Patent ID: 8839533

Claim:
A snow groomer comprising: a frame; and a winch assembly including: a support structure connected to the frame, a drum configured to rotate with respect to the support structure about an axis, a cable wound about the drum, an actuator assembly configured to rotate the drum about the axis, a first sensor configured to determine a position of the drum about the axis; at least one idle pulley which is positioned contacting said cable and rotated by said cable, and a second sensor configured to determine a position ion of the at one idle pulley, and a control unit configured to: acquire a rotation speed of the drum, acquire a rotation speed of the at least one idle pulley, control the cable as a function of the position of the drum and at least one selected from the group consisting of: a dimension of the drum, a quantity of layers of cable wound about the drum, a type of groove formed by the drum, and a dimension of the groove, and control the actuator assembly as a function of: (i) the rotation speed of the drum (ii) the rotation seed of the at least one idle pulley, (iii) the position of the drum, (iv) at least one selected from the group consisting of: a position of the at least one idle pulley and a dimension of the at least one idle pulley, and (v) at least one selected from the group consisting of: the dimension of the drum, the quantity of layers of cable wound about the drum, the type of groove formed by the drum, and the dimension of the groove.