Heat Pump Workflows

OpenPinch exposes two related but distinct Heat Pump workflow families.

Question This Guide Answers

How do I use OpenPinch to evaluate Heat Pump or refrigeration opportunities in the context of process integration?

Direct and Indirect HPR Targeting

Use this when you want the package to compute or screen HPR-oriented targets more directly.

Typical surfaces:

• problem.target.direct_heat_pump(…)

• problem.target.indirect_heat_pump(…)

• problem.target.direct_refrigeration(…)

• problem.target.indirect_refrigeration(…)

Use this workflow when your main question is:

• how do direct and indirect HPR routes compare over a study range?

Recommended Learning Asset

The packaged notebook:

openpinch notebook --name 03_carnot_hpr_comparison.ipynb -o notebooks

This is the best single packaged learning asset for the broader direct-versus- indirect HPR comparison workflow. It keeps the study orchestration on PinchWorkspace and inspects the resulting HPR target through the standard plot accessor surfaces, especially problem.plot.net_load_profiles(zone_name="Direct Heat Pump") and problem.plot.grand_composite_curve_with_heat_pump(...).

Current Recommendation

For supported advanced Heat Pump and refrigeration work today, prefer the problem.target.direct_heat_pump(...), problem.target.indirect_heat_pump(...), and refrigeration companion methods. Use chocolate_factory.json plus notebook 03 when the question is direct-versus-indirect comparison over a study range, and use heat_pump_targeting.json when you want a smaller direct HPR screening input data.

What To Compare

Start with:

• hot utility target change

• cold utility target change

• heat recovery change

• graph change, especially in the GCC

Treat cycle-level quantities as supporting context after the integration-level answer looks promising.

Next Steps

• For the technical framing, see Heat Pump and Refrigeration Methods.

• For the deeper implementation stack, see Generated Appendix.