The US Company Strongwell Have Launched New Glass Fiber Pole

Recently, the US Company Strongwell has designed and manufactured new fiberglass poles to replace wooden, steel or concrete poles. This pole that is composed of pultrusion components provides low electrical conductivity and high strength. Moreover, it is about 30 percent lighter than the wooden and 60 percent lighter than the steel. Its core material is foam and the outer part is the composite of resin and glass fiber fabric, which can ensure its impact resistance, durability, lightweight and high strength, and ensure the safety in the process of transportation and using.

Strongwell has designed a fiberglass pole that can directly replace existing wooden, steel and concrete poles.

Materials for electrical application are usually made of wood, steel or concrete. This is because they are multipurpose and have been recognized as building materials for decades. The first electric pole was made of wood, thanks to its excellent strength-weight ratios and ductility that can withstand wind-related damage. Nowadays, power grids and wide ranges of transmission line systems are widespread around the world, and the combination of wood, steel and concrete poles has been found in these infrastructure systems. However, these established industrial materials now exhibit the same mechanical defects as the first time the electrical transmission was set up.

Wood is essentially hygroscopic and prone to decay, and steel products oxidize and corrode rapidly under atmospheric conditions. Pollutants and weathering can reduce the mechanical stability of poles that made of wood, steel and concrete, resulting in premature failure of components and huge safety risks.

Fiberglass poles provide a comprehensive solution for the problems of traditional materials. This paper discusses the characteristics of fiberglass poles and how they improve the security of infrastructure: the capacity of fiberglass poles.

Strongwell has designed a proprietary fiberglass pole that can directly replace existing wooden, steel and concrete poles. This lightweight product consists of pultrusion forming components that provide low electrical conductivity and improved strength-weight ratios based on wood and steel. It is about 30 percent lighter than wood and 60 percent lighter than steel. This combination of mechanical stability and lightness is provided by high-performance component matrix, ranging from internal multidirectional glass fabrics to high-strength resin saturation.

The benefit of this construction method is to resist decay or rust, which greatly improves the durability of the transmission array and reduces the risk caused by mechanical failure. Because of its excellent impact resistance, the utility pole further benefits from the glass fiber material. It uses internal foam core for shock adsorption, which can reduce the risk in accidental traffic collisions. In some accidents in which vehicles collide with fiberglass poles, the impact force is largely absorbed by the structure of the material, so as to avoid serious damage.

Glass fiber has the advantages of installation and maintenance safety due to its lightweight and low conductivity. Fiberglass poles can be erected with lower working pressure and injury risk. There is little special consideration in using this material. Because of its low conductivity, it can be grounded as wooden poles, thus reducing the risk associated with unfamiliar materials. It can also be drilled to facilitate installation of key transmission conductors and transformers.