What Is Thermal Engineering?

Thermal engineering is a broad field of engineering that encompasses technologies dealing with heating and cooling systems, transfer of heat, and fluid mechanics. Instruments that control temperature are essential in many areas, including the electric power industry; the automobile industry; and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry. The principles of thermal engineering are also crucial to the operation of vehicles and other machines.

Heat transfer is a major concern within the field. The transfer of energy, in the form of heat, across different physical regions is heat transfer. When an area of high temperature is next to an area of lower temperature, heat naturally flows from the higher-temperature region to the lower-temperature region. This principle, known as conduction, is used in many thermal engineering settings to increase or decrease the temperature of a system. Insulation, for example, minimizes the conduction of heat and keeps temperature regions relatively distinct.