EP3916159A1

EP3916159A1 - Structure for supporting telecommunications stations

Info

Publication number: EP3916159A1
Application number: EP21175951.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alvaro GJECI; Mario Bianchi; Gianluigi UPINI
Original assignee: Towerlend SRLS
Current assignee: Towerlend Srl
Priority date: 2020-05-26
Filing date: 2021-05-26
Publication date: 2021-12-01
Anticipated expiration: 2041-05-26
Also published as: IT202000012442A1; EP3916159B1; EP3916159C0

Abstract

Structure (1) for supporting a telecommunications station (100), comprising a support base (2) that can be inserted inside an excavation made at the place where said station is installed, said base comprising a plurality of superimposed layers (3,4,5) in precast reinforced concrete, which are integrally and removably constrained to each other, said plurality of layers (3,4,5) defining one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) and an upper surface (8) to which said telecommunications station can be removably constrained, characterised in that said base (2) further comprises one or more side walls (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) in precast reinforced concrete, which are removably constrained to each other and/or to said one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of said plurality of layers (3,4,5) to prevent the vertical and/or horizontal relative creep between two or more layers of said plurality of layers and to provide a stiffness such as to counteract the strains borne by said telecommunications station. This base constitutes the foundation of a lattice, but the operating principle can also be applied to a telecommunications station with a pole for supporting the antennas.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a structure for supporting telecommunications stations. In particular, this support structure is of the precast type.

KNOWN PRIOR ART

According to known art, telecommunications stations comprise a square or triangular base lattice, or a pole, for supporting the antennas, of a height often higher than twenty-five metres. The lattice, or pole, in turn, is anchored to a foundation structure of reinforced concrete, which is made on site, with casing and in-situ concrete casting. Clearly, the whole structure is sized to withstand the maximum stresses (static, seismic and meteorological) provided by the regulations in force, more precisely, the station is considered "construction" to all effects, therefore, like any construction, it is subject both to urban rules and regulations and to the constraints imposed on the protection of the territory and public safety.
Such a solution has several drawbacks, in fact, since it is made in-situ, it requires a significant commitment of workers and long times, both for the working and for the curing of the concrete of the foundation, which is indicatively longer than twenty-eight days after the casting. Moreover, it is clear that, by making a "stable construction", this structure has a strong impact on the environment. Finally, when it is necessary to remove it, it will be mandatory to arrange for its demolition and disposal of the resulting materials, with definitely significant time and costs.
In order to reduce most of these criticalities, solutions are known which provide for making an assembly of precast elements made of reinforced concrete, to be assembled on site in order to make a base with the function of foundation of a lattice or pole. The solution provides that such base or foundation is inserted inside an excavation made at the place where said station is installed. The base or foundation is formed by multiple layers of precast reinforced concrete manufactured articles that are superimposed, constrained to each other, through a plurality of removable fastening means, such as, for example, bolts, plates, rods, cables and tie rods, so as to create a kind of "sandwich" coupling. Each superimposed layer has a quadrangular shape, it follows that the base has a parallelepiped shape. The lattice, or pole, together with the telecommunications apparatuses are constrained to said base by special nuts and bolts. In order to adapt the static performance of the bases to lattices or poles of different heights and loads, additional layers of precast manufactured articles are added or manufactured articles of greater dimensions are used.
The above solutions, however, are not free from drawbacks, since although many of the problems related to the structures made directly on site are overcome, the operation of the base and its stiffness, as it is made, rely exclusively on the nuts and bolts and the consequent friction between the various layers of said "sandwich".
The object, therefore, of the present invention is to make a structure for supporting telecommunications stations which, in addition to being easily and quickly mountable and dismountable, is also considerably more reliable from a structural point of view with respect to precast solutions of the known art, and allows the placement and coexistence of a greater number of telecommunications "operators".
Further objects of the present invention are to make a structure that is also easily transportable, consisting of a limited number of repetitive elements of moderate weight, therefore, that can be made simply, quickly and with modest investment for the precasting moulds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects are achieved by means of a structure for supporting at least one telecommunications station, comprising a support base that can be inserted inside an excavation, made at the place where said station is installed, said base comprising a plurality of superimposed layers in precast reinforced concrete, which are integrally and removably constrained to each other, said plurality of layers defining one or more outer perimeter surfaces and an upper surface to which said telecommunications station is removably constrained, characterised in that said base further comprises one or more side walls in precast reinforced concrete, which are removably constrained to each other and/or to said one or more outer perimeter surfaces of said plurality of layers to prevent the vertical and/or horizontal relative creep between two or more layers of said plurality of layers and to provide a stiffness such as to counteract the strains borne by said telecommunications station.
This solution achieves the proposed objects, in fact the side walls, with "beam" behaviour, having a useful height equal to or greater than said plurality of layers, allow to counteract effectively the vertical and/or horizontal creep of the various layers which constitute the base. Basically, such walls help to pack the layers that constitute the base, thus increasing the mechanical stability of the same base. The structure supporting a telecommunications station, which comprises a square or triangular section lattice (it can also be a circular, or polygonal section metal pole), has a support base, i.e. a foundation, which is also square, to be assembled inside an excavation, thus obtaining a square parallelepiped with the lattice carrying the antennas placed in the centre and the apparatuses of multiple telecommunications operators positioned around, along the perimeter. Said base consists of multiple superimposed layers made of precast reinforced concrete, which are integrally constrained to each other, removably, by mechanical anchors (threaded rods, bolts, lag bolts, bushings and nuts). Such plurality of layers is also "embraced", still removably, by an assembly of side walls or beams which significantly improve the overall behaviour (stiffness) of the plate/foundation, thus preventing any vertical, horizontal and cross sliding of the single manufactured articles, which make up the same base.
By varying the thickness of the perimeter walls or beams above, it is possible to adapt the stability of the base/foundation to the different stresses resulting from different heights of the lattice, or different stresses by different arrangement and height of the antennas, in a practically continuous manner. Moreover, the construction principle of the base/foundation object of the present invention, as mentioned, can easily be transferred to a base/foundation for poles instead of lattices.
Still according to the invention, at least one side wall of said one or more side walls has an inner side that is shaped coupled to at least part of at least one outer perimeter surface of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces of said plurality of layers.
In particular, said inner side of said at least one side wall of said one or more side walls comprises a plurality of protrusions or depressions and/or stepped portions which are coupled to a plurality of depressions or protrusions and/or corresponding stepped portions present on at least part of said at least one outer perimeter surface of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces of said plurality of layers.
Such plurality of depressions, or protrusions, and/or stepped portions allow to make a coupling between side walls and superimposed layers such as to precisely prevent these layers from sliding vertically and/or horizontally with respect to each other, thus increasing even more the stability and compactness of the base.
Basically, such plurality of depressions, or protrusions, and/or stepped portions comprise special grooves and ridges, which fit into respective grooves and ridges also present on at least part of the outer perimeter surface of said plurality of layers.
Specifically, said plurality of layers has polygonal cross-section. Said side walls of said plurality of side walls are therefore equal in number to the number of sides of the polygonal cross-section of the plurality of layers.
Specifically, said plurality of layers has a substantially square cross-section; said side walls are four in number and are all identical. Advantageously, each side wall comprises a head portion and a tail portion, wherein said head portion protrudes with respect to the perimeter surface to which it is removably constrained by a distance equal to the thickness of the side wall, and said tail portion has an end surface substantially flush with the perimeter surface to which said side wall is removably constrained. The side walls are arranged in such a way that each head portion of a side wall is adjacent to the tail portion of the adjacent side wall. Basically, in order to obtain four identical side walls, still fulfilling the proposed objects, it is necessary that their shape to be non-symmetrical and that they are arranged staggered on the various perimeter surfaces of the superimposed layers.
Basically, therefore, the base has a square shape and is embraced by the walls, or beams, which are four in number and are all equal to each other. Each side wall is longer than the side of the square by a measure equal to its thickness and has its ends differentiated and specialised, in such a way as to be able to removably connect it also to the walls of the contiguous sides, it follows an "embrace" which, thanks to the surfaces characterised by ridges and grooves that fit into each other, consolidates the assembly of precast articles, thus imparting to the foundation stiffness and reliability clearly better than those known to date.
Again, said plurality of layers comprises at least one lower layer, at least one intermediate layer and at least one upper layer. Therefore, the number of layers is three.
The plurality of layers "embraced" thus comprises at least one lower layer, at least one intermediate layer and at least one upper layer; therefore, the number of layers is at least three.
In particular, said lower layer comprises a plurality of first sheet-like elements and said intermediate layer comprises a plurality of second sheet-like elements; said first elements and/or said second elements are placed side by side with respect to each other and are reversibly constrained to each other. Moreover, said second elements of said intermediate layer are arranged rotated by 90° with respect to said first elements of said lower layer.
In particular, said lower layer, the one that transfers to the ground the stresses generated by the lattice, comprises three first sheet-like elements placed side by side with respect to each other, one of which is central and two are lateral and equal to each other. Above this lower layer a second layer is resting, which consists, as well, of three second elements that are geometrically equal to the previous ones but with an orientation rotated by 90° and differentiated only by the replacement of some metal inserts (bushings) with through holes, so-called casting accessories, embedded in the precast articles during the casting step.
Again, said first sheet-like elements, said second sheet-like elements and said third elements comprise said plurality of protrusions and/or depressions and/or stepped portions which are coupled to said plurality of depressions and/or protrusions and/or corresponding stepped portions present on at least part of said at least one outer perimeter surface of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces of said plurality of layers. Said protrusions and/or depressions and/or stepped portions are at the sides of the first and second sheet-like elements which, together, form said one or more side walls of said layers of the base.
Moreover, said telecommunications station comprises a lattice equipped with a plurality of supports; said upper layer then comprises a number of third elements at least equal to that of the supports of the lattice. Each support of said lattice is integrally and removably constrained to the respective third element of said upper layer. Preferably, the maximum number of supports is four, therefore the number of third elements of the upper layer is four.
Therefore, above the intermediate layer there is the third layer, or upper layer, on which the "feet" or supports of the lattice are resting. This layer consists of four elements still made of precast reinforced concrete, which are sheet-like and square, of greater thickness than the underlying layers. The "sandwich", consisting of the three layers, is compacted, consolidated and tightened by some threaded rods and by the lattice's lag bolts. Subsequently, the base comprising the above-mentioned three layers is then surrounded and tightened with force by the four perimeter walls which, as mentioned, by having the necessary shapes, fit perfectly into the manufactured articles, which constitute the three layers. This is because manufactured articles precast in metal moulds can guarantee very tight dimensional tolerances; the total reversibility of all the fasteners is quite evident.
Again, said structure comprises means for fastening each support of said lattice to said upper layer; said fastening means comprise at least one upper plate and at least one lower plate, wherein said upper plate is resting on said upper surface of said third element and said lower plate is resting on the lower surface of said lower layer. Said upper plate and said lower plate are integrally combined with each other by reversible connecting means. The layers of said base are therefore equipped with special through holes which are crossed by these reversible connecting means such as, for example, screws screwed to the ends of the plates with special nuts.
For the completion of said telecommunications station, a square or triangular section lattice will be installed, which is anchored with an lag bolt also with the function of tightening and compacting the "sandwich" of precast plates or layers, each group of four lag bolts equipped with nuts, is anchored and tightened with two galvanised steel plates, one placed under the base layer, the other placed over the third layer, beyond which the same lag bolts will protrude and catch, in a traditional manner, the metal plate integral with the corresponding foot of the same lattice. The lattice is placed in the centre of the square base, the antennas and, often, some of the apparatuses are installed at height, from here, along the corners, cables of various types come down and/or go up. For the base, if required, a fence is provided on the whole perimeter, with posts tessellated directly to the perimeter beams or walls. On one side of the fence there will be the pedestrian access gate and the connections to the outside, such as electric power, telephone line, fibre optic network, will be located here, along the other three sides the apparatuses of the accommodated telecommunications operators will be positioned, the cables connecting the apparatuses and panels, with antennas, supplies etc., will pass through the raceways, which the precast elements of the upper layer form, once mounted; these raceways can be covered with concrete, or metal, covers, by making a flat surface, without risk of tripping.
According to the invention, each first element, each second element and each third element weighs less than 5500 kg. This allows it to be moved and transported, by lifting apparatuses and relatively modest motor vehicles, without the need to provide for exceptional transport, this is particularly interesting when the telecommunications station, as often happens, must be installed in inaccessible areas that are difficult to reach by traditional means.
Advantageously, said at least one third element comprises at least one portion depressed and/or hollowed with respect to the upper surface of said upper layer for the passage of the cables coming from said telecommunications station.
Moreover, said upper layer has one or more grids, or covering coatings, for said depressed and/or hollowed portion, said grids, or coatings, resting on said upper layer and/or said at least one of said one or more side walls and being coplanar with said upper surface.
Again, said structure comprises removable constraining means for integrally constraining to each other said first elements, said second elements, said layers of said plurality of layers and said side walls, and for constraining said one or more side walls to said one or more perimeter surfaces of said plurality of layers. Advantageously, said first elements, said second elements, said third elements and said one or more side walls comprise through and/or blind holes for accommodating said removable constraining means.
Again, said third elements are identical and are made through an identical formwork.
Finally, said plurality of first elements of said lower layer comprises three first elements and said plurality of second elements of said intermediate layer comprises three seconds elements, the two first outer elements and the two second outer elements being made through the same formwork, the first central element and the second central element being made through the same formwork.
It should be noted that the first central element and the second central element are arranged adjacent, respectively, to the two first outer elements and the two second outer elements.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

These and other aspects of the present invention will be made clearer by the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment provided herein only by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein:

Figure 1A is an axonometric view of the structure, without the lattice, according to the invention;
Figure 1B is a plan view of the structure of figure 1A;
Figure 2 is an exploded view of the structure of figure 1A;
Figure 3A is a plan view of the structure of figure 1A;
Figures 3B and 3C are two cross-sections of the structure according to the invention;
Figures 4A, 4B and 4C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a first central element of the lower layer;
Figures 5A, 5B and 5C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a first side element of the lower layer;
Figures 6A, 6B and 6C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a second central element of the intermediate layer;
Figures 7A, 7B and 7C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a second side element of the intermediate layer;
Figures 8A, 8B and 8C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a third element of the upper layer;
Figures 9A, 9B and 9C show, respectively, an axonometric view, a top view and a side view of a wall of the structure;
Figures 10A and 10B show, respectively, the structure of figure 1A underground and a telecommunications station with an underground structure according to the invention;
Figure 11 shows a side view of the means for fastening each support of the lattice to the upper layer 5 of the structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

With particular reference to these figures, the reference numeral 1 denotes a structure according to the invention.
As shown in figures 1A and 1B, the structure 1 for supporting a telecommunications station 100 comprises a support base 2 which can be inserted inside an excavation made at the place where the station is installed.
It should be noted that this telecommunications station 100 comprises a substantially square section lattice 95 equipped with four posts 95a and designed to support equipment such as, for example, antennas and satellite dishes (not shown here, but known to the person skilled in the art) that allow the transceiving of signals coming from mobile terminals of cellular telephony even of various telephone operators.
The base 2 comprises a plurality of superimposed concrete layers 3, 4, 5 removably and integrally constrained to each other. The number of layers of the embodiment described herein is three, although in other embodiments this number of layers could vary, without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention.
These layers 3, 4, 5 define a plurality of outer perimeter surfaces 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d. In the embodiment described herein, the shape of such layers 3, 4, 5 is square, therefore the number of the outer perimeter surfaces 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d is four. These layers 3, 4, 5 also define an upper surface 8 to which the telecommunications station is removably constrained. Advantageously, the base 2 further comprises four concrete side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, which are removably constrained to each other and to the outer perimeter surfaces 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d of the layers 3, 4, 5 to prevent the respective vertical and/or horizontal creep between two or more layers 3, 4; 5 as a result of the stresses suffered by the telecommunications station during its life. This configuration allows the layers to be even more effectively and rigidly constrained to each other, compared to the known art, and to withstand much higher stresses than those that are sustained by structures for telecommunications stations of known art. However, such a configuration is extremely advantageous considering that the design of structures for possible lattices having increasingly higher heights and, therefore, increasingly greater stresses acting on the structure 1, would not require the increase in the number of layers 3, 4, 5 or in the height of base 2, but only an increase in the thickness of the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d. This greatly facilitates the design of such a structure 1.
In particular, each wall 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d has an inner side 60a, 60b, 60c, 60d which is shape coupled to a corresponding outer perimeter surface 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d of the three layers 3, 4, 5. Each inner side 60a, 60b, 60c, 60d, however, comprises a plurality of protrusions 10a, depressions 10b and stepped portions 11 which are coupled to a plurality of depressions 12a, protrusions 12b and corresponding stepped portions 13 present on at least part of each corresponding outer perimeter surface 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d of the three layers 3, 4, 5. It should be noted that in the accompanying figures, for the sake of simplicity, only the wall 6a is shown (see figures 9A to 9C) and, therefore, only the inner side 60a, with the corresponding protrusions 10a, depressions 10b and the stepped portion 11. However, the remaining walls 6b, 6c, 6d, not shown in detail, have characteristics identical to the wall 6a. Similarly, still for the sake of simplicity, only the characteristics of the perimeter surface 7a are shown in detail in the accompanying figures, although the other perimeter surfaces 7b, 7c, 7d also have identical characteristics.
Such solution clearly allows to increase even more the resistance of the base 2 to the stresses to which it is subjected when the lattice is subjected to forces such as, for example, the wind. In fact, the coupling between the walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d and the layers 3, 4, 5 is obtained as a puzzle in such a way that, therefore, vertical and/or horizontal movements of the various layers 3, 4, 5 with respect each other are thus prevented as much as possible. Basically, the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d pack the layers 3, 4, 5 in such a way that they cannot move during the life of the station 100.
The layers 3, 4, 5, as mentioned above, have polygonal shape, in particular, they are square. The side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d are still equal in number to the number of sides of the polygonal shape of the layers 3, 4, 5 and, therefore, are four in number and, in this case, are all identical. Each side wall 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d comprises, in particular, a head portion 80 and a tail portion 81. The head portion 80 protrudes with respect to the perimeter surface 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d to which it is constrained by a distance equal to the thickness S of the same side wall 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d. The tail portion 81 has an end surface 81a substantially flush with the perimeter surface 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d to which the side wall 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d is removably constrained. The side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d are arranged in such a way that each head portion 80 of a side wall 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d is adjacent to, and in contact with, the tail portion 81 of the adjacent side wall 6b, 6c, 6d, 6a.
As mentioned, the layers 3, 4, 5 are three and comprise a lower layer 3, an intermediate layer 4 and an upper layer 5.
According to the embodiment described herein, the lower layer 3 comprises three first sheet- like elements 31, 32, 33, two of which are outer 31, 33 and one central 32, and the intermediate layer 4 which comprises three second sheet- like elements 41, 42, 43, two of which are outer 41, 43 and one central 32. The first elements 31, 32, 33 are placed side by side with respect to each other and are reversibly constrained to each other, as are also the second elements 41, 42, 43 placed side by side with respect to each other and are reversibly constrained to each other. The second elements 41, 42, 43 are arranged above the first elements 31, 32, 33 and rotated by 90° with respect to such first elements 31, 32, 33 in order to make the structure 1 even more compact. In order to facilitate the couplings between the first sheet- like elements 31, 32, 33 and the second sheet- like elements 41, 42, 43, there are inner protrusions and/or inner stepped portions 90 and 91, respectively, which allow the various sheet- like elements 31, 32, 33 and 41, 42, 43 to be aligned with each other. It should be noted that "inner" means that the protrusions and/or recesses 90 and 91 do not form, or are part of, the outer perimeter surface 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d of the three layers 3, 4, 5, as will be clear from the description mentioned below, i.e. they are not visible outside when such sheet-like elements are removably coupled to each other and in such a way as to make the three layers 3, 4, 5.
The supports 96 of the lattice 95 of the telecommunications station 100 are four in number (square-base lattice), therefore the upper layer 5 comprises four third elements 51, 52, 53, 54, i.e. a number of third elements 51, 52, 53, 54, at least equal (square-base lattice) to the number of supports 96 of the lattice 95. Each support 96 of the lattice 95 is integrally and removably constrained to the respective third element 51, 52, 53, 54 of the upper layer 5. In the accompanying figures only one 51 of the four third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 described herein is shown, however they have identical characteristics.
In the event that the lattice 96 is a triangular section lattice, then the number of supports 96 is three (this embodiment is not shown in the accompanying figures but is well known to the person skilled in the art). In this case, there will be three supports arranged on three respective third elements. The number of third elements could in any case always be four in number, with a third element that would not have any support of the lattice constrained to itself. In any case, the number of third elements is at least equal to the number of supports.
According to the invention, the first sheet- like elements 31, 32, 33, the second sheet- like elements 41, 42, 43 and the third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 comprise the above-mentioned plurality of protrusions 10a and/or depressions 10b and/or stepped portions 11 which are coupled to the depressions 12a and/or protrusions 12b and/or corresponding stepped portions 13 present on the outer perimeter surfaces 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d of the layers 3, 4, 5. It should be noted that these depressions 12b are not shown in the figures of the single elements which constitute each layer 3, 4, 5, since they arise from the combination of two superimposed layers each having a protrusion 12a. Therefore, between two consecutive protrusions 12a, there is a depression 12b. The stepped portion 13 is present only on the upper layer 5 since it is the one that is coupled above the stepped portion 11 of each side wall.
Moreover, the structure 1 comprises means 70 for fastening each support of the lattice to the upper layer 5. These fastening means 70 comprise, for each support 96 of the lattice, an upper plate 71 and a lower plate 72. The upper plate 71 is resting on the upper surface 8 of the upper layer 5, i.e. resting on each third element 51, 52, 53, 54 (in the event of square-base lattice) and the lower plate 72 is resting on the lower surface 9 of the lower layer 3. Advantageously, the upper plate 71 and the lower plate 72 are combined with each other by reversible connecting means, such as screws 74 and nuts/lock nuts 75 or bolts. Basically, the layers 3, 4, 5 are equipped with through holes 73 which accommodate such screws 74 to thus allow the integral coupling between the two plates 71 and 72. The supports 96 of the lattice 95 will in turn be constrained to the upper plates 71, thus ensuring a support surface as regular as possible.
Again, each first sheet- like element 31, 32, 33, each second sheet- like element 41, 42, 43 and each third element 51, 52, 53, 54 weighs less than 5500 kg. This allows the easy movement and transportability of each element of the structure 1 by means of a road vehicle.
Still according to the invention, each third element 51, 52, 53, 54 comprises three depressed portions 55 and a hollowed portion 56 with respect to the upper surface 8 of the upper layer 5. The depressed portion 55 and the hollowed portion 56 are used for the passage of the cables coming from the telecommunications station. In the specific case, the depressed portions 55 and the portion 56 hollowed with respect to the upper surface 8 are made around a central region 57 on whose upper surface 57a the support 96 of the lattice 95 of the telecommunications station 100 is integrally constrained. Therefore, the four third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 are arranged with each other in such a way that from above the depressed portions 55 and the hollowed portions 56 take a generic Greek cross shape (see figure 1B). Moreover, the set of the upper surfaces 57a of the single third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 defines the upper surface 8 of the upper layer 5. The cables coming from the lattice 96 can therefore be accommodated along such depressed portions 5 and such hollowed portions 56 to then reach the outside of the structure 1 and be connected to the power supply and/or control rooms of the station. The passage to the outside of the structure is obtained by means of suitable holes 58 made in the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d at a height such as to be above ground, i.e. above the depth of the excavation inside which the structure 1 is housed.
Again, the upper layer 5 has a plurality of covering coatings 59 of the depressed portions 55 and the hollowed portion 56. The covers 59 are arranged resting on the upper layer 5, between two adjacent third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 or between a third element 51, 52, 53, 54 and one of the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and are coplanar with the upper surface 8, i.e. to each upper surface 57a. In other embodiments of the invention, these covering coatings 59 can be replaced by grids without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention.
The structure 1 also comprises removable constraining means (not shown herein but known to the person skilled in the art and generally known by the term of mounting accessories) for integrally constraining to each other said first elements 31, 32, 33, said second elements 41, 42, 44, said layers of said plurality of layers 3, 4, 5 and said side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and for constraining 84 the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d to the outer perimeter surfaces 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d. In this regard, the first elements 31, 32, 33, the second elements 41, 42, 44 and the third elements 51, 52, 53 and 54 and the side walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d comprise through or blind holes 85, 86, 87, 88 for accommodating the removable constraining means which comprise, in the embodiment described herein, rods, bolts and nuts. In the accompanying figures, only some of these holes are depicted.
Again, the first elements 31, 32, 33, the second elements 41, 42, 44 and the third elements 51, 52, 53 and 54 are equipped with vertical through holes 68 within which the earth plate, or peg, which is then fastened to the ground, is housed. These vertical holes are also used for the drainage of the rainwater which enters inside the depressed portions 55 and hollowed portion 56 of the third elements 51, 52, 53 and 54.
Furthermore, the four third elements 51, 52, 53, 54 are identical and are made by means of an identical formwork.
Moreover, the two first outer elements 31, 33 and the two second outer elements 41, 43 are made by means of the same formwork, whereas the first central element 32 and the second central element 42 are made by means of the same formwork.
Basically, the whole structure 1 can be made by means of only four formworks, thus making the proposed solution extremely simple from an implementation point of view and, therefore, also extremely economical, especially in terms of investment. Moreover, the solution does not require any work in-situ, apart from the initial excavation and a small fill of fine material (coarse sand mixed with earth or fine gravel), which allows to make a regular and flat support surface. The layers and side walls are transportable by vehicles and can be installed directly at the site. This operation can be carried out in extremely short times compared to the traditional systems for the implementation of the structures of known art. The use of a lattice, partially pre-assembled in the workshop, also allows to considerably shorten this step of the implementation of the telecommunications station.

Claims

Structure (1) for supporting a telecommunications station (100), comprising a support base (2) that can be inserted inside an excavation made at the place where said station is installed, said base comprising a plurality of superimposed layers (3,4,5) in precast reinforced concrete, which are integrally and removably constrained to each other, said plurality of layers (3,4,5) defining one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) and an upper surface (8) to which said telecommunications station can be removably constrained, characterised in that said base (2) further comprises one or more side walls (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) in precast reinforced concrete, which are removably constrained to each other and/or to said one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of said plurality of layers (3,4,5) to prevent the vertical and/or horizontal relative creep between two or more layers of said plurality of layers and to provide a stiffness such as to counteract the strains borne by said telecommunications station.
Structure according to claim 1, characterised in that at least one wall (6a) of said one or more side walls (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) has an inner side (60a) that is shaped coupled to at least part of at least one outer perimeter surface (7a) of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of said plurality of layers (3,4,5).
Structure according to claim 2, characterised in that said inner side (60a) of said at least one side wall (6a) of said one or more side walls (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) comprises a plurality of protrusions (10a) and/or depressions (10b) and/or stepped portions (11) which are coupled to a plurality of depressions (12a) and/or protrusions (12b) and/or corresponding stepped portions (13) present on at least part of said at least one outer perimeter surface (7a) of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a,7b,7c,7d) of said plurality of layers (3,4,5).
Structure according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said plurality of layers (3,4,5) has a polygonal cross section, said side walls of said plurality of side walls being equal in number to the number of sides of the polygonal cross section of said plurality of layers.
Structure according to claim 4, characterised in that said plurality of layers (3,4,5) has substantially square cross section, said side walls (6a,6b,6c,6d) being four in number and being identical, each side wall (6a,6b,6c,6d) comprising a head portion (80) and a tail portion (81), wherein said head portion (80) protrudes with respect to the perimeter surface to which is removably constrained by a distance equal to the thickness (s) of said side wall (6a,6b,6c,6d), and said tail portion (81) has end surface (81a) substantially flush with the perimeter surface (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) to which said side wall (6a,6b,6c,6d) is removably constrained, said side walls being arranged in such a way that each head portion (80) of a side wall is adjacent to the tail portion (81) of the adjacent side wall.
Structure according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said plurality of layers (3, 4, 5) comprises at least one lower layer (3), at least one intermediate layer (4), and at least one upper layer (5).
Structure according to claim 6, characterised in that said lower layer (3) comprises a plurality of first sheet-like elements (31, 32, 33) and said intermediate layer (4) comprises a plurality of second sheet-like elements (41, 42, 43), said first sheet-like elements and/or said second sheet-like elements being placed side by side with respect to each other and being reversibly constrained to each other, said second elements (41, 42, 43) being arranged rotated by 90° with respect to said first sheet-like elements (31, 32, 33).
Structure according to claim 6 or 7, wherein said telecommunications station comprises a lattice (95) equipped with a plurality of supports (96), characterised in that said upper layer (5) comprises a number of third elements (51, 52, 53, 54) at least equal to the number of said supports (96) of said lattice (95), one or more supports of said lattice being integrally and removably constrained to a corresponding third element (51, 52, 53, 54) of said upper layer.
Structure according to claim 8, characterised in that said first sheet-like elements (31, 32, 33), said second sheet-like elements (41, 42, 43) and said third elements (51, 52, 53, 54) comprise said plurality of protrusions (10a) and/or depressions (10b) and/or stepped portions (11), which couple to said plurality of depressions (12a) and/or protrusions (12b) and/or corresponding stepped portions (13) present on at least part of said at least one outer perimeter surface (7a) of said one or more outer perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of said plurality of layers (3, 4, 5).
Structure according to claim 9, characterised in that it comprises means for fastening each support (96) of said lattice (95) to said upper layer (5), said fastening means (70) comprising at least one upper plate and at least one lower plate, wherein said upper plate supports said upper surface (8) of said upper layer (5) and said lower plate supports the lower surface of said lower layer (3), said upper plate and said lower plate being combined with each other through reversible connecting means.
Structure according to one or more of claims 7 to 10, characterised in that each first element, each second element and each third element weighs less than 5500 kg.
Structure according to one or more of claims 9 to 10, characterised in that said plurality of third elements comprises at least one depressed and/or hollowed portion (55, 56) with respect to the upper surface (8) of said upper layer (5) for the passage of cables coming from said telecommunications station.
Structure according to claim 12, characterised in that said upper layer (5) has one or more grids, or covering coatings, for said depressed and/or hollowed portion, said grids, or covering coatings, resting on said upper layer and/or at least one of said one or more side walls, and being coplanar with said upper surface.
Structure according to one or more claims 1 to 13, characterised by comprising removable constraining means for integrally constraining to each other said first elements (31,32,33), said second elements (41,42,43), said layers of said plurality of layers (3,4,5), and said side walls (6a,6b,6c,6d), and for constraining said one or more side walls (64,6b,6c,6d) to said one or more perimeter surfaces (7a, 7b, 7c, 7d) of said plurality of layers, said first elements (31,32,33), said second elements (41,42,43), said third elements (51, 52, 53 and 54), and said one or more side walls (6a,6b,6c,6d) comprising through and/or blind holes (85, 86, 87, 88) for accommodating said removable constraining means.
Structure according to one or more claims 8 to 14, characterised in that said third elements are identical and are made through an identical formwork.
Structure according to one or more claims 7 to 15, characterised in that said plurality of first elements (31, 32, 33) of said lower layer (4) comprises three first elements and said plurality of second elements of said intermediate layer comprises three seconds elements (41, 42, 43), two first outer elements (31, 33) and two second outer elements (41, 43) being made through the same formwork, a first central element (32) and a second central element (42) being made through the same formwork.