WO2019073432A1

WO2019073432A1 - Telecommunication masts

Info

Publication number: WO2019073432A1
Application number: PCT/IB2018/057884
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dirk COETZEE
Original assignee: Delphius Commercial And Industrial Technologies (Pty) Ltd
Priority date: 2017-10-11
Filing date: 2018-10-11
Publication date: 2019-04-18
Also published as: ZA202002619B

Abstract

The invention relates to a tower structure which includes a mast extending operatively upward and at least three support legs attached to the mast which in use support the mast in the operatively upward condition. The tower structure further includes at least one ballast structure, in the form of a cage or container, attached to each of the support legs, the ballast structures include integrally formed equipment enclosures for housing telecommunication equipment. The ballast structures are dimensioned to hold a predetermined volume of rocks, gravel, dirt, sand or water to increase the stability of the tower structure.

Description

TELECOMMUNICATION MASTS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to telecommunication masts. In particular, the invention relates to tower structure having at least one ballast structure to increase the stability of the tower structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telecommunication masts in the form of monopole or self-support towers are broadly used to obtain the elevation necessary for mobile telecommunications. Typically, such towers are secured on a solid concrete foundation with the base of the tower buried in the ground.

Multiple drawbacks with current towers and base transceiver stations exist. The time taken for concrete foundations to set is one of the major drawbacks. Another drawback is the cost of such concrete construction and the difficulty of getting the material needed to remote sites where such towers and base transceiver stations are to be constructed. Telecommunication towers secured by concrete foundations are generally of a permanent nature. In some cases, these towers become obsolete and new towers must be erected. In these cases, non-permanent telecommunication towers would be preferable. In some cases, telecommunication masts are seated on a concrete foundation with a plurality of ballast structures supporting the tower. This however, does not eliminate the need for base transceiver station. The base transceiver stations that house the telecommunications equipment are built on site and require more material to be transported to the remote sites and are also generally of a permanent nature.

Non-permanent telecommunication towers currently exist with the towers being mounted on a trailer or heavy goods vehicle. These towers do not require civil works or concrete foundations. The trailer or the heavy good vehicle act as the support for the tower as well as the base transceiver station. This however, creates numerous drawbacks one of which is the fact that the trailer does not provide adequate support which limits the strength of the towers. Another drawback is that these trailers or heavy good vehicles have parts with an intrinsic value that increase the risk of these parts being stolen.

The current invention aims to address these shortcomings of permanent and non-permanent telecommunication masts. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a tower structure, which includes;

a mast extending operatively upward;

at least three support legs attached to the mast, to support the mast in the operatively upward condition; and

at least one ballast structure attached to each leg, at least one of the ballast structures may include an equipment enclosure for housing telecommunication equipment.

The at least one ballast structure may be in the form of a cage with the equipment enclosure integrally formed with the ballast structure. The ballast structure dimensioned to hold a predetermined volume of rocks, gravel, dirt or sand to increase the stability of the tower structure.

The ballast structure may define a container formed to enclose at least two sides of the equipment enclosure. The container may be liquid impervious thereby to define a water fillable ballast structure to increase the stability of the tower structure. The equipment enclosure may be in the form of a pre-casted cabinet, the cabinet may include an external door located on one side of the cabinet. In a preferred embodiment, the external door may be in the form of a vault door. The cabinet may be positioned integral with the ballast structure with the external door of the cabinet being accessible from an outside of the ballast structure. The mast may include attachment formations along the length of the mast to which various telecommunication equipment can be attached.

The mast may include an access ladder providing access to the various telecommunication equipment attached along the length of the mast.

The support legs may extend from the equipment enclosure towards the mast. At least one of the support legs may be of tubular form to house cables running from the equipment enclosure towards the antennas. The tower structure may include secondary support legs extending from the mast towards the ballast structure.

In one embodiment of the invention, the ballast structures may be circumferentially spaced with respect to the mast.

The mast may further be supported by a plurality of structural support cables extending from an upper portion of the mast towards at least one ballast structure.

The mast may be in the form of a single monopole or a three-sided or four- sided lattice structure. In a preferred embodiment the mast may be in the form of a three- sided lattice structure with a support leg extending from each side of the lattice structure towards the at least one ballast structure.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a telecommunication installation, which includes;

a tower structure substantially as described in any one of the preceding claims, and an installation site on which the tower structure is installed.

The telecommunication installation may include a fence surrounding the mast. In one embodiment the fence may extend between the ballast structures. The fence may be a palisade fence.

The mast may also be supported by a plurality of structural support cables extending from an upper portion of to the ballast structure. The telecommunication installation may further include electronic equipment installed in the equipment enclosure.

The installation site may include a concrete foundation onto which the mast is seated.

The installation site may include wireless local area networking services which can be provided to local communities. The installation site may also include charging ports, in the form of universal serial bus (USB) connectors, accessible by local communities for charging their mobile devices. The addition of the wireless local area networking services and accessible charging ports may increase foot traffic around the tower and reduce vandalism that is caused to the tower structure.

The invention is now described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIGURES

In the figures:

Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a tower structure in accordance with one aspect of the invention;

Figure 2 shows a plan view of the tower structure as seen in Figure 1 , Figure 3 shows a front view of a ballast structure of the tower structure of

Figure 1 ; and

Figure 4 shows a plan view of the ballast structure as seen in Figure 3. In the figures, like reference numerals denote like parts of the invention unless otherwise indicated.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In Figure 1 reference numeral (10) denotes a tower structure. The tower structure includes a three-sided lattice mast (12) and three ballast structures (14). The ballast structures (14) support the mast (12) in an upright condition with three primary support legs (16) extending horizontally from the base of each corner of the three-sided lattice mast (12.1 ) towards the ballast structures (14).

The ballast structures (14) are in the form of cage structures which are constructed from sections of expanded mesh (14.1 ) with support rods (14.2) defining the frame of the cage structure. The tower structure further includes three equipment enclosures (18) which are in the form of pre-casted cabinets (18) with an external door (20) located on one side of the cabinet (see Figure 3 and 4). The external door (20) of the equipment enclosure (18) is in the form of a vault door to increase the security of the equipment enclosure (18). The equipment enclosures (18) are integrally formed with the ballast structure (14) in such a manner that the vault door (20) of each cabinet (18) is accessible from the outside of the ballast structure (14) allowing equipment inspections to be easily conducted (see Figure 3 and 4). The ballast structures (14) are dimensioned to hold a predetermined volume of rocks (22) which can be easily obtained from the surrounding area. In another embodiment of the invention the expanded mesh (14.1 ) may be replaced by a impervious material allowing the ballast structure (14) to hold a predetermined volume of water. The addition of the rocks (22) to the ballast structure (14) will increase the stability of the tower structure (10) and eliminate the use of expensive concrete. The tower structure (10) further includes three secondary support legs (24).

Each secondary support leg (24) is attached to a corner (12.2) of the mast (12) and extends diagonally towards the ballast structures (14) which are circumferentially positioned around the mast (12). The tower structure (10) includes a plurality of attachment formation (not shown) along the length of the mast (12) towards an upper section of the mast (12.3) to which telecommunication equipment (not shown) can be attached.

The secondary support legs (24) are of tubular form and to house the antenna cables (not shown) running from the equipment enclosure (18) towards the plurality of telecommunication equipment (not shown) attached to the attachment formation located along the mast (12) and at the upper section of the mast (12.3). In use, different service providers may rent the equipment enclosures and provide telecommunication services through independent telecommunication equipment without interfering with each other's equipment.

The primary support legs (16) and secondary support legs (24) are secured to the mast (12) with a plurality of bolts and nuts which allows the support legs (16, 24) to be detached from the mast (12), thereby allowing the mast (12) to be lowered if needed.

The ballast structures (14) include at least one detachable side (not shown) which allows the rocks (22) to be easily removed from the ballast structure (14). These features that allow the mast (12) to be lowered as well as the rocks (22) to be removed from the ballast structure (14) provides a tower structure (12) that can be easily repositioned. The tower structure (10) further includes a palisade fence (26) that extends from one ballast structure (14) to the next. The tower structure (10) and palisade fence (26) installed on an installation sited defines a telecommunication installation. The palisade fence (26) provides an extra level of security. The ballast structures (14) are orientated that the vault door (20) of the equipment enclosure (18) opens to the inside of the fenced area (28).

The fenced area (28) is determined to allow space to be reserved for a generator (30) if needed.

The current invention is also aimed at providing services to local communities which include free wireless local area networking provided by antennas that are located on the mast as well as charging ports that can be used by nearby communities for charging their mobile devices. Through providing these services to local communities, vandalism that is caused to tower structures can be reduced.

The inventor believes that the current invention provides a non-permanent tower structure which addresses the shortcoming of previous non-permanent towers as well as providing a tower structure where the ballast structures provide support to the mast as well as a housing for the telecommunication equipment.

Claims

1. A tower structure which includes

a mast extending operatively upward;

at least one ballast structure attached to each leg, at least one of the ballast structures having an integral equipment enclosure for housing telecommunication equipment.

2. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the at least one ballast structure is in the form of a cage with the equipment enclosure integrally formed with the ballast structure.

3. The tower structure as claimed in claim 2, in which the at least one ballast structure is dimensioned to hold predetermined volume of rocks, gravel, dirt or sand to increase the stability of the tower structure.

4. The tower structure as claimed in claim 2, in which the at least one ballast structure defines a container formed to enclose at least two sides of the equipment enclosure.

5. The tower structure as claimed in claim 4, in which the container is liquid impervious thereby defining a water fillable ballast structure to increase the stability of the tower structure.

6. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the equipment enclosure is in the form of a pre-casted cabinet.

7. The tower structure as claimed in claim 6, in which the equipment enclosure includes an external door located on one side of the pre-casted cabinet.

8. The tower structure as claimed in claim 7, in which the external door of the equipment enclosure is in the form of a vault door.

9. The tower structure as claimed in claim 8, in which the equipment enclosure is positioned within at least one ballast structure with the external door accessible from an outside of the ballast structure.

10. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mast includes attachment formations along the length of the mast to which various telecommunication equipment can be attached.

11. The tower structure as claimed in claim 11 , in which the mast includes an access ladder providing access to the various telecommunication equipment attached along the length of the mast.

12. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which at least one of the support legs are of tubular form to house cables running from the equipment enclosure towards the antennas.

13. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the tower structure includes secondary support legs extending from the mast toward the at least one ballast structure.

14. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the at least one ballast structure is circumferentially spaced with respect to the mast.

15. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mast is supported by a plurality of structural support cables extending from an upper portion of the at least one ballast structure toward the mast.

16. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mast is in the form of a monopole structure.

17. The tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , in which the mast is in the form of a three-sided lattice structure with a support leg extending from each side of the lattice structure towards the at least one ballast structure.

18. A telecommunication installation, which includes

a tower structure substantially as described in any one of the preceding claims, and

an installation site on which the tower structure is installed.

19. The telecommunication installation as claimed in claim 18, in which electronic equipment is installed in the equipment enclosure.

20. The telecommunication installation as claimed in claim 18, in which the installation site includes a concrete foundation onto which the mast is seated.

21. A tower structure as claimed in claim 1 , substantially as herein described and illustrated.

22. A telecommunication installation as claimed in claim 20, substantially herein described and illustrated.