Sewage source heat pump unit operates under partial load most of the time, and study on the law of coefficient of performance (COP) of the unit varying with load ratio can provide basis for the heat pump units running in high efficiency. A mathematical model determining COP, evaporation temperature and condensation temperature of a single unit was proposed. Under the condition of uniform load distribution, the model was established according to different ways of bearing partial load with the same type multiple units but different parallel operation models, and the operation characteristics of units were analyzed as well. Results show that the single screw water-source heat pump can maintain high COP only at 60%-100% load ratio, COP decreases sharply with the decrease of load ratio, and the units with parallel operation are controlled by the load ratio of a single unit according to the reduction of total load which can keep the average COP at high level within a wide load range.