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 90 national, academy and ministerial awards, which has made important contributions to the sustainable domestic development of energy and power.

 

 IET is dedicated to addressing the pressing needs of the energy sector for clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient solutions, as well as the demand for independent and rapid development in the power industry. It focuses on four main research directions: advanced power equipment, distributed energy systems and energy storage, high-carbon energy low-carbon combustion utilization, and high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle technology and applications. It also explores five emerging and cutting-edge fields and future technologies, including hydrogen energy conversion and utilization, supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle heat-power conversion, high-adaptability thermal functional new materials and devices, intelligent networked patrol flight systems, and space systems and microgravity combustion. These research directions aim to support the country's low-carbon transformation of the energy structure and the leapfrog development of power equipment. The institute has 12 research units, including seven national key laboratories (centers) and six provincial and ministerial key laboratories.

 

In recent years, the Institute has been striving for a higher record in scientific research funds, and major key projects have been steadily promoted. In 2022, the Institute undertook over 300 projects, with an investment of 9 billion CNY.

 

Integrating with regional resources, we built the national major scientific and technological infrastructure project "High Efficiency and Low Carbon Gas Turbine Test Device" with governments of Lianyungang and Shanghai, jointly constructed "Chung-Hua" thermal physics experimental facility project which is a significant national science and technology infrastructure project with governments of Qingdao, Shandong, and established Langfang R&D center, Qingdao aviation technology test base, national energy large-scale physical energy storage technology (Bijie) R&D center, Datong clean and efficient coal utilization test base, Ji'nan advanced power test base, Chinese Science and Technology Nanjing future energy system test base and other system integration demonstration bases. During the process, we formed a connected scientific and technological innovation value chain of basic, strategic high technology and early industrialization research.

 

The research institute is guided by the goal of scientific and technological innovation development, and it strengthens the construction of national strategic talent force. It adheres to the Party's leadership in talent management, and continues to optimize the research environment, striving to build a scientific and technological innovation team with reasonable structure, appropriate scale, strong innovation ability and international competitiveness. By the end of 2022, there were 522 employees, including 488 professional and technical personnel, 2 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and 215 seniors. The Institute has the right to grant doctoral and master's degrees in the national first-class disciplines of "Power Engineering and Thermophysics" and "Power Engineering and Thermophysics", and the right to grant master's degrees in the first-class disciplines of "Energy and Power" and "Environmental Science and Engineering". We take the lead in the establishment of the school of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and has a national post-doctoral mobile station. At present, there are 30 post doctors, 150 doctoral students and 240 masters.

 

 The Institute has a deep foundation in international cooperation. We have carried out extensive cooperation and exchanges with well-known universities and research institutions in more than 10 countries and regions, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. We have initiated and hosted important international conferences such as International Symposium on Experimental and Computational Aerothermodynamics of Internal Flows (ISAIF), International Symposium on Air Breathing Engines (ISABE), Asian Congress on Gas Turbine (ACGT), Asian Joint Conference on Propulsion and Power (AJCPP), and World Energy Storage Technology Conference (WESC). In recent years, the Institute has hosted more than ten important international conferences and serves as the location of the Secretariat of the International Energy Storage Technology and Industry Alliance.

 

The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics is affiliated with the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics and serves as the sponsoring unit of the professional academic journals "Journal of Engineering Thermophysics" and "Journal of Thermal Science".