In thermodynamics, the Joule–Thomson effect (also known as the Joule–Kelvin effect or Kelvin–Joule effect) describes the temperature change of a real gas or liquid (as differentiated from an ideal gas) when it is forced through a valve or porous plug while keeping it insulated so that no heat is exchanged with the environment. This procedure is called a throttling process or Joule–Thomson process. At room temperature, all gases except hydrogen, helium, and neon cool upon expansion by the Joule–Thomson process when being throttled through an orifice; these three gases experience the same effect but only at lower temperatures. Most liquids such as hydraulic oils will be warmed by the Joule–Thomson throttling process.
The gas-cooling throttling process is commonly exploited in refrigeration processes such as liquefiers in air separation industrial process. In hydraulics, the warming effect from Joule–Thomson throttling can be used to find internally leaking valves as these will produce heat which can be detected by thermocouple or thermal-imaging camera. Throttling is a fundamentally irreversible process. The throttling due to the flow resistance in supply lines, heat exchangers, regenerators, and other components of (thermal) machines is a source of losses that limits their performance.
Since it is a constant-enthalpy process, it can be used to experimentally measure the lines of constant enthalpy (isenthalps) on the  diagram of a gas. Combined with the specific heat capacity at constant pressure  it allows the complete measurement of the thermodynamic potential for the gas.