Nowadays, the energy cost is very high and this problem is carried out to seek techniques for improvement of the aerothermal and thermal (heat flow) systems performances in different technical applications. The transient and steady-state techniques with liquid crystals for the surface temperature and heat transfer coefficient or Nusselt number distribution measurements have been developed. The flow pattern produced by transverse vortex generators (ribs) and other fluid obstacles (e.g. turbine blades) was visualized using liquid crystals (Liquid Crystal Thermography) in combination with the true-colour image processing as well as planar beam of double-impulse laser tailored by a cylindrical lens and oil particles (particle image velocimetry or laser anemometry). Experiments using both research tools were performed at Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Present work provides selected results obtained during this research.