Hingeing a Tower

[Joe Blake]

Saw this on TV tonight. Another way of approaching an old problem?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2189921.htm

Joe

[Rob Beckers]

This isn't a new idea; I've seen it on self-support lattice towers. In those cases it is not intended for raising/lowering the tower using a winch, rather it's for using a crane. Normally a self-support tower (especially once they get a bit higher, say 100') is not designed for the bending loads that occur when the tower is not vertical. Retrofitting hinges is therefore not going to help to make it a tilt-up tower. So, IMO this is only good for relatively small towers, and even then it's a gamble if the tower wasn't specifically intended to be tilted.

-RoB-

[Dan Lenox]

Joe,

Yep - I can back up what Rob says. My AN Wireless 80' tower is *not* meant to be hinged, I discussed this with an AN engineer and he said - that in NO way should this be done with their tower!

I had to have a crane brought in when I erected the tower initially. However I designed and built a davit crane that sits at the top of the tower for when I need to bring up/down any turbine parts. In addition I designed and built a 14' extendable top stub to bring the turbine down to the tower top so that I could easily do maintenance on it.

Dan