ZF Servocom® RAS-EC
Rear Axle Steering System
Application the development of commercial ve-
hicles. That's because the ZF RAS-EC is
Modern commercial vehicles have to particularly suitable for commercial
correspond more and more to the vehicles with a very big wheelbase and
requirements of the clients for econ- several rear axles.
omy, environmental protection, legisla-
tion and special applications. To this, The increasingly heavy traffic as well as
the electronically controlled rear axle modern city planning concepts require
steering system ZF Servocom RAS-EC commercial vehicles with a big loading
(Rear Axle Steering – Electronically capacity and good maneuverability in
Controlled) makes an important con- order to supply and dispose of the
tribution and at the same time it offers goods for the city centers. The active
a basis for entirely new solutions for rear axle steering system increases the
maneuverability of the vehicle, par-
ticularly during parking maneuvers,
because here, in contrast to adhesion-
steered axles, steering operations
1
are also carried out when the
vehicle is reversed. Owing to
the optimum kinematic
2 conditions, tire wear is
reduced and the trac-
tion at this axle is
3 4
increased. The
forced steering of
rear axles offers
5
6 at medium and high speeds lead to
7 stabilization during lane changes.
9
8 swing-out minimization or constant
10
11
12
22 ZF Servocom RAS-EC
the additional advantage of an imme-
diate build-up of side force and there-
fore leads to an increase in vehicle sta-
bility and driving safety.
The RAS-EC does not require a mechan-
ical connection between the front and
rear axles, which makes the adaptation
in series production as well as retrofit-
ting a lot easier. The possibility of end-
of-assembly-line programming of the
electronic control opens up an adapta-
tion to changed geometric quantities
(wheelbase, steering angle) or to a
particular application pattern of the
vehicle. Because of that, no modifica-
tion of mechanical power transmission
components is necessary.
Due to the electronic control, the steer-
ing angle at the rear axle can be alter-
ed as a function of whatever driving
parameters are chosen. This means for
example that by opposite steering
motions of rear and front wheels in
the low speed range maximum maneu-
verability can be achieved. Same-direc-
tion rear/front wheel steering motions
exact straight line driving and vehicle
Special steering programs, such as rear
ratio with same-direction rear/front
wheel steering motions in the low
speed range, additionally increase the
ZF Servocom RAS-EC. Basic diagram
for vehicle 6x2x4 with steered trailing
axle (nondriven).
 1

advantages of the RAS-EC. The elec- 3 4

tronic control of the rear axle steering
system is provided with a diagnostic
5
interface (KWP 2000). Dectected errors
are stored in the memory and can be
read out for service and/or for trouble- 6
shooting purposes.
7
9
System description
8
The requirements for rear axle steering
systems are described in the directive
EC 70/311. When an error in the steer-
13
ing system occurs, no safety crit-
10
ical driving situation is permissible.
Derived from this, the safety concept
for the RAS-EC is as follows:

• For nondriven axles, with self-cen-

tering characteristics the ”axle free“
safe mode is recommended, i.e. the
axle will then work like a trailing
axle.
Precondition for this safety philosophy
is a redundant electronic system so
that system errors are detected and
the appropriate safety reactions are
initiated.
Mechanical construction
Hydraulic components
On a ZF RAS-EC, the operating circuit
is supplied with pressure oil from an
engine-driven pump. The required
steering movement of the rear axle is
introduced by a proportional valve
connected to the electric control unit.
The necessary steering forces are gener-
ated by a hydraulic power cylinder at
the rear axle. By means of a pressure
relief valve the components are pro-
tected from overload. If an error oc-
curs, the pressurization of the oper-
ating circuit can be removed with a
cut-off valve which is switched through
in the zero-current condition.
Sensors
For the measurement of the instantan-
eous values at the front and rear axles
non-contact sensors are used. These
sensors have a long service life, oper-
ate over a large temperature range
and are accommodated in a watertight
housing. To make it possible to check
the proper function of these sensors,
they are of redundant design and
intrinsically safe.

1 ZF Servocom 8 Control valve ZF Servocom RAS-EC. Basic diagram

2 Steering angle sensor 9 Electronic control unit for vehicle 6x2x4 with steered leading
3 CAN-Bus 10 24V supply axle (nondriven).
4 Diagnosis 11 Power cylinder
5 Oil reservoir 12 Turning angle sensor
6 Steering pump 13 Power cylinder
7 Pressure filter with linear sensor

ZF Servocom RAS-EC 23
 I Steering angle I rear axle [°]
12
max. steering angle rear axle*
10
8
6
4
0 the outputs and thus initiate the safe
0 10 20
* These parameters can be programmed at the end of the assembly line.
Electrical structure
The control unit is a system with 2
channels with mutual monitoring of
the readiness for operation of the
channels and includes all the compon-
ents necessary for sensor evaluation,
nominal-value calculation and valve
actuation.
The control circuit basically consists of
a 16-bit high-capacity microcontroller.
This computer acquires all incoming
data and carries out a plausibility
check. Using a graph of steering angle
characteristics, the nominal value of
the rear axle is generated from the
vehicle speed and the front axle steer-
ing angle data. Then, from the nomin-
al value and the steering angle of the
rear axle, the quantity for the actu-
ation of the control valve is computed.
The valves are actuated via short-cir-
cuit-proof outputs and their function is
then reread and checked by the micro-
controller.
In order to adapt the function of the
rear axle steering system to the vehicle
conditions additional sensors can be
ZF Servocom RAS-EC. Basic diagram of a
steering angle characteristic curve.
24 ZF Servocom RAS-EC
VA_LW_max[°]*
0-15 km/h V [km/h]
20 km/h
25 km/h
Vneutral [km/h]*
30 40 50
Steering angle
front axle [°]
read in. Thus, due to the axle geom-
etry, actuation of the rear axle is not
possible when the vehicle is at a stand-
still and the brake is applied at the
same time. This for example can be
noticed when the control unit also
reads in the brake pressure. In this
case, the rear axle is not actuated until
either the brake has been released or a
speed is measured.
The safety circuit includes an 8-bit
microcontroller. This device also ac-
quires all incoming data and carries out
a plausibility check. The nominal value
of the rear axle calculated by it is com-
pared with the actual value. The con-
trol computer of the operating circuit
and the monitoring computer of the
safety circuit are connected with each
other via an interface and can thus
exchange and compare input, inter-
mediate and output quantities. Add-
itionally, status information is exchan-
ged via this interface in order to guaran-
tee and check the correct function of
the rear axle steering gear. If an error
is detected, both the control computer
and the monitoring computer are in a
position to automatically switch off
mode. For the localization of errors
and/or for the maintenance of the rear
axle steering system, the control unit
has full diagnostic capability. Thus, the
values from the sensors for instance
can be read out and checked via the
diagnostic interface (KWP 2000). An
integrated CAN interface allows data
exchange with other control units
during operation. By means of the
integrated diagnostic interface the
control unit can be programmed at the
end of the assembly line, and during
vehicle production it can be adapted
to the conditions on the target vehicle.
If necessary, this can for instance be
used to carry out an electronic align-
ment of the sensors.
Special functions
The system allows the processing of
numerous signals such as those from
brake, door switch and other switches.
Together with the speed signal, the
front axle steering angle etc. it’s pos-
sible to implement a variety of special
functions.