Snowcat
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
A Snowcat is an enclosed-cab, truck sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to move on snow. Snowcats are also known as groomers, because of their use for grooming ski trails or snowmobile trails. Most snowcats, such as the ones produced by Bombardier in the past, have two sets of tracks, fitted with a Christie suspension or a Vickers suspension. Others, like the Tucker Sno-Cat and Hagglunds vehicles have a complex arrangement of four or more tracks.
The tracks are usually made of rubber and driven by rubber wheels with a solid foam interior. Their design is optimized for a snow surface, or soft grounds such as that of a peat bog. In addition to grooming snow they are used for polar expeditions, logging in marsh areas and seismic studies in the wild.
The cabs are optimized for use in sub zero weather or cold conditions worsened by wind chill, with strong forced heating and a windshield designed to be kept clear of internal and external ice or condensation through a variety of means such as advanced coatings, external scrapers (windshield wipers of a modified type), and internal ducts blowing hot air on the surface.
