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US 8,517,136 B2Granted
Vehicle
AssigneePolaris Industries Inc.
InventorsChris J. Hurd, Richard D. Ripley, Anthony J. Kinsman, Matthew S. Kmecik, Brent A. Erspamer, Ryan D. Carlson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle may include an operator area including side-by-side seating. The vehicle may further include a prime mover and a transmission operatively coupled to at least one ground engaging member of the vehicle. The prime mover may be a diesel engine and the transmission may include a CVT. The prime mover and the transmission may be assembled together and supported by a frame of the vehicle through a plurality of mounts.
Claims18
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of ground engaging members;
- a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
- an operator area supported by the frame, the operator area including driver controls and seating adapted to support at least two people in a side-by-side relationship;
- a diesel engine supported by the frame;
- a gearbox having an input shaft and an output shaft, the input shaft being coupled to the diesel engine to receive power from the diesel engine and a rotation ratio of the output shaft of the gearbox to the input shaft of the gearbox being greater than 1;
- a CVT unit having a drive clutch member coupled to the output shaft of the gearbox and a driven clutch member coupled to the drive clutch member, the driven clutch member being operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of ground engaging members to propel the vehicle;
- a rear drive unit positioned rearward of the operator area and coupled to a first ground engaging member and a second ground engaging member both positioned rearward of the operator area;
- a rear drive shaft operatively coupling the rear drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the rear drive;
- a front drive unit positioned forward of the operator area and coupled to a third ground engaging member and a fourth ground engaging member both positioned forward of the operator area;
- a front drive shaft operatively coupling the front drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the front drive;
- and
- a first half shaft coupling the first ground engaging member to the rear drive and a second half shaft coupling the second ground engaging member to the rear drive, the first half shaft having a first length and the second half shaft having a second length, the second length being different than the first length, wherein the rear drive is offset to a first side of a vertical vehicle centerline plane of the vehicle.
9 more elements
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of ground engaging members;
- a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
- an operator area supported by the frame, the operator area including driver controls and seating adapted to support at least two people in a side-by-side relationship;
- a diesel engine supported by the frame;
- a gearbox having an input shaft and an output shaft, the input shaft being coupled to the diesel engine to receive power from the diesel engine and a rotation ratio of the output shaft of the gearbox to the input shaft of the gearbox being greater than 1;
- a CVT unit having a drive clutch member coupled to the output shaft of the gearbox and a driven clutch member coupled to the drive clutch member, the driven clutch member being operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of ground engaging members to propel the vehicle;
- a rear drive unit positioned rearward of the operator area and coupled to a first ground engaging member and a second ground engaging member both positioned rearward of the operator area;
- a rear drive shaft operatively coupling the rear drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the rear drive;
- a front drive unit positioned forward of the operator area and coupled to a third ground engaging member and a fourth ground engaging member both positioned forward of the operator area;
- and
- a front drive shaft operatively coupling the front drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the front drive, wherein the rear drive is offset to a first side of a vertical vehicle centerline plane of the vehicle and wherein the rear drive shaft and the front drive shaft are positioned on the first side of the vertical vehicle centerline plane of the vehicle and a crankshaft axis of the diesel engine is positioned on a second side of the vertical vehicle centerline plane of the vehicle.
8 more elements
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of ground engaging members;
- a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
- an operator area supported by the frame, the operator area including driver controls and seating adapted to support at least two people in a side-by-side relationship;
- a diesel engine supported by the frame;
- a gearbox having an input shaft and an output shaft, the input shaft being coupled to the diesel engine to receive power from the diesel engine and a rotation ratio of the output shaft of the gearbox to the input shaft of the gearbox being greater than 1;
- a CVT unit having a drive clutch member coupled to the output shaft of the gearbox and a driven clutch member coupled to the drive clutch member, the driven clutch member being operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of ground engaging members to propel the vehicle;
- a rear drive unit positioned rearward of the operator area and coupled to a first ground engaging member and a second ground engaging member both positioned rearward of the operator area;
- a rear drive shaft operatively coupling the rear drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the rear drive;
- a front drive unit positioned forward of the operator area and coupled to a third ground engaging member and a fourth ground engaging member both positioned forward of the operator area;
- a front drive shaft operatively coupling the front drive and the CVT, the CVT providing power to the front drive;
- and
- a gear selector unit having an input coupled to the driven member of the CVT, a first output coupled to the front drive shaft, and a second output coupled to the rear drive shaft, the gear selector unit transferring power from the CVT to the front drive shaft and the rear drive shaft and including at least one forward gear and at least one reverse gear.
9 more elements
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of ground engaging members;
- a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
- an operator area supported by the frame, the operator area including driver controls and seating adapted to support at least two people in a side-by-side relationship;
- a diesel engine supported by the frame;
- a gearbox having an input shaft and an output shaft, the input shaft being coupled to the diesel engine to receive power from the diesel engine and a rotation ratio of the output shaft of the gearbox to the input shaft of the gearbox being greater than 1;
- a CVT unit having a drive clutch member coupled to the output shaft of the gearbox and a driven clutch member coupled to the drive clutch member, the driven clutch member being operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of ground engaging members to propel the vehicle;
- and
- a coupling member positioned between the diesel engine and the gearbox, the coupling member transferring power from the diesel engine to the gearbox, wherein a housing of the gearbox is secured to the diesel engine with a plurality of fasteners, the coupling member being held in place due to the securing of the housing of the gearbox to the diesel engine, the coupling member being spaced apart from the plurality of fasteners.
5 more elements
A vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of ground engaging members;
- a frame supported by the plurality of ground engaging members;
- an operator area supported by the frame, the operator area including driver controls and seating adapted to support at least two people in a side-by-side relationship;
- a diesel engine supported by the frame;
- a CVT unit having a drive clutch member coupled to the diesel engine and a driven clutch member coupled to the drive clutch member, the driven clutch member being operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of ground engaging members to propel the vehicle;
- an alternator supported by the frame;
- an output pulley coupled to and rotatable by the diesel engine;
- an input pulley coupled to the alternator and coupled to the output pulley, wherein the alternator provides at least about 50% charging capacity when the diesel engine is at idle and about 100% charging capacity when diesel engine is operating at about 50% engine capacity.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.