The CATAMARAN vehicle can rotate on the spot!
It is proposed that the CATAMARAN vehicle will have impressive manoeuvring and tight turning abilities, despite its size - including an ability to rotate on the spot as tracked tanks can do.
The trailer, although optional, when it is fitted, it will be attached to the powered and driven front of the vehicle by hinges allowing the front and rear parts of the vehicle to pivot relative to each other in the vertical plane thus keeping the driven rear wheels on the ground but the hinges will not allow any relative movement to the left or right, so as to keep the body and the wheels in alignment.
There are 3 pairs of axles -
front wheel drive steered axles, (left and right)
rear wheel drive fixed axles, (left and right) and
trailer wheel steered axles, (left and right).
The trailer wheels will steer coupled to the front wheels but in an opposite clockwise / anti-clockwise sense to the front wheel.
Each Y-side of the vehicle will have 4-wheels driven so with "4-wheel drive" on both the left and right Y-sides, one might note that the whole vehicle has 8 driven wheels, not just the 4.
CATAMARAN Vehicle Steering Geometry Normal steering
640 x 424 pixels - 500 x 331 pixels
What this arrangement allows is that even with the trailer fitted, the vehicle can be reversed easily. Normally trailers are a nightmare to reverse. The CATAMARAN vehicle will be a dream to reverse.
In addition the CATAMARAN vehicle can rotate about a spot in the middle between the powered rear wheels. It achieves this special ability by virtue of certain design features -
A first gear which is a low gear for manoeuvring and has a gearing ratio precisely the same as the reverse gear
Two additional rotational gear modes -
Clockwise - when the left side gearbox of the vehicle is automatically put into first gear and the right side gearbox of the vehicle is automatically put into reverse gear.
Anti-clockwise - when the left side gearbox of the vehicle is automatically put into reverse gear and the right side gearbox of the vehicle is automatically put into first gear
When either clockwise or anti-clockwise gear is selected, the mechanical coupling normally engaged between the left and right hand steering is automatically disengaged and the left hand wheels are automatically turned to hard right hand turn lock and the right hand wheels are automatically turned to hard left hand turn lock; those two hard turn lock stops are designed so that the steered wheels are pointed in the correct direction for vehicle rotation.
Whenever either of the two rotational gear modes is deselected and the gear shift is put into neutral, the mechanical coupling between left and right hand steering is re-engaged and the wheels returned to the appropriate direction as determined by the driver's steering wheel which was redundant during the selection of either of the rotational gears.
CATAMARAN Vehicle Steering Geometry Rotational steering
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