Fusegates System

Fusegates are an innovative and reliable spillway system patented by Hydroplus. Fusegate system consists of a set of independent units placed on weir sill to form a watertight barrier.  They represent genuine alternative to conventional system, such as gates, flaps or inflatable tubes. Fusegates have successfully been implemented on 40 dams throughout the world, providing solid evidence of their value and effectiveness.

Fusegates are modular freestanding units that can be installed side by side on a spillway’s modified sill (the sill must be levelled to provide the necessary flat structure to accommodate the Fusegate modules). The modules consist of a vertical facing connected to a horizontal slab atop the sill. Watertight seals around the upstream perimeter of each Fusegate make it complete waterproof. Each unit rests on abutment blocks on top of the sill and is weighted with ballast to resist hydrostatic pressure (see figure).

Benefits of this system:

• Greater flexibility of operation
• Low maintenance of Fusegate system
• No human involvement in operation
• Lowest risk of malfunctioning
• Enhance dam safety
• Maximum overflow depth is 140% of Fusegate height
• Fusegate system is a non-mechanical
• Minimize the potential for mechanical gate failure
• To recover up to 2/3^rd of the distance between the ungated sill and crest of the dam without raising M.W.L.

Normal operation:

Installed a top the spillway, Fusegates form a watertight screen and raise the dam’s crest. For most floods, water is discharged over the Fusegates, which act as a free-sill spillway.

Major flooding:

A Fusegate’s pressure chamber starts to fill when the water level exceeds the crest of the inlet well. As soon as drain holes reach their saturation point, pressure under the Fusegate lifts the unit and tips it in the downstream direction. As water rises, Fusegates overturn in sequence. Their tipping points are carefully set to produce this controlled, sequential action.

For More details visit: www.hydroplus.com