PRESS RELEASE Corporate

"Blue Line" connects drive components to a single unit

Posted on January 23, 2001

With "Blue Line", MTU Friedrichshafen has developed a new monitoring and control system that provides advantages to yachtbuilders and yacht owners alike. All the components of the drive system, engines, transmission, control and monitoring functions are precisely tuned to one another, thereby growing together to form an integral unit. The controls at the helm also have an integrated, harmonious design.
  • "Plug-and-play" installation
  • Modular construction permits flexible adaptation and expansion

Düsseldorf - With "Blue Line", MTU Friedrichshafen has developed a new monitoring and control system that provides advantages to yachtbuilders and yacht owners alike. All the components of the drive system, engines, transmission, control and monitoring functions are precisely tuned to one another, thereby growing together to form an integral unit. The controls at the helm also have an integrated, harmonious design.

"Blue Line" is a "plug-and-play" system. All its components are supplied ready for installation and can be interconnected by precut cables with integral plugs. This simplifies and speeds up installation in the yacht and also contributes to the prevention of errors that could otherwise occur, for example due to incorrect wiring connections between systems of different makes.

Modular construction permits flexible adaptation and expansion


The three equipment variants of the new electronic system, "Classic", "Comfort" and "Avantgarde", all provide the same Engine Control System (ECS) for the engine room. ECS includes an electronic engine and transmission monitoring system, together with an alarm function. If necessary, this control system can be supplemented by an additional operating station (Local Operating Station; LOS), which enables the entire driveline to be controlled from the engine room.

Boatyard personnel can adapt the different versions of "Blue Line" to the same operating components in a process that is much easier than programming a standard video recorder. A download function enables "Blue Line" to determine automatically whether the system is correctly wired and ready to start. No other aids are required to start up the yacht. After "Blue Line" has been installed, all that is required is to press the start button and sail away. The new electronic control system can be expanded at any time, even in retrofit, by additional pilot stations.