Pinch Analysis Fundamentals3 / 17
Building Composite Curves
Combining many streams into one hot curve and one cold curve — the graphical heart of pinch analysis.
11 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026
A single stream, plotted as temperature against the heat it carries, is just a straight line. The power of pinch analysis comes from combining all the hot streams into one curve, and all the cold streams into another: the composite curves, so you can see the whole process's heating and cooling needs on one picture.
In this lesson
- 01The process to combine
- 02Building the hot composite curve
- 03Building the cold composite curve
- 04Reading the picture, qualitatively
- 05Sources and further reading