SDT testing facility exterior

Case Study

Validating a New Marine Engine Controller with ComAp's Service and Solution Partner in Germany

8 Sep 2026

5 min read

Project overview

Marine propulsion and power generation demand reliability under the toughest conditions. SDT (Schiffsdieseltechnik Kiel) has been meeting that demand for 50 years, and has been ComAp's partner in Germany for 15 of them. Sitting directly on the Kiel Canal, SDT designs, builds and maintains custom marine gen-sets, services engines and aggregates, and markets stationary power units for back-up and critical applications. Building gen-sets and servicing engines day in, day out gives SDT the working conditions ComAp needs to prove a controller. That made them the obvious choice to put the new InteliDrive 700 Marine through real-world testing.

Marine engine

Key objectives:

InteliDrive_700_Marine

The challenge

Engines destined for vessels have to be proven before they leave the workshop, with the control system alongside them. As a certified service partner for MTU, FPT, John Deere, ZF, Northern Lights, STT Emtec, Wizeman Marine and Servogear, SDT runs a test regime that must satisfy multiple engine manufacturers, marine class expectations and increasingly strict cybersecurity requirements.

Any new engine supervision platform therefore had to be validated and flexible enough for SDT's engineers to build customised solutions, including complex emergency stop circuits. 

The solution

As an official ComAp Service and Solution Partner, SDT was given exclusive early access to the InteliDrive 700 Marine, the next-generation controller succeeding ComAp's ID-DCU Marine platform. SDT tested it on a Scania variable-speed engine, with InteliSCADA providing visualisation on an InteliVision 1550 Marine panel PC, the same combination the company can now offer its own customers.

SDT's location on the Kiel Canal allows it to run test setups under genuine operating conditions on its hydro test bench, with the units under test controlled by ComAp's InteliSys 2000. The facility handles emission, shock and vibration measurements up to 7.2 MW, including parallel testing of up to two engines, all supervised from the control bridge above the test bench.


InteliSys 2000

As an official ComAp Service and Solution Partner, we were able to exclusively test the new InteliDrive 700 Marine controller. Now we can offer customised, cybersecurity-compliant solutions. For instance, the new adjustable wire-break detection lets us implement complex emergency stop circuits.

Henrik Jessen, Head of Electrical Engineering, SDT

The result

The InteliDrive 700 Marine has been validated on live marine engines, with ComAp control technology supervising the full test envelope safely. For SDT, the outcome is a proven, cybersecurity-compliant platform it can specify with confidence across auxiliary, emergency, harbour and propulsion applications.

The partnership continues to grow, with marine Power Management Systems, both AC and DC, next on the horizon.  

Monitoring screen 1

Products used in this project

product image
InteliDrive 700 Marine
The InteliDrive 700 Marine is a next-generation engine supervision controller for marine applications, designed to manage auxiliary, emergency, harbour, and propulsion engines on board vessels. Building on 25 years of ComAp marine engine control experience, it replaces the proven ID-DCU Marine platform with modern cybersecurity compliance, expanded connectivity, and support for all fuel types including methanol, LNG, and dual-fuel engines.
 
InteliSys 2000
InteliSys 2000
InteliSys 2000 sets an industry standard for advanced power generation control units. Tailored for various power generation applications, including gas gensets and cogeneration heat-power setups, it ensures cutting-edge performance with unrivalled PLC resources, modular expandability, and control algorithm flexibility. The InteliSys 2000 is developed in line with the latest market trends, grid code standards, and security protocols and comes with extensive communication capabilities. 
 
product image
InteliVision 1550 Marine
The new InteliVision 1550 Marine is a modern industrial 15.6" Panel PC, designed to support the monitoring and control of multi-generator set operations for various Marine applications. It features a durable, high-performance touch display tailored for industrial environments. The display also offers the 16:9 aspect ratio and showcases the modern look and feel of the InteliSCADA Display monitoring software. The InteliVision 1550 Marine runs on the reliable and proven Yocto LINUX operating system and supports a wide range of ComAp controllers.
 
InteliSCADA
InteliSCADA
InteliSCADA is an intuitive software tool that enables quick and simple creation and monitoring of complex Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for controlling industrial processes. The tool can be used to monitor locally both simple and advanced paralleling sites, regardless of the type of application.

 
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