National Thermal Engineer Day with NAL Engineers

1. What is thermal engineering?
   Thermal engineering is a specialized sub-branch of mechanical engineering that deals with heat transfer and energy systems. It involves understanding the energy transfer processes to build efficient systems.
2. What does a thermal engineer do and why is this job important?
   We keep our chairs warm while making colorful temperature pictures (kidding)! Thermal engineers assess system designs to judge the feasibility of operation and have efficient energy transfer. We make sure machine parts don’t melt away and can function as per requirement.
3. What does thermal engineering look like at NAL? Where/How does your expertise fit into the company model/lamp design and manufacturing?
   At NAL, we assess the feasibility of the plastic parts during lamp operation along with optimizing heat sinks for efficient operation of LEDs. A good lamp is a cool lamp! Every design needs to have an effective thermal management system. We run thermal and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict temperatures in the design stage and perform physical testing in the design verification stage. The real joy is when we see the predictions correlating with measurements.
4. What would happen if thermal engineering didn’t exist?
   If we did not pay attention to thermal engineering in designs, parts would fail and melt during operation.
5. Why did you decide to be a thermal engineer?
   I have always been curious about how things work, and how all the parts mesh together to build a working system. This curiosity and interest in learning led to me pursue science and engineering degrees. In graduate school, I chose the thermal and fluid science areas as focus of my study and a got an opportunity to work on NASA and NSF funded thermal projects.

Suresh Math, Lead CAE Engineer

1. What is thermal energy?
   Thermal energy is termed as the energy contained by an object due to its molecular motion and vibration. Thermal energy is measured in terms of temperature; the higher the temperature, the higher the thermal energy. Thermal energy transfer between two objects/systems is termed as heat.
2. What does a thermal engineer do and why is this job important?
   Anything that is moving, including living beings, cannot function without thermal energy. Prominent thermal engineer responsibilities include:
   -Maximizing thermal energy utilization to perform necessary work and reduce the waste heat, which increases the efficiency of the system.
   -Managing the waste heat without affecting the system components.
   Neglecting thermal management, would have a negative impact on the performance of a system, would lead to thermal runaway, and would cause permanent damage to the system.
3. What does thermal engineering look like at NAL? Where/How does your expertise fit into the company model/lamp design and manufacturing?
   At NAL, the thermal engineering team is involved right from request for quote (RFQ) stage to production stage, including after sale and on field issues. We perform virtual simulations to:
   -Check that our lamps meet thermal aspects of customer requirements.
   -Increase long-term performance of automotive lamps by managing waste heat coming from light sources.
   -Safeguard other plastic components from overheating.
   -Guide design team in selection of material to reduce overall cost of the product.
4. What would happen if thermal engineering didn’t exist?
   We would have less energy efficient products in the market, leading to higher manufacturing and operating costs. We would also spend more time and money on testing products.
5. What are you working on right now?
   Right now, I am working on thermal feasibility of new lighting designs. As we believe in continuous improvement, we are working on improving our modelling methods.
6. Why did you decide to be a thermal engineer?
   Understanding how heat moves through different materials, thermal engineers can design systems that use less energy without sacrificing performance and comfort. My specialization and technical skills help me to design energy efficient systems, which is the need of the hour.

Joseph Bielecki, Lead CAE Engineer

1. What is thermal energy?
   Energy is a defined concept that often is viewed positively, but when a portion of energy is inadvertently converted to heat (and sometimes noise) it is often viewed negatively like ‘trash; ‘to be disposed of or removed.” There are some systems though that manage heat to convert it to useful mechanical energy, i.e a steam engine.
2. What does a thermal engineer do and why is this job important?
   Thermal engineers try to efficiently manage or remove heat energy for a system, because unmanaged heat energy in a system can be catastrophic.
3. What would happen if thermal engineering didn’t exist?
   Designs that have insufficient heat energy management often lead to catastrophic failure including melted and burnt or non-functioning components.
4. What are you working on right now?
   I am working on heat management for future lighting systems coming to new vehicle designs. Heat management is best considered at the beginning and throughout the design stage, so these designs are best kept protected until release.
5. Why did you decide to be a thermal engineer?
   Thermal engineering can be viewed as a concentration in mechanical engineering and even physics curriculums. I have degrees in both. The reason why thermal is a mechanical phenomenon is because temperature is a property directly associated with the movement (kinetic energy) of particles at the molecular level. Hotter molecules in a substance move more and interact with each other more.