Screenshot of the Heat Pump Design Model web interface.

The new Heat Pump Design Model web interface, developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, expands the tool’s online accessibility.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This article originally appeared in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Building Technologies Update Newsletter April 2016 Issue (URL: www.ornl.gov/buildings → Media → News)

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Heat Pump Design Model (HPDM), a hardware-based vapor-compression system research and design tool originally developed in the mid-1970s, remains cutting edge through continuous evolution.

HPDM is actively used by industry for designing products and in research collaborations between ORNL and firms developing equipment to achieve industry-leading efficiency levels. Replacement refrigerants for chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorochlorocarbons were selected in part based on analysis using HPDM, and currently lower-GWP replacements for HFCs are being evaluated experimentally and with HPDM. DOE’s minimum efficiency standards for some product categories are based in part on analysis using HPDM. The nation’s largest compressor manufacturer continues to use HPDM as the engine for its system design tool used by original equipment manufacturers worldwide.

ORNL researchers released an update of the web-based version of HPDM in February 2016. Using the online interface generates the required input file, executes the application, and summarizes the results on the user’s browser.

The updated HPDM can be accessed at http://hpdmflex.ornl.gov/hpdm/wizard/welcome.php.