Patent Grant
11913244
The present application is directed generally toward communication antennas, and more particularly to mounting structures for communications antennas.
As wireless data service demands have grown, a conventional response has been to increase the number and capacity of conventional cellular Base Stations (Macro-Cells). The base station antennas and radios for such Macro-Cells are typically mounted on antenna towers. A conventional antenna tower has three or four legs on which antennas and supporting remote radio units (RRUs) are mounted. However, in some environments structures known as “monopoles” are used as mounting structures. A conventional monopole 10 (which is typically hollow) with antennas 20 mounted on mounting frames 30 is shown in
In addition, Macro-Cell sites are becoming less available, and available spectrum limits how much additional capacity can be derived from a given Macro-Cell. Accordingly, small cell RRU and antenna combinations have been developed to “fill in” underserved or congested areas that would otherwise be within a Macro-Cell site. Deployment of small cells, particularly in urban environments, is expected to continue to grow. Often such small cell configurations (sometimes termed “metrocells”) are mounted on monopoles. Different varieties of monopoles may be employed, including some based on a modular design (see, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0254545), and some that may include some equipment within the cavity of the monopole (see, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0136236). Both of these documents are hereby incorporated herein by reference in full.
In view of the foregoing, it may be desirable to provide additional monopole arrangements.
As a first aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a base assembly for a monopole. The base assembly comprises: an elongate monopole with a lower end; a base plate with a hole, the lower end of the monopole inserted into the hole; and a reinforcing ring encircling the lower end of the monopole, the reinforcing ring having upper and lower ends. A first weld is present between the upper end of the reinforcing ring and the monopole, a second weld is present between the lower end of the reinforcing ring, the base plate, and the monopole, and a third weld is present between the lower end of the monopole and an outer surface of the hole.
As a second aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a base assembly for a monopole comprising: an elongate monopole with a lower end; a base plate with a hole, the lower end of the monopole inserted into the hole; and a reinforcing ring encircling the lower end of the monopole, the reinforcing ring comprising two pieces and having upper and lower ends. A first weld is present between the upper end of the reinforcing ring and the monopole, a second weld is present between the lower end of the reinforcing ring, the base plate, and the monopole and filling a gap between the reinforcing ring and the base plate, and a third weld is present between the lower end of the monopole and an outer surface of the hole.
As a third aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of constructing a base assembly for a monopole comprising the steps of:
The inventive concepts provided in the present disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the inventive concepts are shown. These inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art.
Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive concepts. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which these inventive concepts belong. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”, “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors of relative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.
Referring now to the drawings,
Each of the monopole mounting configurations shown above may be adequate for ordinary environmental conditions. However, in areas that may be subject to extended high winds (such as coastal areas prone to hurricanes), it may be desirable to provide a different mounting configuration.
Such a base assembly is shown in
The base assembly 205 is constructed with three separate welds. As with the base assembly 105′ above, a fillet weld 235 is applied to the lower edge of the monopole 210 and the inner surface of the hole 225. Also, a fillet weld 250 is applied between the upper edge of the reinforcing ring 240 and the outer surface of the monopole 210. Further, a weld 255 is applied in the gap 244, so that the upper surface of the base plate 220, the lower edge of the reinforcing ring 240, and the outer surface of the monopole 210 are each welded to each other.
The presence of the reinforcing ring 240 can provide additional stability to the base assembly 205 (and, in turn, to the monopole 210 extending upwardly therefrom). In addition, the presence of the three welds 235, 250, 255 can provide an overall increase in weld strength over the assemblies 105, 105′.
Typically, the reinforcing ring 240, 340 is formed of steel. In some embodiments, the reinforcing ring 240, 340 may be formed as a monolithic component; in other embodiments, the reinforcing ring 240, 340 may be formed in multiple pieces (e.g., two pieces), which are then themselves welded together. In certain embodiments, the multiple pieces of the reinforcing ring 240, 340 are formed from flat steel that is rolled to a desired radius of curvature.
The construction of the base assembly 205 with a two-piece reinforcing ring 240 is shown in
Those skilled in this art will appreciate that the base assemblies 205, 305 described above may take different forms. For example, the monopoles 210, 310 may be hollow and have cavities that are empty, with telecommunications equipment deployed with the monopole 210, 310 being mounted outside of the monopole 210, 310. In other embodiments, some or all of the equipment may be mounted within the cavity of the monopole 210, 310. In some embodiments the monopole 210, 310 may be a monolithic component, and in other embodiments the monopole 210, 310 may comprise multiple components, including modules dedicated to particular equipment (e.g., a power module, a radio module, an antenna module, etc.). The monopole 210, 310 may be of any suitable diameter, with diameters of 10, 14 and 18 inches being typical. In some embodiments, the monopole, base plate and/or reinforcing ring comprise steel.
The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
The present application claims priority from and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/981,272, filed Feb. 25, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in full.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10822764 | Voss | Nov 2020 | B2 |
| 20030163960 | Hadden | Sep 2003 | A1 |
| 20180254545 | Hendrix et al. | Sep 2018 | A1 |
| 20200136236 | Colapietro et al. | Apr 2020 | A1 |
| 20210262248 | Gienger | Aug 2021 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210262248 A1 | Aug 2021 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62981272 | Feb 2020 | US |
