ZF Intelligent System: Fingers to control

ZF's innovative truck is a joint venture between ZF Friedrichshafen AG and ZF and Bosch - ZF steering system and open communication systems specialist Openmatics Limited Jointly developed by the joint stock company, it presents us with this intelligent system. The large 25.25m long haul truck with semi-trailers and trailers highlights how original equipment manufacturers, logistics companies and truck drivers can benefit from advanced transmissions, steering systems and in-vehicle communication systems. For example, ZF's innovative trucks allow simple, fast, and precise remote control via a tablet application, and zero local emissions due to hybrid transmissions. In addition, the design presented at the 2014 International Commercial Vehicle Show (IAA) for the first time has more advantages.

Remote control of a moving 25.25m long truck

Dr. ZF (ZF) CEO Stefan Sommer (Dr.StefanSommer) said: "We showed we have the additional potential of current technology by creating new trucks we also recognize that the new aid is very efficient. And easy to implement. They provide solutions to the complex challenges that transportation and logistics companies face on a daily basis.”

The uncertainty of warehouse waiting time is one of the major challenges. This makes it difficult for truck drivers to follow their schedules and to comply with legal requirements for driving, work, and rest time. In particular, handling on a slope often causes an impact, causing serious damage to the vehicle. In particular, EuroCombis (LHVs) - a 25-meter-long tow truck that is designed for the future - is very difficult to control even for experienced drivers: the driver must be able to see the entire vehicle at all times in the driver's seat / In the case of a trailer group, at the same time, it is only possible to accurately control the movement of the rear trailer by means of front wheel steering. For example, the driver needs to absolutely coordinate the two hinge angles of the semi-trailer and the trailer. Olrik Weinmann, head of ZF's pre-development and test program manager and innovative trucker, said: “The control assistant of the innovative truck completely frees the driver from steering and more work. They can walk off the truck and only You need to move your fingers to move the tractor to a suitable location with a special tablet application."

The value of intelligent integration

The innovative, automated truck is based on three system components. A new ZF-TraXon automatic transmission system for the heavy-duty trucks at the input end, more precisely the TraXon hybrid system, with a motor integrated in the bell-shaped box, providing 120 kW of power and 1000 Nm of power Torque. In addition, a dry clutch is installed in the hybrid module. This makes all the hybrid functions fully controllable by electricity. The system's high-voltage battery can perform multiple operations one by one and achieve zero local emissions.

ZF TraXon module

In addition, there is an advanced ZF-Servotwin superposition steering system for commercial vehicles. ZF-Servotwin also comes standard with a motor in addition to the engine-driven hydraulic pump that provides the main energy. This system of mass production configuration can thus enable automatic steering and steering without the driver interfering with the steering wheel, which is also a requirement for the remote control manipulation function of the innovative truck. In order to enable engineers to also achieve "zero emission control", such as turning off the ignition to obtain the required steering force, they have developed an improved hydraulic pump device for ZF's innovative trucks. This is a pure electrohydraulic solution (hydraulic pressure steering or EHPS): The improved pump is driven by two ZF-Servotwin power packs instead of a diesel engine.

In particular, Openmatics in-vehicle communication systems have demonstrated their advantages in ZF's innovative trucks. It includes an on-board or connection device, sensor technology for data logging, and special software. Different "Bluetooth Low Energy" (BLE) tags are used to wirelessly detect the articulation angles of semi-trailer and center axle trailer steering controls and to determine the relative positions of driver and tablet computer to the vehicle/trailer group: they are special wireless devices with low power requirements. The chip, the effective distance is about 25 meters. In ZF's innovative trucks, they are located in the rear of the cab, as well as in all corners of semi-trailers and trailers. Once the distance to the BLE tag or the distance to the tablet changes, the magnetic field strength also changes. This information is processed by the vehicle-mounted device and the tablet computer operator.

On its own, this involves advanced systems that are benchmarked in three related areas. However, the remote control function still requires a central connection component. Therefore, a prototype control unit located in the center of the control assistant integrates and coordinates these previously mentioned stand-alone systems: it can automatically supervise the steering wheel angle and speed and control the independent actuator. The latter, like the sensor, is connected to the sample control device via the CAN bus, while the sample control device is in contact with the tablet via Bluetooth. However, in potentially large-volume production applications, the control assistant can also be operated on one of the control devices of the components, for example on a control device of ZF-Servotwin or TraXonHybrid, so that no additional electronic control device is required.

Intuitive and safe operation

The Tablet PC Control application is another important component that allows 25-meter-long trucks to be remotely controlled. The trailers, semi-trailers and tractors are displayed in a bird's-eye view in the center of the tablet screen. In addition, on the screen is displayed the selection menu of the drive gear and driving speed available for the automatic transmission: the operator can select 4, 2 or 1 km/h while driving forward, 0.5 or 1 when reversing, or 2 km/h. Once touch-driven gear and speed are selected, the tablet user simply puts his finger on the front of the truck on the touch screen or behind the trailer. The virtually noise-free purely electric drive will allow unmanned ZF. Innovative trucks drive up. If you want to turn right or left, you simply use your finger to draw the appropriate direction on the screen. As soon as you remove your finger from the screen, the vehicle will stop automatically. Similarly, if the wireless connection between the tablet and the innovative truck is interrupted, the vehicle will automatically stop.

Move your finger to control

Expanding the functionality

In addition to manipulation and coupling assistants, the intelligent connection of many systems provides many other additional functions; these functions will provide many additional values ​​in the future of daily logistics, such as ZF's innovative truck vehicle information can be displayed in Tablet screen. The driver can thus view the state of charge of the hybrid battery as well as other parameters - these can be viewed even when the driver is sitting in the driver's seat. Finally, the team innovatively designed a new interface for the tablet to integrate seamlessly into the truck cab as an additional display tool.

Weinmann went on to say: "Only from a technical point of view, trucks can move from the warehouse itself to the loading station or parking space if there is no remote control application. However, this requires an additional facility in the warehouse, so this It's still a vision for the future."