Samsung, Oak Ridge National Laboratory testing cold climate vapor compression heat pump tech

Samsung and the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have started testing a new cold-climate heat pump technology that Samsung says can heat homes steadily even when outdoor temperatures drop below minus 30 Celsius (about minus 22 Fahrenheit). Heat pumps use a refrigerant that absorbs outdoor heat, gets compressed into a hot, high-pressure gas, then releases that heat indoors — but most models lose efficiency as it gets colder outside. Samsung's design aims to fix that.

The system uses a rotary compressor design and a technique called flash injection, which adds extra refrigerant during long heating runs to keep the compressor from overheating and to hold steady performance in extreme cold. Samsung says the combination should make the unit better suited to places where a heat pump has to run continuously through harsh winters.

The technology will be tested at a federal field lab in Fairbanks, Alaska, chosen because of its brutal winters — average lows around minus 40 C and a record low of minus 50 C. Samsung has not released further technical details, and there's no word yet on pricing, availability, or a timeline for turning this into a product you could buy. For now, this is research testing, not a heat pump on the market. But it points to where cold-climate heat pump technology is headed, which matters if you live somewhere winters are harsh and you've been told a heat pump won't keep up. Worth watching for future product announcements before assuming that's still true for your climate.