This article deals with some important views of thermal engineering from a Mechanical engineering point of view. As there are many specializations in Mechanical Engineering like
- Machine Design
- Thermal Engineering
- Manufacturing
These above three specialization makes Mechanical Engineering, an evergreen branch of engineering.
Machine Design:
It develops a product from an idea. It deals with the improvement, creation, and development of existing systems from its working and conceptual level for the design of stuff in daily life. e.g. design of an internal engine for an automobile, design of cantilever beam or machine element, each and everything which is part of any complex engineering system always passes through the design process.
Manufacturing:
Based on design data and its output one can make that idea into a product by manufacturing with proper specifications given based on design output and making use of engineering materials, one can complete a product. Manufacturing involves many fabrications and joining processes.
Thermal Engineering
Thermal Engineering involves the design, development, and analysis of any thermal or fluid flow problem. E.g. cooling of the microprocessor by CPU fan, Cooling of foods by refrigeration, heat transfer in furnace and etc.
Hence, Thermal Engineering is a wide area with the following subjects as its components.
- Thermodynamics
- Heat and mass transfer
- Refrigeration and Air conditioning
- Fluid Mechanics
Each and every subject has a particular role in thermal analysis.
Areas that involves the use of all these subjects in the analysis are
- Design of heat exchanger like condenser/evaporator
- Design of domestic refrigerator
- Design of furnace
- Design of air conditioner
- Design of boiler
So, one needs to have knowledge of all the above four specialization subjects.