Thermodynamic engineering applies thermodynamic principles to engineering design problems. It is taught in mechanical engineering departments and can refer to industrial applications. Thermodynamics uses defined rules to model energy events and helps engineers account for changes in pressure, volume, and temperature. Undergraduate courses lead to more complex studies and degree programs may include applied mathematics, statistical and equilibrium thermodynamics, gas dynamics, fluid dynamics, energy conversion, energy dynamics, and combustion. Thermodynamic engineering is used in industries such as aeronautics, air pollution control, heat treatment, electrical equipment, and traditional and alternative energy sources. Chemical thermodynamic engineering is also used in fields such as steelmaking and the production of smart materials.
Thermodynamic engineering is the application of thermodynamic principles to engineering design problems. Universities have thermodynamic specialty areas within the mechanical engineering departments in their engineering colleges. Thermodynamic engineering can refer to industrial thermodynamic applications in the field of mechanical engineering, also known as thermodynamic process engineering.
Thermodynamics uses highly defined rules to model natural and experimental energy events. The laws of thermodynamics state the following: the definition of temperature and heat flow, that energy cannot be created or destroyed, that small amounts of a system’s original energy are always lost from one state to another, and that the temperature drops, there must be an adequate amount of heat energy lost. Techniques developed in the science of thermodynamics help engineers account for changes in pressure, volume, and temperature in any number of applications and fields of study.
Undergraduate courses in thermodynamic engineering are usually part of a graduate program within the mechanical engineering major leading to a master’s or doctoral degree. Undergraduate courses such as fluid mechanics, thermodynamic systems, and internal combustion engines lead to more complex studies. Degree programs may consist of applied mathematics, statistical and equilibrium thermodynamics, gas dynamics, fluid dynamics, energy conversion, energy dynamics, and combustion.
Thermodynamic engineering industries design, test, and develop products that require constraints on pressure, temperature, and volume. Aeronautical companies are concerned with applying thermodynamic principles to the design and construction of rocket systems. Air pollution control, heat treatment, and electrical equipment companies apply thermodynamic engineering principles in the design and testing of incinerators, scrubbers, filters, furnaces, dryers, furnaces, and boilers. Other thermodynamic engineering companies design and manufacture test devices, such as environmental chambers with ovens and refrigerators for testing the heat tolerance of materials, and thermocouples for reading and feedback of changes in test temperatures.
Traditional energy industries, such as coal and nuclear power plants, apply thermodynamic principles on a large scale. The green revolution that encourages alternative and clean energy sources, such as passive solar, active solar, water, wind and electricity, requires thermodynamic engineering skills to calculate energy balances in trading systems for heating, cooling and grid management electricity for both housing and industry. Chemical thermodynamic engineering takes into account systems that experience change of state in fields as diverse as steelmaking and the production of nano-sized particles in the design of smart materials.
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