Samsung Electronics will move production of heating heat pump boilers from overseas to Korea. It will build a new line at the Gwangju site in Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City that can produce more than 100,000 units a year and plans to begin full-scale mass production at the end of Sep.
Samsung Electronics said on the 24th it has built a 2,132-square-meter production line for the "EHS heat pump boiler" at the second campus of the Gwangju site. Trial production began on the 19th, and after verifying process and equipment stability and the performance and quality of finished goods, it will switch to mass production at the end of Sep.
The EHS (Eco Heating System) heat pump boiler is a product that absorbs heat from outside air and uses electricity to provide indoor heating and hot water. Among heat pump manufacturers participating in the heating electrification supply project, Samsung Electronics is the first to convert overseas production to domestic production and establish a production line.
The new production line has an annual capacity of more than 100,000 units. All products produced in Gwangju will be sold in the domestic market. Samsung Electronics also plans to increase the domestic input share of not only finished goods but also core parts and manufacturing processes.
The Gwangju site currently produces major home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. Samsung Electronics plans to apply the manufacturing and quality-control capabilities accumulated on existing appliance production lines to heat pump boiler production.
The EHS heat pump boiler generates more thermal energy than the electricity it consumes. The Samsung Electronics product has a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of 4.9 under a 35-degree Celsius outlet-water condition. SCOP is an indicator of how much thermal energy is produced relative to the electrical energy input over a given period; the higher the number, the higher the heating efficiency.
It means you can obtain about 4.9 units of thermal energy when you input 1 unit of electrical energy. Compared with conventional boilers that burn fossil fuels to produce heat directly, it can improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Heat pumps can also be powered by renewable energy produced by residential solar installations.
Samsung Electronics is also participating in the government's heating electrification project. It is supplying EHS heat pump boilers to the heating electrification supply project underway this year on Jeju Island and plans to join the second-phase supply project for 1,418 households in the second half.
Performance verification tailored to the domestic residential environment is also underway. In real residential settings such as Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi, Chungju in North Chungcheong and Namhae in South Gyeongsang, heating and hot water performance and energy efficiency are being checked. At the residential research institute of Samsung C&T in Yongin, Gyeonggi, and on Jeju Island, the "EHS All-in-One," which supplies cooling, heating and hot water in a single system, is also being demonstrated. The work verifies whether it can be applied not only to detached houses but also to multiunit housing such as apartments.
Lim Seong-taek, vice president of the DA division at Samsung Electronics, said, "By establishing a domestic production system for heat pump products, we will respond more proactively to the trend of heating electrification and accelerate the expansion of the heat pump business," and added, "We will continue to introduce solutions optimized for Korea's residential environment by combining heat pump technology accumulated in the global market with domestic manufacturing and service competitiveness."