Liebherr’s new Research & Development Centre, opened in 2008, means more innovation in the North American marketplace. Pushing the boundaries of innovation has always been of pivotal importance to Liebherr as a leader in refrigerator/freezer technology and this new center allows Liebherr to continue forging innovative solutions geared to customer needs all over the world.

On an area of over 4,000 m², the new Center at the Ochsenhausen site gives Liebherr engineers numerous rooms for climate and noise measurement, an X-ray room, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and prototyping facilities. The new infrastructure provides the ideal environment for preparing products for mass production or for systematically developing existing models.

Modern rooms for climate measurement simulate real-world testing conditions and climate chambers enable the simulation of ambient temperatures ranging from 50°F (10°C) to 110°F (43°C) and humidity levels up to 90%. As a result, the interplay of all the refrigeration components – including the electronic control systems, evaporator design and fine tuning of the ideal compressors – can be optimized very early on for the global use of the appliances.

Although the lowest energy consumption possible is a primary goal, engineers at the new facility are also mandated to exceed all expectations for low noise emission and use state-of-the-art acoustic test rooms for optimizing running noise. All the components in newly developed appliances undergo comprehensive endurance testing to guarantee Liebherr quality. And, high-performance prototyping systems ensure appliances in early development stages are available for carrying out necessary tests and using the findings for further development.