Liebherr-Hausgeräte GmbH is revolutionising technology in its fridges and freezers, using a vacuum in conjunction with finely ground lava stone, the raw material perlite, to insulate its appliances. The first vacuum perlite models, named BluRoX, will be on the market as early as January 2023. For the very first time, it is possible to produce freezers with the energy efficiency class “A” and “B” in accordance with EU legislation thanks to the innovative technology.
Until now, refrigerators and freezers have been insulated with conventional insulating materials made from petroleum-based polyurethane foam. Instead of these common foam elements, and in a world’s first, BluRoX uses a vacuum in combination with finely ground perlite for insulation.
Due to its crystalline microstructure, the lava stone perlite has a very low thermal conductivity, and the vacuum provides the best possible insulation in terms of energy. As Steffen Nagel, managing director sales & marketing at Liebherr-Hausgeräte explains, «for a family with a 350-litre freezer, the annual power consumption for the appliance could be reduced by up to 20 per cent – This translates into notable savings with steadily rising electricity prices.»
Moreover, the new combination of a vacuum and finely ground lava stone enables a very compact design. Due to the particularly effective BluRoX insulation, Liebherr can design the walls of a BluRoX freezer to be about one third thinner than the walls of a conventional foam-insulated appliance. For an appliance fully equipped with vacuum perlite technology, the result is about 25 percent greater capacity compared to fridges and freezers with the same external dimensions. The FNb 5056 freezer will be the first hybrid model whose door is equipped with BluRoX technology.
