CO poisoning caused by Using Air-conditioner in a Vehicle & Application of CO Sensor to Prevent Poisoning

With ambient temperature going down, the air-conditioners in vehicles are used by an increasing amount of people, some of which even fall into sleep in the care. This is very dangerous, for that every year there are deadly accidents nationwide due to sleeping in a car with the air-conditioning on.

The cars` doors and windows now are of excellent sealing property. When the car is in down time, the long-time running of the engine will emit CO that will be gathered inside the vehicle and mix with CO2 exhaled by people inside the car. As time goes by, people will unconsciously be CO poisoned.

Interview to Li Yanwei, deputy director of TCM hospital of Boxing County

CO is a kind of gas with no smell or color, so there is no way for people to sense it. After entering a human body, CO will lower hemoglobin’s capability of oxygen uptake, do harm to neural center, leading to dysfunction of human body including senses, reactions and comprehension.

Staying in an anoxic environment for 6 minutes will lead to brain death irreversibly, and if the time is over 30 minutes, people will die of heart ischemia and anoxia.

Interview to Li Yanwei, deputy director of TCM hospital of Boxing County

After being CO poisoned, even people feel dizzy and nausea, they will be hard to save themselves for limbs weakness, not to say if people fall into asleep and feel nothing. As the car is sealed and oxygen content is limited, CO2 exhaled will push CO2 concentration to a certain extent that makes people be into narcosis.

How can CO enter the vehicle?

Then, do you know how CO enter a car? Let’s see the following reporter investigation.

Interview: Shen Wei, automotive repairing technician

When the car is running, the engine rotate in a speed of 1500-3000 rounds/minutes, and there won`t be excessive CO in exhaust gas. However, when the engine is working in idle speed, large quantity of CO will be generated due to incomplete burning of gasoline.

In addition, the car itself is not a completely sealed space, but CO emitted by the engine will accumulate in it if the air-conditioner is left working after the car stops. Adding the CO2 exhaled, people in the car will be poisoned unconsciously over time, in severe cases the accident could be lethal.

Interview: Shen Wei, automotive repairing technician

CO can also get in the car from its trunk. No matter the air-conditioner is set to be internal or external recycle, CO will have its way to enter the car.

The air-conditioners can hardly work very well in winter, it is for that the car owner don`t know how to use them in a proper manner. So what`s the right way to use air-conditioner for warmth in winter?

Interview: Shen Wei, automotive repairing technician

To use air-conditioner for heat directly will wear out the accumulator of the car. The engine start power supply only after the car is running. The right way to use the air-conditioning is: first, start the engine for preheating. When the temperature pointer of the engine goes to the middle, turn on heating, and set air circulation to be external recycle so that cool air in the car can be expelled. After 2-3 minutes, turn air circulation to be internal recycle.

In order to prevent such accidents, ISweek supply CO sensors to monitor CO concentration in real-time. When CO concentration reaches a certain level, the sensor will make alarm. The details of CO sensors are shown below:

 

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