Creating Safer Infrastructures with Fiberglass Power Poles

Electrical utility materials are often fabricated using concrete, wood, or steel. This is because of their intrinsic flexibility, and the fact that they have been the well-known and most used building materials for many years. The first power poles ever put up were made from wood, benefiting from its excellent strength-to-weight ratios and very good levels of ductility in resisting wind-related damage.

fiberglass power poles

Electrical grids and extensive transmission line systems are now widely used globally, with a mixture of wood, steel, and concrete power poles contained in these infrastructural systems. However, these well-known industry materials show the same mechanical downsides nowadays as they did when electrical transmission setups were first created.

Wood is naturally hygroscopic and prone to rotting, whereas steel products quickly oxidize and decay in atmospheric conditions. These pollutants and weathering can decrease the mechanical stability of wood, steel, and concrete power poles. This usually results in premature failure of the components and to increase in safety risks.

Fiberglass power poles provide wide-ranging solutions to the problems of conventional materials.

Capacities of Fiberglass Power Poles

At Strongwell, we have designed a proprietary fiberglass power pole to directly substitute existing wood, steel, and concrete poles. This lightweight product is made from pultruded components, providing low-conductivity and a drastically improved strength-to-weight ratio over both wood and steel.

It is approximately 30% lighter than wood and as much as 60% lighter than steel. This mixture of mechanical stability and lightness is supplied by surrounding substance of high-performance constituents, from an interior, multi-directional fiberglass fabric to high-strength resin saturation.

The instant benefit of this construction methodology is the reversal of decay or rust. This drastically advanced the durability of the transmission array and decreases the risk of accidents due to mechanical failure. Power poles gain more from the unique material structure of fiberglass owing to its outstanding impact resistance.

It features an inner foam core intended to absorb impact, reducing the danger to drivers in accidental traffic collisions. In a number of incidents where vehicles have collided with fiberglass power poles, the shock was mostly absorbed by the material’s structure, avoiding severe injury.

Fiberglass also offers important benefits for setting up and maintenance safety because of its lightweight nature and low-conductivity.

Fiberglass power poles can be put up with a decrease risk of strain or injury for workers with few special considerations for using the material. Since it is low-conductive, it can be planted in the ground similarly to wood power poles, reducing the risks linked to unfamiliarity with the material. It can also be drilled so that critical transmission conductors and transformers can be easily installed.

Fiberglass Products from Strongwell

Strongwell is the primary supplier of fiberglass products being used for electrical infrastructures and utilities. They provide distinctive material solutions for traditional industry challenges.

The fiberglass power poles they make are intended to endure lateral and vertical loads, to resist unfavorable atmospheric conditions and unexpected impacts. They have corrosion-resistant behavior and low porosity reduce maintenance requirements making minor structural repairs be carried out with relative ease.

In ideal circumstances, Strongwell envisions that their fiberglass power poles will last indefinitely without the need for high maintenance.

Strongwell

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Strongwell Corporation.

For more information on this source, please visit Strongwell Corporation.

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