Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Advisor 1
Jeffrey Naber
Committee Member 1
Brian Eggart
Committee Member 2
Scott Miers
Abstract
About 120 fatalities/year are caused by Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning outside of the vehicle which can take place in the garage or attached house. A controlled test environment was created to mimic a garage with representative ventilation, volume, and instrumentation. Tests were performed with vehicles of varying engine displacement size using parameters tuned to replicate four scenarios of vehicle operation including vehicle start state, HVAC operation, and ambient temperature. A house model was built to model CO accumulation using realistic air exchange rates to simulate air transfer between the garage and attached house. Depletion of Oxygen (O2) in the garage resulted in high CO concentration tailpipe gases after Critical O2 occurred. Critical O2 was the O2 concentration when engine combustion degraded and toxic tailpipe gas creation increased. Two vehicle shut-off methods were developed and simulated to assess their effectiveness. Each shut-off method prevented any potentially fatal scenario.
Recommended Citation
McClintock, Eamon, "METHOD FOR ASSESSING GASOLINE POWERED INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE EXHAUST ACCUMULATION WHEN IDLING IN ENCLOSED SPACE BY AUTOMATIC SHUT OFF", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2025.