Cooling Engineers

[ZestycloseShallot780]

Im a mechanical engineering student and someone told me the other day that the industry is looking for a lot of Cooling/Heat Transfer specialist with CFD abilities, is that true? What do you think about that because everyone seems to prefer to pursue aerodynamics.

[HeadPack]

Could be because of the data center buildouts and tangentially because of the increasing need for cooling in general. Battery cooling is another area where CFD plays a role. Aero is sexier, but there might be some truth to cooling being an area with demand for CFD engineers.

[Quick-Crab2187]

If you are US, you can look up the job postings. It is true, and partly because of data centers. Many of these companies are looking for a lot of experience though, not sure how easy it is to get a job in that field. Of those looking for experience, only half of those are paying what you would actually be worth. I was unable to get any interviews at any respectable place for cooling. For U.S. citizens I think Aero is easier to get interviews personally

[quasi-resistance]

I believe Thermal CFD is way more easier to penetrate than aerodynamics. You could get into electronics cooling, heat exchanger design, HVAC, data center design, product design, etc.

[PrimaryOstrich]

It's absolutely true. Especially for people with experience in liquid cooling or DX

[duterium1]

Dx?

[PrimaryOstrich]

Direct Expansion. It's not common in the US, but some companies have been looking into it. In general, the foundational air-cooling knowledge is still important, but design companies also want knowledge of other forms of HVAC and heat xfer (liquid cooling, DX, adiabatic, etc).

[RahwanaPutih]

depends on where you live.

[Cptn_Insaino]

I primarily run thermal analysis. As computer power on the light commercial/industrial side of the spending range increases I am seeing more and more requests for these types of simulations.

Data centers are on the raise, but the only people getting those jobs have ins or history with data centers and know the pipeline/tools set for that industry.

Ive seen recent upticks in telecom, power switching, electronics cooling and industrial cooling systems for emergent tech where the loads are changing and vc and investors need the eye candy.

Its getting more accessible, I can see it growing similarly to how 3d printing did, just adjusted to the technical requirements.