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[WRE UPDATE | PROJECT]


support structures used for electric transmission and distribution, wireless communication, government and defense infrastructure, and renewable energy. Te company’s utility division, Sabre Tubular Structures, is one of the industry’s leading providers of utility structures—with three manufacturing locations across the country. Sabre specializes in transmission structures from 69kV to 765kV, including single poles, H-Frames, wood pole equivalents, and substation structures. Crisscrossing the worlds landscape, power transmission lines – and the structures that support them – are everywhere, and the number and variety of poles and towers seems limitless. Unless you happen to be in the power industry you probably give them very little thought. But if transmission structures are your business, whether as a manufacturer or utility, then you are keenly aware of the need for full-scale, real world testing.


While computer-aided design techniques have been


a great boon to highly-engineered product design, the gap between theory and practice is, in many cases, wide enough to warrant validation by full-scale testing. Lattice structures in particular – with their critical alignment geometry and multitude of mechanical joints - fall into this category. Tere is more than one reason to test a new tower design.


To ensure that a structure can handle the design loads surely comes first, but an over-engineered structure can be


economically wasteful. With the manufacturing lifetime of some designs reaching 30 years or more, the potential savings can be enormous. And yet, if you need to test the design of a new 200’ high 500kV double circuit deadend, your options are severely limited. Te scarcity of full-scale testing facilities worldwide means added cost, and time delays, for clients seeking design validation. Realizing the potential for a U.S.-based facility, Sabre partnered with Brametal – a company with extensive testing experience in Brazil – to develop their test site in Alvarado, TX. Seeking to create a truly world-class site, Sabre and Brametal envisioned a state of the art, wireless, computer controlled test station. Enter Chant. When Sabre contacted Chant in May, 2013 and described their vision, Chant’s team of engineers quickly developed a road map to create a system that would meet not only Sabre’s state of the art requirements, but their budget and timeline as well. With Chant’s extensive high-tech engineering and manufacturing experience backing them, Sabre’s vision became reality. Fast forward 15 months to the completed system:


Fifty-four custom made wireless load cells, using proven cellular TDMA technology, synchronously stream live data from the structure at 8Hz. On the receiving end, a pair of redundant high-speed base stations feed a National Instruments Real-Time PXI controller, linked to a PC-based HMI with three 23” touch monitors. Te output side


WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE JULY-AUGUST 2014 75


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