Reversible Belt Drive Assemblies for Snowmobiles
AssigneeArctic Cat Inc.
InventorsKyle D. Olason, Samuel James Sandoz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A powertrain for a snowmobile includes an engine, a gearbox input shaft receiving rotational energy from the engine and a reversible belt drive assembly coupled to the gearbox input shaft. The reversible belt drive assembly is switchable between a forward mode and a reverse mode and includes a pulley, a planetary gear system coaxial with the pulley and a selector collar assembly interposed between the pulley and the planetary gear system translatable between a first position to form a forward geartrain bypassing the planetary gear system in the forward mode and a second position to form a reverse geartrain including the planetary gear system in the reverse mode.
Claims20
A belt drive assembly comprising:
- a pulley;
- a planetary gear system coaxial with the pulley along an axis;
- and
- a selector collar assembly interposed axially between the pulley and the planetary gear system and translatable along the axis to a first axial position,
- wherein, in the first axial position, the selector collar assembly is engaged with the pulley and disengaged from the planetary gear system to define a power path from an input shaft to the pulley that bypasses the planetary gear system.
A belt drive assembly comprising:
- a pulley;
- a planetary gear system;
- and
- a selector collar assembly disposed between the pulley and the planetary gear system,
- wherein the selector collar assembly and the pulley define a first engagement interface configured to couple the selector collar assembly to the pulley while the selector collar assembly is disengaged from the planetary gear system,
- wherein the selector collar assembly and the planetary gear system define a second engagement interface configured to couple the selector collar assembly to the planetary gear system, and
- wherein the selector collar assembly and the pulley define a pulley-coupling interface configured to transfer rotational energy from the planetary gear system to the pulley through the selector collar assembly when the selector collar assembly is coupled to the planetary gear system by the second engagement interface.
A selector collar assembly comprising:
- a central body configured to be slidably coupled to a gearbox input shaft;
- and
- a reverse engagement ring rotatably coupled to the central body and fixed axially relative to the central body,
- wherein the central body and the reverse engagement ring are configured to translate together along an axis between a pulley and a planetary gear system while being rotatable relative to one another.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.