Overview

The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (IET) originated from the Power Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) founded by Academician WU Chung-Hua in 1956. Over the past 60 years, the Institute has focused on major scientific and technological issues in the field of engineering thermophysics around major national strategic needs, committed to the basic research, key technology research and system integration in the field of energy and power, continuously consolidated the discipline foundation of "Energy Science and Technology" and "Aerospace Science and Technology", and has built an internationally renowned first-class research institute in the field of energy and power.

IET has won more than 100 national, academy and ministerial awards, which has made important contributions to the sustainable domestic development of energy and power. The Institute focuses on the major needs of clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy, as well as independent and controllable development in the field of power. There are four main research directions, including advanced power equipment, distributed energy systems and energy storage, low-carbon combustion and utilization of high-carbon energy, high-altitude and long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle technology and applications. Five emerging cutting-edge directions and future technologies are established, including hydrogen energy conversion and utilization, supercritical carbon dioxide  Brayton cycle thermal power conversion, highly adaptive thermal functional new materials and devices, intelligent network patrol systems, space systems and microgravity combustion, to support the low-carbon transformation of the national energy structure and the leapfrog development of power equipment. There are 12 research units, 8 national key laboratory (centers) and 6 provincial and ministerial key laboratories.

The construction of the national key laboratory of the Institute has achieved a historic breakthrough. Among them, the National Key Laboratory of Light Turbine Power is steadily being constructed, and a sound organizational and management structure for the laboratory has been established. The "Key Laboratory of Long term and Large scale Energy Storage" was approved by the Party Leadership Group of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Two major national scientific and technological infrastructure projects, are constructed, namely the "High Efficience and Low Carbon Gas Turbine Test Facility" and the "Chung-Hua" Thermophysical Test Facility. We have undertaken multiple national major scientific and technological projects and made innovative achievement in the fields of light turbine power and advanced compressed air energy storage.

The Institute continuously breaks through new records in research funding and steadily advances major key projects. In 2023, the Institute undertook more than 300 projects, including national major scientific and technological infrastructure, national major special projects, key research and development plans, and other projects, with a total annual funding of 1.751 billion CNY. 

Guided by the development goals of scientific and technological innovation, we strengthen the construction of national strategic talent force, adhere to the Party's management of talents, continuously optimize the talent environment, and strive to build a scientific and technological innovation team with a reasonable structure, moderate scale, strong innovation ability, and international competitiveness. By the end of 2023, there are 525 employees in total, including 487 professional technicians, including 3 academicians of the CAS Member and 224 senior staff. The Institute has the authority to confer doctoral and master's degrees in national disciplines such as "Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics" and "Aerospace Science and Technology", as well as the authority to confer master's degrees in "Environmental Science and Engineering" and "Energy Power". There are more than 180 PhD students, 280 master students, and more than 170 joint trainees from various universities. The Institute is also the leading construction unit of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. There is a national postdoctoral mobile station, with more than 30 postdoctoral fellows currently on board.

The Institute has a strong foundation in international cooperation and has conducted extensive cooperation and exchanges with well-known universities and research institutes from more than 10 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The Institute is the initiator of several international conferences such as the International Conference on Aerodynamics and Thermodynamics (ISAIF), the Conference of International Society for Air Breathing Engines (ISABE), the Asian Gas Turbine Conference (ACGT), the Asian Joint Conference on Propulsion and Power (AJCPP), and the World Energy Storage Technology Conference (WESC). In recent years, the Institute held more than ten important international conferences, and served as the secretariat of the International Energy Storage Technology and Industry Alliance.

The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics is affiliated by the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics, and is the sponsor of two professional academic journals Journal of Engineering Thermophysics (in Chinese) and Journal of Thermal Science (in English).