The recent Volkswagen scandal reveals that vehicle emissions rates and fuel consumption rates under real-world driving conditions can vary significantly from those certified in laboratory tests or shown on vehicle dashboards. Real-time measurements of exhaust flows and air-to-fuel ratios provide a non-intrusive way to quantify fuel consumption rates. In this project, we are looking for highly motivated students to first evaluate the existing flow meter designs (CAD files available), and then design, fabricate and test a portable exhaust monitoring system with embedded CO2 and O2 sensors that can be mounted on a moving vehicle under normal driving conditions.
Contact: Prof. Max Zhang, kz33@cornell.edu, 345 Upson Hall, Energy and the Environment Research Laboratory (EERL)