Cable tower: a versatile expert in the field of communication
Author：Bruce
Time：2024-11-20
一、Definition and Types of Cable Tower
Cable tower is a supporting structure for overhead transmission lines, which enables the wires to meet the distance requirements with respect to the ground and ground objects, and can withstand the loads of the wires, lightning rods, and themselves, as well as external loads.
Cable towers are mainly divided into two types: self-supporting and cable supported. The self-supporting cable tower body is assembled using angle steel or steel pipes and other profiles, connected by bolts with minimal welding work. Its lower part is wider and gradually narrows upwards, and the amount of tower material used is relatively large, which requires higher foundation requirements. For example, it is suitable for outdoor areas such as industrial development zones, suburban areas, county towns, townships, and rural areas with low landscape requirements and easy land acquisition, as well as for situations with strict deflection requirements, such as microwave towers. Its advantages are high overall stiffness, strong load-bearing capacity, mature technical application, and convenient processing, transportation, and installation; The disadvantage is that the design belongs to ordinary towers and masts, without considering the landscape. When the wind pressure is high and the height is high, the amount of steel used significantly increases, the tower and mast root opening is large, the footprint is large, there are many components and nodes, and it is difficult to relocate and reuse.
The tension of the cable-stayed tower is relatively reasonable, with high reliability, small tower section, and small amount of tower material. However, the number of cable-stayed foundations is large and the construction process is complex. For example, in a cable-stayed tower, the tower body cannot independently withstand loads and must be reinforced with tensioned fibers to resist external loads and provide stiffness to the tower by applying pre tension through tensioned fibers. Generally, it is a truss structure or a cylindrical structure, reinforced with steel strand diagonal tension, mainly used for meteorological observation and atmospheric environment monitoring. Its advantages are cost-effectiveness, lightweight components, and easy installation; The disadvantage is that it occupies a large area, has weak load-bearing capacity, relatively poor structural reliability, difficult cable installation and maintenance, difficult antenna maintenance in the later stage, multiple components and nodes, and difficult relocation and reuse. The cable tower occupies a large area, so it is widely used in open mountainous areas and in the wild.
二、Characteristics and advantages of cable tower
（一）Price economy and convenient construction
Cable towers have a significant advantage in terms of affordability. Compared to other types of communication towers, its cost is lower mainly because it uses less steel, greatly reducing material costs. At the same time, the light weight of the cable tower makes transportation and installation more convenient, reducing the investment of manpower and material resources. In addition, its processing and construction require low foundation requirements and do not require complex foundation engineering, further reducing construction costs and difficulty.
（二）Flexible and widely applicable
Cable towers can be installed on roofs, floors, or slopes with load-bearing capacity, and have a wide range of application scenarios. In the city, it can be installed on rooftops, such as rooftop cable towers, which use the height of the building to increase the antenna hanging height. It has the characteristics of light weight, simple structure, low cost, and fast installation and processing. In open mountainous areas and wilderness, cable towers can also fully leverage their advantages and are suitable for scenarios where the aesthetic requirements for the tower body are not high. When constructing on a mountain slope, the advantage of the height difference of the slope can be utilized for cable fixation, which is convenient to install and has a fast construction speed.
（三）Unique and innovative design
The cable tower adopts a triangular layout and steel strand cable fixing method, which is unique and innovative in design. The equilateral triangle arrangement greatly reduces the self weight of the tower body, making it more stable when subjected to external forces. The method of fixing steel strand wires not only enhances the stability of the tower body, but also makes the appearance of the tower body novel and the stress reasonable. At the same time, this design enables the cable tower to adapt well in different environments, improving its versatility and reliability. For example, in the case of a small wind load coefficient, the foundation form is simple, occupying less land, generally 0.25m × 0.25m, and causing less damage to the load-bearing structure. Multi layer platforms can be designed with high load-bearing capacity, capable of mounting multiple antennas and microwave transmission equipment. When constructing on the floor, due to the many maintenance structures around the floor and the convenience of wire fixation, the construction speed is greatly accelerated.
三、The role and function of a cable tower
Cable towers play a crucial role in overhead transmission lines. It is mainly used to support wires and lightning conductors, ensuring that the wires meet the distance requirements to the ground and ground objects, and ensuring the safe operation of the line.
Firstly, the cable tower can withstand the loads of wires, lightning rods, itself, and external loads. Under the conditions of a designed wind speed of 35 meters per second, seismic resistance level 8, and ice coverage of 5-10 millimeters, the cable-stayed tower can still maintain stability. Its vertical accuracy can reach 1/1000, suitable temperature between -45 ° C and+45 ° C, and after hot-dip galvanizing anti-corrosion treatment, its service life can reach 30 years. The material production areas are mostly well-known steel enterprises such as Baosteel, Shougang, Handan Iron and Steel, and Tangshan Iron and Steel, ensuring the quality and reliability of the materials.
Secondly, the cable tower provides strong support for the installation of wind measuring instruments. A wind measurement tower is a type of high-rise tower structure used to detect wind energy data. Its main functions include environmental monitoring, such as collecting resource data such as wind, air pressure, and humidity. Widely applicable to various units, such as pre planning of power plants, wind measurement on islands, meteorological data collection, environmental monitoring, and other departments. Cable towers generally have a light weight and small span, and are reinforced with steel strands, so they are also called cable towers. This structural feature gives it a unique advantage in supporting the installation of wind measuring instruments. For example, in the early planning and wind measurement of wind power plants, cable towers can provide a stable installation platform for wind measurement equipment, ensuring accurate collection of wind energy data. Cable towers also play an important role in wind measurement, meteorological bureaus, marine environmental monitoring and other departments on islands.
In short, cable towers play an irreplaceable role in the fields of overhead transmission lines and wind measurement, making important contributions to ensuring the smooth progress of power transmission and meteorological monitoring.
四、Application scenarios of cable tower
（一）Open mountainous areas and rural areas
In open mountainous and rural areas, pull towers have been widely used due to their unique advantages. These regions have relatively low requirements for the aesthetic appearance of the tower, and place more emphasis on practicality and cost-effectiveness.
Firstly, the open mountainous areas have complex terrain, inconvenient transportation, and difficulties in transporting large equipment. The characteristics of light weight and easy installation of the cable tower are particularly prominent here. Compared to other types of communication towers, cable towers have lower transportation and installation costs and can better adapt to the special environment of mountainous areas. For example, in the construction of communication base stations in some remote mountainous areas, cable towers can be transported to the construction site by piece transportation and then assembled, greatly reducing the difficulty of construction.
Secondly, rural areas have relatively abundant land resources, and the disadvantage of the large footprint of cable towers is not obvious. Moreover, the communication demand in rural areas is relatively low, and the carrying capacity of cable towers can meet basic communication requirements. In addition, cable towers are inexpensive and an economical choice for rural areas with limited funds.
According to statistics, in the construction of communication base stations in some rural areas, the proportion of using cable towers is as high as 70%. This fully demonstrates the applicability of cable towers in open mountainous and rural areas.
（二）Other specific scenarios
In addition to open mountainous and rural areas, cable towers also have certain applications in outdoor areas such as industrial development zones, suburban areas, and rooftop scenarios.
In outdoor areas such as industrial development zones, cable towers can serve as temporary communication facilities or support structures for monitoring equipment. Due to the low landscape requirements and ease of land acquisition in these areas, the installation and use of cable towers will not be subject to too many restrictions. For example, in the construction of some industrial parks, temporary cable towers can be erected as communication base stations to meet the communication needs during the construction period.
Suburban areas are also one of the application scenarios for cable towers. The communication demand in suburban areas is relatively high, and the requirements for tower aesthetics are not as strict as in urban centers. Cable towers can serve as an extension of urban communication networks, providing stable communication services for suburban areas.
Installing cable towers on rooftops is also a common application method. The rooftop cable tower utilizes the height of the building to increase the antenna hanging height, which has the characteristics of light weight, simple structure, low cost, and fast installation and processing. For example, in some newly built development zones in towns and rural areas, rooftop cable towers can provide effective solutions for local communication needs. At the same time, cable towers can also be installed on the rooftops of some old buildings in urban areas with low landscape requirements to improve communication signal coverage.
In summary, cable towers have unique application value in different scenarios, providing reliable solutions to meet various communication and monitoring needs.
五、Shortcomings of Cable Tower
（一）Poor reliability
The reliability of cable towers is relatively poor, mainly because they rely on cables to maintain stability. Once there is a problem with the cable, such as loose or broken cables, the tower will lose balance and may even collapse. For example, in some severe weather conditions, such as strong wind and rainstorm, the stay wire is easily affected, thus reducing the reliability of the stay wire tower. In addition, the cable tower has multiple components and nodes, which also increases the possibility of failure. According to statistics, the probability of a cable tower malfunctioning is about 30% higher than that of a self-supporting tower.
（二）Weak carrying capacity
One of the obvious drawbacks of cable-stayed towers is their weak load-bearing capacity. Due to the thinness of the tower itself, although less steel is used, it also limits its ability to withstand loads. In practical applications, cable towers can usually only mount a small number of devices and antennas, which cannot meet the needs of some large communication base stations or monitoring equipment. For example, in some situations where a large number of communication equipment needs to be installed, cable towers may not be able to handle it, and a self-supporting tower with stronger load-bearing capacity is needed. Compared to self-supporting towers, cable-stayed towers may only have about half of their load-bearing capacity.
（三）Difficulty in installation and maintenance
The installation and maintenance of cable towers are difficult, which brings certain difficulties to their use. Firstly, the installation of cable towers requires a large amount of cable space, which may be difficult to achieve in some limited locations. Secondly, the installation of cables requires a high level of technical expertise, and improper installation can affect the stability of the tower body. In terms of maintenance, due to the large number of components and nodes in the cable tower, it is necessary to regularly maintain the cable and tower body to ensure their safe operation. Maintenance work is not only tedious, but also costly. For example, regular inspection and adjustment of cables, as well as anti-corrosion treatment of tower bodies, require a significant amount of manpower and material resources. In addition, the construction technology requirements for cable towers are high and the safety level is low, which can easily lead to major safety accidents due to human accidental damage. According to incomplete statistics, there are numerous safety accidents caused by improper installation and maintenance of cable towers every year.
