Prof. Murthy's broad expertise is in the area of "Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly Heating and Cooling Processes and their Applications" with emphasis on: Refrigeration, Airconditioning, Heat Pumps and Utilization of Renewable Energy Sources. Prof. Murthy major expertise lies in the areas of “Sorption Refrigeration & Heat Pump Systems” and “Non-azeotropic Refrigerant Blends and Hydrocarbons for Compression Refrigeration Systems”.

Prof. Murthy is a founder member of the Refrigeration and Airconditioning Laboratory at IIT Madras which is considered amongst the best in the country and abroad. As the Head, he developed the world class infrastructure and test facilities at the laboratory which is well known internationally.

He has guided a large number of Masters (80) and Doctoral (28) theses and his students are serving the country at various levels with distinction. Also Prof. Murthy has edited / authored 13 volumes and has published over 260 technical papers in refereed journals and conferences of repute.

He has won many prestigious national and international awards including the “Pioneer” award by World Renewable Energy Network, National Hari Om Prerit Bhatnagar Award, etc. Prof.Murthy is a Fellow of many Academies such as Indian National Academy of Engineers, Institution of Engineers (India), International Academy of Refrigeration, International Energy Foundation, International Academy of Information Technologies, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, etc. He serves as a Member of Commission E2 (Heat Pumps and Energy Conservation) and also the Country Delegate to The International Institute of Refrigeration. He is also the Indian Delegate to the International Heat and Mass Transfer Directorate.

Prof. Murthy has close interaction with universities and institutions in many countries such as Germany, Australia, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. and has been a visiting professor on several occasions. Over the last decade, he is conducting special summer courses on “Sorption Cooling Systems” in Europe. He has been on many Scientific Delegations sponsored by the Government of India. He has successfully completed several joint Indo-German projects on solar absorption refrigeration systems for food preservation, heat pump driers for agricultural products, and metal hydride systems with University of Stuttgart; and on environmentally safe refrigerant mixtures, liquefaction of natural gas with University of Karlsruhe. Recently, he completed two European Union funded projects: to establish a new 4 year B.Tech. Programme in “Energy and Environmental Engineering' at Vellore Institute of Technology, and secondly to launch a Renewable Energy Network Portal called RENET.

Prof. Murthy has worked closely with many industries in the areas related to heating, cooling and thermal energy conservation. Currently, he is working on the design and development of metal hydride based sorption air-conditioner for application in automobiles and passenger buses. He has led the development of a Heat Pump Assisted Dryer for Agricultural Products and a Heat-pump-chiller for simultaneous production of heat and cold under the Technology Development Mission Projects. Under his supervision, the airconditioning plants for many models of coaches for Indian Railways were tested in-situ for M/S Integral Coach Factory at Chennai. Also, a fully instrumented refrigerant compressor test facility was developed and installed at the factory.