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Sluice Gate Jacks Improve Water Management

Product News Thursday, August 13, 2009: Power Jacks Ltd

The management of water has never been a greater problem facing millions of business and residents in the United Kingdom. The Association of British Insurers has claimed the cost of the flooding may be as high £3bn this year. Torrential rain across the UK has been seen to cause horrendous damage, and the summer of 2007 is likely to become the wettest since rainfall records began in 1914, Met Office figures suggest. This situation has called for more and better water management systems.

Small area water regulation makes a valuable contribution to the prevention of damage, whether it is caused by excess water or a lack of water. Sluice gate jacks are the ideal solution for this. They are used on streams and rivers, in sluices and power stations to regulate the water level and turbine capacity and to drain and flush reservoirs. In open water near towns, sluice gate jacks are used in emergency water extraction equipment for fire fighting.

The range of systems available today is wide and varied to meet specific application requirements. Starting with a simple manual sluice gate jack and moving on to cutting edge technology to provide radio-controlled convenient water levelling by mobile phone. Modified legislation, a quest for automation, modernisation and the re-birth of small hydro facilities are the reasons why many of these innovations have been designed.

Running sluice gate jacks automatically allows the user to operate systems autonomously with monitoring and control from a central location. To achieve these results care attention is required at all stages of planning from design to installation. For example improper commissioning at installation may result in a broken sluice gate jack before normal operation can be started. For this reason practical engineering advice can be provided on request to allow the customer to quickly and safely commission a system.

The advantages of Power Jacks sluice gate jacks are:

• Wide program with many useful accessories.
• Comprehensible sales information.
• Short delivery times for standard models.
• Quality product for a long service life.
• Environmental-friendly design.

Power Jacks Ltd has been building jacking systems for water management installations for many decades. This experience of designing and manufacturing precision jacks and attachments for various applications is renowned in this field. The company offers a wide range of different units, which extends from simple hand-powered sluice gate jacks for a load of 1 tonne to large systems with tandem sluice gate jacks lifting gates with a height of
6 m and a total weight of 40 tonnes, which have a motorised drive unit and various regulating systems. For more advanced systems Power Jacks range of precision screw jacks and electric linear actuators can be supplied to provide an extensive range of water management solutions.

The figure shows a Model 1280 Sluice Gate Jack installed in Karlslund, Sweden. It has a lifting capacity of 10 tonnes and a sluice gate travel of 3.6 metres.