Activity
Beginning of the activity
The Institute of Thermal Machinery originated in 1970 from joining of the Chair of Thermodynamics and the Chair of Thermal Machinery. For 55 years the research and teaching activities as well as the Institute structure have evolved due to science, industry and labor market development.
The fundamental task of the Institute is the formation of highly qualified engineers specialized in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and the applications in thermal machinery, power industry devices and technology and environmental aerodynamics. The teaching programs of the specializations coordinated by the Institute allow the alumni to be employed in the production and exploitation divisions of a variety of high-tech industrial branches as well as in the research and development centers. They are well prepared to undertake both experimental research and computer modeling of industrial processes. In particular a computer modeling and optimization become more and more important in industry what is reflected in the teaching programs.
International students exchange
International exchange of student is a very important issue in teaching at higher education level, that allows to develop scientific interest and get knowledge in prestigious academic centers as well as an experience in industrial enterprises.
The Institute offers a variety of opportunities for foreign scholarships within LLL-Erasmus (earlier Socrates-Erasmus), Leonardo da Vinci or in the frames of bilateral agreements with European universities (e.g. Cambridge University, Cranfield University, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Tampere University of Technology, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, University of Genoa, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Institute of Thermomechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Czech Technical University in Prague) and industrial and research centers (e.g. Alstom, Siemens, Computational Dynamics, Ansys, QinetiQ).
Alumni
The professional careers of the alumni are the unique measure of the teaching quality at the higher education institutions. The alumni of the courses coordinated by the Institute were employed or are currently employed in the following research and development centers and institutes
- Rolls-Royce Deutschland,
- Renault,
- Volksvagen,
- General Electric,
- Shell,
- BorgWarner Turbo Systems,
- TRW Automotive,
- Foster-Wheeler,
- Doosan Babcock Energy,
- Instytut Energetyki w Warszawie,
- Elektrownia Kozienice,
- Air Liquide.
Many of the alumni undertook also PhD courses at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Częstochowa University of Technology and in other European universities, like:
- Cambridge University,
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
- Insitiut National Polytechnique de Grenoble,
- Institut National des Sciences Appliques Lyon
Many of the alumni of the PhD courses also found very interesting jobs within post-doctoral scholarships, among other in:
- Ghent University,
- CORIA CNRS Rouen,
- Fiat Auto Poland,
- Warsaw University of Technology.
The PhD students of the Institute participate in the research activities within European projects realized by large consortia of universities and industrial centers.
Research activities
The higher education, especially at the technical universities, cannot be decoupled from research activities. The students involvement into the current research at the Institute, in the form of individual projects, has been continued at the Institute for many years. Such projects give the students a great experience in a self-dependent work and presentation and discussion of the scientific results.
The research projects coordinated at the Institute deal with experimental and numerical investigations of heat and flow processes. These projects are focused on both fundamental and applied studies. Applied research projects concern the fluid-flow machinery, boilers, internal combustion engines, technological processes and environmental aerodynamics. As a reward of the high scientific level at the Institute the Pilot Center of the European Community on Flow Turbulence and Combustion (ERCOFTAC) was created at the Institute in 1997. The ERCOFTAC Pilot Center has been coordinated since 2012 by Warsaw University of Technology. The Institute of Thermal Machinery is responsible for the editing and print of the ERCOFTAC Bulletin.
Within recent years the research activities of the Institute have closely been related to European projects of 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Framework Programs. These research works, using experimental and numerical tools, concerned practical applications in aviation, in the field of aerodynamics and combusting flows in aeroengines. The participation in the European projects allowed the Institute staff to cooperate with the leading European academic and industrial research centers. The financial support of the European projects also allowed for a significant development of the computer resources at the Institute, and , to smaller extent, to complete measuring equipment, thus creating new perspectives within European r and national esearch programs.
In the beginning of 2010 the Institute was qualified to the 2nd stage of the competition entitled the Road Map of Research Infrastructure, that will create opportunities for a significant development of the measuring equipment and computer resources in the near future and, as a consequences, will allow for widening research and teaching offers of the Institute.
The most recent research at the Institute is related to new technologies in power industry concerning conventional and renewable energy sources. The research is performed within the Strategic Project funded by the National Center for Research and Development entitled “Advanced technologies for energy generation” dealing with supercritical and super-supercritical power blocks and the technologies for CO2 sequestration from flue gases. Another research project continued within the Operational Program Innovative Economy deals micro-alga grow in the closed bioreactors and their application to CO2 absorption from post-fermentation gases.