CoolPack is no longer maintained. Here is what to use instead.
If you learned refrigeration on CoolPack — or your course still ships it — you already know the problem: the project is abandoned, the fluid list is frozen, and it sometimes will not start on a current Windows build. Evodelta keeps the same job to be done (cycle state points, P-h diagrams, cold-room and pipe calculations) and rebuilds it on verified CoolProp physics in the browser.
Verified state — CoolPack
A long-standing free desktop teaching tool for refrigeration cycles, built on top of EES.
Officially dead. IPU's own page states: “CoolPack is no longer maintained… limited availability of refrigerants, and sometimes compatibility issues with up-to-date Windows versions.” Development ceased after v1.33, and IPU's stated aim is to “completely replace it with the new CoolTools.”
Side by side
Competitor column reflects the vendor's own published facts as verified on 2026-10-06.
| Aspect | CoolPack | Evodelta |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained? | No — ceased after v1.33; IPU itself points users to CoolTools | Actively shipped, with a public changelog and verification page |
| Physics engine | Large parts built on EES — “difficult to maintain” in the authors' own words | CoolProp Helmholtz equations of state — the same reference lineage as REFPROP, no proprietary look-up tables |
| Install | Windows desktop download; install friction; compatibility issues reported on current Windows | Nothing to install — runs in the browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebook, iPad and phone |
| Refrigerants | “Limited availability of refrigerants”; frozen file set; students hand-copy REFPROP files in | 25 A1 / A2L / A3 fluids including R-454B, R-32, R-1234yf, R-290, CO₂ and ammonia |
| A2L-era fluids | Not available by default — the transition to R-454B/R-32 left it behind | R-454B, R-32, R-1234yf, R-290 with glide (bubble/dew) handled |
| Shape of the product | Fractured into 6+ separate sub-programs | One workspace: cycle, chart, pipe sizing, charge limits |
| Sharing / teams | Local files only | Shareable cycle links + PDF/CSV export |
| Price | Free | Free tier, no card. Solo $49/month — $0 to start |
If you are switching
Honest migration path — including what does not transfer.
- 1.Export or photograph your CoolPack case inputs (evaporating/condensing temperature, superheat, subcooling, compressor isentropic efficiency, fluid) — CoolPack's EES-based files are not importable, so the conditions get re-entered, not re-computed.
- 2.Re-enter the same conditions in the Evodelta standard-cycle form for the same refrigerant. Glide is handled automatically for blends.
- 3.Compare state points and COP against your CoolPack printout: results agree within the ideal-cycle tolerance band documented on /verification.
CoolPack was excellent for its time and is now the abandoned default answer for a whole generation of engineers. The replacement should be maintained, run everywhere, and carry the refrigerants people actually use in 2026 — which is the exact brief Evodelta was built to.
Every figure on this page is traceable to the vendor's own published documentation. Where a vendor publishes no number, this page says so rather than estimating.