slightly below the temperature of the refrigerator interior. The vapor is compressed and exits the compressor as high-pressure superheated vapor. The superheated vapor travels under pressure through coils or tubes that make up the condenser; the coils or tubes are passively cooled by exposure to air in the room. The condenser cools the vapor, which liquefies. As the refrigerant leaves the condenser, it is still under pressure but is now only slightly above room temperature. This liquid refrigerant is forced through a metering or throttling device, also known as an expansion valve (essentially a pin-hole sized constriction in the tubing) to an area of much lower pressure. The sudden decrease in pressure results in explosive-like flash evaporation of a portion (typically about half) of the liquid. The latent heat absorbed by this flash evaporation is drawn mostly from adjacent still-liquid refrigerant, a phenomenon known as auto-refrigeration. This cold and partially vaporized refrigerant continues through the coils or tubes of the evaporator unit. A fan blows air from the compartment ("box air") across these coils or tubes and the refrigerant completely vaporizes, drawing further latent heat from the box air. This cooled air is returned to the refrigerator or freezer compartment, and so keeps the box air cold. Note that the cool air in the refrigerator or freezer is still warmer than the refrigerant in the evaporator. Refrigerant leaves the evaporator, now fully vaporized and slightly heated, and returns to the compressor inlet to continue the cycle.

Modern domestic refrigerators are extremely reliable because motor and compressor are integrated within a welded container, "sealed unit", with greatly reduced likelihood of leakage or contamination. By comparison, externally-coupled refrigeration compressors, such as those in automobile air conditioning, inevitably leak fluid and lubricant past the shaft seals. This leads to a requirement for periodic recharging and, if ignored, possible compressor failure.

Refrigerators with two compartments need special design to control the cooling of refrigerator or freezer compartments. Typically, the compressors and condenser coils are mounted at the top of the cabinet, with a single fan to cool them both. This arrangement has a few downsides: each compartment cannot be controlled independently and the more humid refrigerator air is mixed with the dry freezer air.

Multiple manufacturers offer dual compressor models. These models have separate freezer and refrigerator compartments that operate independently of each other, sometimes mounted within a single cabinet. Each has its own separate compressor, condenser and evaporator coils, insulation, thermostat, and door.

An absorption refrigerator works differently from a compressor refrigerator, using a source of heat, such as combustion of liquefied petroleum gas, solar thermal energy or an electric heating element. These heat sources are much quieter than the compressor motor in a typical refrigerator. A fan or pump might be the only mechanical moving parts; reliance on convection is considered impractical.

Other uses of an absorption refrigerator (or "chiller") include large systems used in office buildings or complexes such as hospitals and universities. These large systems are used to chill a brine solution that is circulated through the building.

The Peltier effect uses electricity to pump heat directly; refrigerators employing this system are sometimes used for camping, or in situations where noise is not acceptable. They can be totally silent (if a fan for air circulation is not fitted) but are less energy-efficient than other methods.

Many modern refrigerator/freezers have the freezer on top and the refrigerator on the bottom. Most refrigerator-freezers—except for manual defrost models or cheaper units—use what appears to be two thermostats. Only the refrigerator compartment is properly temperature controlled. When the refrigerator gets too warm, the thermostat starts the cooling process and a fan circulates the air around the freezer. During this time, the refrigerator also gets colder. The freezer control knob only controls the amount of air that flows into the refrigerator via a damper system.

This means the refrigerator may become too warm. However, because only enough air is diverted to the refrigerator compartment, the freezer usually re-acquires the set temperature quickly, unless the door is opened. When a door is opened, either in the refrigerator or the freezer, the fan in some units stops immediately to prevent excessive frost build up on the freezer"s evaporator coil, because this coil is cooling two areas. When the freezer reaches temperature, the unit cycles off, no matter what the refrigerator temperature is. Modern computerized refrigerators do not use the damper system. The computer manages fan speed for both compartments, although air is still blown from the freezer.

Chilled water and ice from a dispenser in the door. Water and ice dispensing became available in the 1970s. In some refrigerators, the process of making ice is built-in so the user doesn"t have to manually use ice trays. Some refrigerators have water chillers and water filtration systems.

A cooling zone in the refrigerator door shelves. Air from the freezer section is diverted to the refrigerator door, to cool milk or juice stored in the door shelf.

A drop down door built into the refrigerator main door, giving easy access to frequently used items such as milk, thus saving energy by not having to open the main door.

Freezer Defrost: Early freezer units accumulated ice crystals around the freezing units. This was a result of humidity introduced into the units when the doors to the freezer were opened condensing on the cold parts, then freezing. This frost buildup required periodic thawing ("defrosting") of the units to maintain their efficiency. Manual Defrost (referred to as Cyclic) units are still available. Advances in automatic defrosting eliminating the thawing task were introduced in the 1950s, but are not universal, due to energy performance and cost. These units used a counter that only defrosted the freezer compartment (Freezer Chest) when a specific number of door openings had been made. The units were just a small timer combined with an electrical heater wire that heated the freezer"s walls for a short amount of time to remove all traces of frost/frosting. Also, early units featured freezer compartments located within the larger refrigerator, and accessed by opening the refrigerator door, and then the smaller internal freezer door; units featuring an entirely separate freezer compartment were introduced in the early 1960s, becoming the industry standard by the middle of that decade.

These older freezer compartments were the main cooling body of the refrigerator, and only maintained a temperature of around −6 °C (21 °F), which is suitable for keeping food for a week.

Butter heater: In the early 1950s, the butter conditioner"s patent was filed and published by the inventor Nave Alfred E. This feature was supposed to "provide a new and improved food storage receptacle for storing butter or the like which may quickly and easily be removed from the refrigerator cabinet for the purpose of cleaning."

Domestic refrigerators and freezers for food storage are made in a range of sizes. Among the smallest is a 4 L Peltier refrigerator advertised as being able to hold 6 cans of beer. A large domestic refrigerator stands as tall as a person and may be about 1 m wide with a capacity of 600 L. Some models for small households fit under kitchen work surfaces, usually about 86 cm high. Refrigerators may be combined with freezers, either stacked with refrigerator or freezer above, below, or side by side. A refrigerator without a frozen food storage compartment may have a small section just to make ice cubes. Freezers may have drawers to store food in, or they may have no divisions (chest freezers).

Compressor refrigerators are by far the most common type; they make a noticeable noise, but are most efficient and give greatest cooling effect. Portable compressor refrigerators for recreational vehicle (RV) and camping use are expensive but effective and reliable. Refrigeration units for commercial and industrial applications can be made in various sizes, shapes and styles to fit customer needs. Commercial and industrial refrigerators may have their compressors located away from the cabinet (similar to split system air conditioners) to reduce noise nuisance and reduce the load on air conditioning in hot weather.

Absorption refrigerators may be used in caravans and trailers, and dwellings lacking electricity, such as farms or rural cabins, where they have a long history. They may be powered by any heat source: gas (natural or propane) or kerosene being common. Models made for camping and RV use often have the option of running (inefficiently) on 12 volt battery power.

Peltier refrigerators are powered by electricity, usually 12 volt DC, but mains-powered wine coolers are available. Peltier refrigerators are inexpensive but inefficient and become progressively more inefficient with increased cooling effect; much of this inefficiency may be related to the temperature differential across the short distance between the "hot" and "cold" sides of the Peltier cell. Peltier refrigerators generally use heat sinks and fans to lower this differential; the only noise produced comes from the fan. Reversing the polarity of the voltage applied to the Peltier cells results in a heating rather than cooling effect.

Magnetic refrigerators are refrigerators that work on the magnetocaloric effect. The cooling effect is triggered by placing a metal alloy in a magnetic field.

Acoustic refrigerators are refrigerators that use resonant linear reciprocating motors/alternators to generate a sound that is converted to heat and cold using compressed helium gas. The heat is discarded and the cold is routed to the refrigerator.

In a house without air-conditioning (space heating and/or cooling) refrigerators consumed more energy than any other home device.Energy Star qualified use 50% less energy than the average models made in 1974.energy efficiency rating label instead of the Energy Star; thus EU refrigerators at the point of sale are labelled according to how energy-efficient they are.

For US refrigerators, the Consortium on Energy Efficiency (CEE) further differentiates between Energy Star qualified refrigerators. Tier 1 refrigerators are those that are 20% to 24.9% more efficient than the Federal minimum standards set by the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA). Tier 2 are those that are 25% to 29.9% more efficient. Tier 3 is the highest qualification, for those refrigerators that are at least 30% more efficient than Federal standards.

Besides the standard style of compressor refrigeration used in normal household refrigerators and freezers, there are technologies such as absorption refrigeration and magnetic refrigeration. Although these designs generally use a much larger amount of energy compared to compressor refrigeration, other qualities such as silent operation or the ability to use gas can favor these refrigeration units in small enclosures, a mobile environment or in environments where unit failure would lead to devastating consequences.

Many refrigerators made in the 1930s and 1940s were far more efficient than most that were made later. This is partly attributable to the addition of new features, such as auto-defrost, that reduced efficiency. Additionally, after World War 2, refrigerator style became more important than efficiency. This was especially true in the US in the 1970s, when side-by-side models (known as American fridgefreezers outside of the US) with ice dispensers and water chillers became popular. However, the reduction in efficiency also arose partly from reduction in the amount of insulation to cut costs.

Because of the introduction of new energy efficiency standards, refrigerators made today are much more efficient than those made in the 1930s; they consume the same amount of energy while being three times as large.

The efficiency of older refrigerators can be improved by defrosting (if the unit is manual defrost) and cleaning them regularly, replacing old and worn door seals with new ones, adjusting the thermostat to accommodate the actual contents (a refrigerator needn"t be colder than 4 °C (39 °F) to store drinks and non-perishable items) and also replacing insulation, where applicable. Some sites recommend cleaning condenser coils every month or so on units with coils on the rear, to add life to the coils and not suffer an unnoticeable deterioration in efficiency over an extended period, the unit should be able to ventilate or "breathe" with adequate spaces around the front, back, sides and above the unit. If the refrigerator uses a fan to keep the condenser cool, then this must be cleaned or serviced, at per individual manufactures recommendations.

Frost-free refrigerators, including some early frost-free refrigerators/freezers that used a cold plate in their refrigerator section instead of airflow from the freezer section, generally don"t shut off their refrigerator fans during defrosting. This allows consumers to leave food in the main refrigerator compartment uncovered, and also helps keep vegetables moist. This method also helps reduce energy consumption, because the refrigerator is above freeze point and can pass the warmer-than-freezing air through the evaporator or cold plate to aid the defrosting cycle.

The energy consumption of a refrigerator is also dependent on the type of refrigeration being done. For instance, Inverter Refrigerators consume comparatively less energy than a typical non-inverter refrigerator. In an inverter refrigerator, the compressor is used conditionally on requirement basis. For instance, an inverter refrigerator might use less energy during the winters than it does during the summers. This is because the compressor works for a shorter time than it does during the summers.

Further, newer models of inverter compressor refrigerators take in to account various external and internal conditions to adjust the compressor speed and thus optimize cooling and energy consumption. Most of them use at least 4 sensors which help detect variance in external temperature, internal temperature owing to opening of the refrigerator door or keeping new food inside; humidity and usage patterns. Depending on the sensor inputs, the compressor adjusts its speed. For example, if door is opened or new food is kept, the sensor detects an increase in temperature inside the cabin and signals the compressor to increase its speed till a pre-determined temperature is attained. After which, the compressor runs at a minimum speed to just maintain the internal temperature. The compressor typically runs between 1200 and 4500 rpm.

Inverter compressors not only optimizes cooling but is also superior in terms of durability and energy efficiency.LG played a significant role in improving inverter compressors as we know it by reducing the friction points in the compressor and thus introducing Linear Inverter Compressors. Conventionally, all domestic refrigerators use a reciprocating drive which is connected to the piston. But in a linear inverter compressor, the piston which is a permanent magnet is suspended between two electromagnets. The AC changes the magnetic poles of the electromagnet, which results in the push and pull that compresses the refrigerant. LG claims that this helps reduce energy consumption by 32% and noise by 25% compared to their conventional compressors.

The phycial design of refrigerators also plays a large part in its energy efficiency. The most efficient is the chest-style freezer, as its top-opening design minimizes convection when opening the doors, reducing the amount of warm moist air entering the freezer. On the other hand, in-door ice dispensers cause more heat leakage, contributing to an increase in energy consumption.

The refrigerator allows households to keep food fresh for longer than before. The most notable improvement is for meat and other highly perishable wares, which needed to be refined to gain anything resembling shelf life.processed, quick-cook foods that are less healthy.) Refrigeration in transit makes it possible to enjoy food from distant places.

The capacity of a refrigerator is measured in either liters or cubic feet. Typically the volume of a combined refrigerator-freezer is split with 1/3rds to 1/4th of the volume allocated to the freezer although these values are highly variable.

Temperature settings for refrigerator and freezer compartments are often given arbitrary numbers by manufacturers (for example, 1 through 9, warmest to coldest), but generally 3 to 5 °C (37 to 41 °F)

Most European refrigerators include a moist cold refrigerator section (which does require (automatic) defrosting at irregular intervals) and a (rarely frost free) freezer section.

1941 Ad for Servel Electrolux Gas Refrigerator (Absorption),Norman Bel Geddes.CPSC warned that old units still in use could be deadly, and offered a $100 reward plus disposal costs to consumers who properly disposed of their old Servels.

An increasingly important environmental concern is the disposal of old refrigerators—initially because freon coolant damages the ozone layer—but as older generation refrigerators wear out, the destruction of CFC-bearing insulation also causes concern. Modern refrigerators usually use a refrigerant called HFC-134a (1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane), which does not deplete the ozone layer, unlike Freon. R-134a is becoming much rarer in Europe. Newer refrigerants are being used instead. The main refrigerant now used is R-600a (also known as isobutane), which has a smaller effect on the atmosphere if released. There have been reports of refrigerators exploding if the refrigerant leaks isobutane in the presence of a spark. If the coolant leaks into the fridge, at times when the door is not being opened (such as overnight) the concentration of coolant in the air within the fridge can build up to form an explosive mixture that can be ignited either by a spark from the thermostat or when the light comes on as the door is opened, resulting in documented cases of serious property damage and injury or even death from the resulting explosion.

Disposal of discarded refrigerators is regulated, often mandating the removal of doors for safety reasons. Children playing hide-and-seek have been asphyxiated while hiding inside discarded refrigerators, particularly older models with latching doors, in a phenomenon called refrigerator death. Since 2 August 1956, under U.S. federal law, refrigerator doors are no longer permitted to latch and they can be opened from the inside.Bergisch Gladbach/Germany.

Regarding total life-cycle costs, many governments offer incentives to encourage recycling of old refrigerators. One example is the Phoenix refrigerator program launched in Australia. This government incentive picked up old refrigerators, paying their owners for "donating" the refrigerator. The refrigerator was then refurbished, with new door seals, a thorough cleaning and the removal of items, such as the cover that is strapped to the back of many older units. The resulting refrigerators, now over 10% more efficient, were then distributed to low income families.

Frigidaire Imperial "Frost Proof" model FPI-16BC-63, top refrigerator/bottom freezer with brushed chrome door finish made by General Motors Canada in 1963

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