2006-2007 Clean Snowmobile Piggyback and Engine Control Unit Project

Nick Beers, Andrew Linkletter, Chris Osgood, Ashton Potter
Text Box: The Clean Snowmobile Project at the University of Maine in Orono has come a long way since its conception. The original Ski-doo sled has been pushed aside as the newer and more reliable Arctic Cat has been our major focus. This website is home to the team working on the Arctic Cat Engine Control Unit (ECU), the existing ‘Piggyback’ system, engine cooling, and sled noise reduction. Our major focus is on the fine tuning of the ECU using a Piggyback system. The Piggyback is a separate computer module running on PBASIC language that alters the sensor inputs to the onboard ECU. The ECU takes these “false” signals and changes its performance accordingly. All this means is that we program the Piggyback to tell the ECU how to fun the engine, which alters the emissions. In addition to the Piggyback we have a catalytic converter installed which greatly reduces our Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. While emissions are our main focus, we are also concerned with engine cooling and noise harshness. In order to dampen the noise more insulation is required, but in order to keep the sled cool you need open air flow with little or no insulation. Our secondary goal is to find a happy medium between the two. We hope that our webpage is informative enough to answer any questions that you may have. Please have a look around and explore all that the Clean Snowmobile Project has to offer.