Off-highway recreational device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10933932-B2
Application number	US-201916664597-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2012
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle configuration wherein the center of mass of the vehicle is approximately superimposed upon the passenger and driver centers of mass when seated within the vehicle. An occupant's center of mass can be approximated using a standard center of mass position approximation, or a combination of any number of standard center of mass position approximations. The vehicle's center of mass can be approximately superimposed upon the occupant's center of mass in at least the longitudinal and vertical directions.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An off-road vehicle comprising:
a frame, a roll cage, and a passenger area;
at least one seat located within the passenger area;
an engine, the engine positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a continuously variable transmission operatively connected to the engine;
a front axle and a rear axle, the front and rear axles being operatively coupled to the engine via the continuously variable transmission, wherein the front axle is positioned forwardly of the passenger area and the rear axle is positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a radiator positioned rearwardly of the at least one seat, wherein at least a portion of the radiator is above at least a portion of the continuously variable transmission and wherein the radiator is tilted such that a top of the radiator is positioned forwardly of a bottom of the radiator; and
a movable engine-access panel positioned rearwardly of the passenger area.

2. The off-road vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the radiator is positioned above at least a portion of the engine.

3. The off-road vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the engine-access panel is positioned in a cargo area positioned rearwardly of the passenger area.

4. The off-road vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a cargo-carrying portion, at least a portion of the cargo carrying portion positioned above the bottom of the radiator.

5. The off-road vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the radiator has a top, wherein the at least one seat has a seatback, a portion of the seatback extending above the top of the radiator and a portion of the seatback extending below the bottom of the radiator.

6. The off-road vehicle of claim 5 , wherein a portion of the engine extends in front of the front of the radiator.

7. The off-road vehicle of claim 6 , further comprising doors.

8. The off-road vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the cargo-carrying portion is a cargo bed and the cargo bed is positioned rearwardly of the passenger area.

9. The off-road vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the frame comprises a longitudinal frame member extending rearwardly of the passenger area, a top of the radiator being above the top of the frame member and the bottom of the radiator being below a bottom of the frame member.

10. The off-road vehicle of claim 9 , having a weight distribution of between 35% to 45% front and 55% to 65% rear.

11. The off-road vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle has a center of gravity and the passenger has a center of gravity when seated in the vehicle, the center of gravity of the vehicle being above the center of gravity of the passenger when seated in the vehicle.

12. The off-road vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle has a center of gravity and the passenger has a center of gravity when seated in the vehicle, the center of gravity of the vehicle being below the center of gravity of the passenger when seated in the vehicle.

13. The off-road vehicle of claim 9 , wherein at least a portion of the cargo-carrying portion extends over a rear gearcase.

14. An off-road vehicle comprising:
a frame, a roll cage, and a passenger area;
at least one seat located within the passenger area;
an engine, the engine positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a continuously variable transmission operatively connected to the engine;
a front axle and a rear axle, the front and rear axles being operatively coupled to the engine via the continuously variable transmission, wherein the front axle is positioned forwardly of the passenger area and the rear axle is positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a radiator positioned rearwardly of the at least one seat, wherein at least a portion of the radiator is above at least a portion of the continuously variable transmission and wherein the radiator is angled rearwardly from top to bottom, the top being closer to the seat than the bottom;
a cargo-carrying portion positioned rearwardly of the passenger area; and
a movable engine-access panel positioned rearward of the passenger area.

15. The off-road vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the engine-access panel is positioned above the engine.

16. The off-road vehicle of claim 14 , wherein the radiator intakes air form above and rearward and directs air generally toward the engine.

17. An off-road vehicle comprising:
a frame and a passenger area, the passenger area having at least one seat with a seat back and a seat bottom;
an engine positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a continuously variable transmission operatively connected to the engine on a side thereof;
a front axle and a rear axle, the front and rear axles being operatively coupled to the engine via the continuously variable transmission, wherein the front axle is positioned forwardly of the passenger area and the rear axle is positioned rearwardly of the passenger area;
a radiator positioned rearwardly of the at least one seat and directly above at least a portion of the engine, the radiator being angled to direct air towards the engine, wherein the radiator is positioned above a center of gravity of the vehicle and behind a longitudinal center of the vehicle, and wherein the seat bottom is positioned below a center of gravity of the vehicle;
a cargo area positioned rearwardly of the passenger area; and
a movable engine-access panel positioned in the cargo area.

18. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the frame includes a frame member extending rearwardly from adjacent the seat back, the radiator having a portion above and a portion below said frame member.

19. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the movable engine-access panel is positioned above the engine.

20. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the movable engine-access panel includes a movable door positioned above the engine.

21. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , further comprising a plurality of body panels secured to the frame, wherein the frame includes frame members of rectangular cross section and frame members of generally circular or oval cross section, the body panels covering most of the frame members of rectangular cross section and leaving exposed a plurality of the frame members of generally circular or oval cross section.

22. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the seat bottom has an upwardly facing lower seating surface upon which an occupant rests, a vertical distance between a lowest portion of the lower seating surface and a middle portion of the frame being less than a ground clearance of the middle portion of the frame when the off-road vehicle is not loaded, the ground clearance being defined as a distance from an underside of the middle portion of the frame to ground.

23. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , further comprising a rear suspension, a rear sway bar, and rear wheels, the rear suspension coupled between a rearward portion of the frame and the rear wheels, the rear suspension including right and left suspension arms and right and left shock absorbers, the rear sway bar coupled between the right and left suspension arms, the sway bar extending rearwardly from the suspension arms and mounted to a rearward-most end of the rearward portion of the frame with mounts, the mounts being rearward of the shock absorbers.

24. The off-road vehicle of claim 17 , further comprising a door and a grab bar on an opposite side of the at least one seat from the door,

Assignees

• Arctic Cat Inc

Inventors

• Spindler Jared
• Esala Mark
• Sorenson Derek
• Schoenecker Peter
• Eck Brian
• Hulstein Andrew
• Mazour Scott
• Seal John
• Kennedy Craig
• Hughes Ryan
• Kuiken Adam Eric

Classifications

• B60K5/00 Primary

  Arrangement or mounting of internal-combustion or jet-propulsion units (B60K7/00 takes precedence; arrangement or mounting of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion B60K6/00) · CPC title

• Y10T29/49622

  Vehicular structural member making · CPC title

• B60G13/00

  Resilient suspensions characterised by arrangement, location or type of vibration dampers (adjusting damping effect B60G17/06; vibration dampers per se F16F) · CPC title

• B60G2300/13

  Small sized city motor vehicles · CPC title

• B62D23/005

  with integrated chassis in the whole shell, e.g. meshwork, tubes, or the like (B62D33/044 takes precedence) · CPC title