Bombardier Recreational Products Inc.

Consortium De Recherche Brp - Université De Sherbrooke S.e.n.c.

Maxime Boisvert

Pascal Gagnon

Christian De Grammont

Maxime Desjardins-Goulet

Philippe Micheau

Jean Guillemette

Didier Mammosser

A snowmobile including a chassis including a tunnel; a motor; at least one ski; an endless drive track; a rear suspension assembly including: a front suspension arm; a rear suspension arm; a pair of slide rails; a first rear shock absorber connected between the front suspension arm and the slide rails; and a second rear shock absorber connected between the rear suspension arm and the front suspension arm or the slide rails; at least one sensor for sensing an angular position of the front suspension arm or the rear suspension arm relative to one of the tunnel and a component of the rear suspension assembly near at least one of the front suspension arm and the rear suspension arm; and a controller communicatively connected to the sensor to receive electronic signals therefrom representative of the angular position.

Rear suspension assembly and method of controlling a rear suspension assembly

A snowmobile has a rear suspension assembly including front and rear suspension arms, first and second rear shock absorbers, a first sensor for sensing an angular position of the front suspension arm, a second sensor for sensing an angular position of the rear suspension arm, and a controller communicatively connected to the first and second sensors. A method of controlling the rear suspension assembly includes: sensing an angular position and/or an angular velocity of the front suspension arm; sensing an angular position and/or an angular velocity of a rear suspension arm; and determining a stroke and/or a piston velocity of the first rear shock absorber and/or the second rear shock absorber based on the angular position and the angular velocity of the front and rear suspension arms as sensed by the first and second sensors respectively.

A four-wheeled vehicle includes: a frame; two front suspension assemblies and two rear suspension assemblies connected to the frame; two front wheels operatively connected to corresponding ones of the two front suspension assemblies; two rear wheels operatively connected to corresponding ones of the two rear suspension assemblies; a motor connected to the frame; a front differential and a rear differential operatively connecting the motor to the two front wheels and the two rear wheels respectively; and a steering system. The steering system includes a front steering assembly for steering the front wheels and a rear steering assembly for steering the rear wheels. The front steering assembly includes a user-operated steering input device. The rear steering assembly includes an actuator operatively connected to the rear wheels and operable to modify a steering angle thereof. The actuator is mounted to the frame and is disposed completely rearward of the rear differential.

Rear steering assembly for a vehicle

A method for steering a four-wheeled vehicle includes: determining a front wheel steering angle; determining a responsive low-speed steering angle of the two rear wheels, the responsive low-speed steering angle being (i) negative when the front wheel steering angle is positive, and (ii) positive when the front wheel steering angle is negative; determining a responsive high-speed steering angle of the two rear wheels, the responsive high-speed steering angle being (i) non-negative when the front wheel steering angle is positive, and (ii) non-positive when the front wheel steering angle is negative; determining a responsive rear wheel steering angle being a sum of the responsive low-speed and high-speed steering angles; and controlling a steering actuator to steer the two rear wheels in accordance with the responsive rear wheel steering angle.

A method for recovering energy during braking of a vehicle is provided. The vehicle has at least one rotatable ground engaging member, a generator operatively connected to the at least one rotatable ground engaging member, and at least one energy storage device coupled to the generator. The method has the steps of: determining a speed of the vehicle; determining a desired slip of the at least one rotatable ground engaging member based at least in part on the speed of the vehicle; and applying a braking torque to the at least one rotatable ground engaging member using the generator based at least in part on the desired slip. A regenerative braking system for a vehicle and a vehicle having such a system are also disclosed.

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Sherbrooke, Canada

Maxime Boisvert