Concepts¶
Background reading for tmhp. These pages cover why the library
is built the way it is — what physics-based cycle solving buys you,
how the model pieces fit together across system families, and how to
interpret the diagnostic fields each call returns.
Why physics-based?
Trade-offs versus empirical curve-fit models — what you give up, what you gain, and where the compute goes.
Cycle architecture
How source side, refrigerant cycle, and sink side connect, and how the same core cycle is reused across every system model.
failure_reason semanticsThe four diagnostic values returned by analyze_steady
and how to branch on them.
Refrigerants and CoolProp
Subcritical vs supercritical operation, why CoolProp is the backing dependency, and how to swap refrigerants safely.
Last updated May 17, 2026