Automatic floodgates control using PLC with added focus on human safety

Dams are crucial to a country's economy as they are means of power generation, irrigation, propagation of tourism, water conservation and other purposes. However, the unwarranted release of water from spillways of these dams sometimes poses serious threat to human life. This was the case in the incident of June 2014 at the Larji Dam of Manali, India wherein 24 people lost their lives because of sudden, unannounced opening of the spillways. It is therefore essential to implement an automated control of floodgates that takes into consideration the presence of human beings and is also used for purposes like power generation and irrigation. This paper aims to provide a simulated proposal of these automated floodgates using the AC500PM554 PLC. The proposed system may be implemented on upcoming dams of variable sizes and capacities.