Thermal systems involve the storage, transfer and conversion of energy. This course provides an integrated introduction to basic thermal engineering topics. A structured problem-solving approach emphasizes the interrelated roles of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat and Mass Transfer relevant to real-world engineering analyses.

This class teaches principles, methods, and techniques related to the measurement, recording and control of environmental factors in Controlled Environment Agriculture systems. The students learn about sensors, instrumentation and data acquisition with hands-on applications to monitor and control of some key environmental variables such as light intensity, light quality, temperature (air, plant), relative humidity, carbon dioxide, water flow, air speed, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen etc. Students also design a simple controlled environment system and instrumentation to measure and control key variable as part of class project.